MacLeish, Archibald, 1892-1982
Person
Dates
- Existence: 1892 - 1982
Archibald MacLeish, poet, playwright, and government official, was born on May 7, 1892, in Glencoe, Illinois. He graduated from Yale in 1915, entered Harvard Law School, and married Ada Hitchcock in 1916. After the United States entered World War I, he enlisted as a private in the army, served in the artillery in France, and was discharged with the rank of captain. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1919 and the next year joined the Boston law firm of Choate, Hall, and Stewart. In 1923 the MacLeish family moved to Paris, where they remained for five years. After returning to the United States, he travelled to Mexico to follow the route of Cortez's army in preparation for writing Conquistador.
During the 1930s MacLeish was an editor of Fortune magazine. He served as Librarian of Congress, 1939-44, Assistant Secretary of State for Public and Cultural Affairs, 1944-45, and Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Poetry at Harvard University, 1949-62. MacLeish's poetry and dramatic writings earned him Pulitizer Prizes in 1932, 1952, and 1959, the Bollingen Prize and the National Book Award for poetry in 1953, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, and the National Medal for Literature in 1978. Archibald MacLeish died in Boston on April 20, 1982.
His major works of poetry include Tower of Ivory (1917), The Pot of Earth (1925), The Hamlet of A. MacLeish (1928), New Found Land (1930), Conquistador (1932), America Was Promises (1939), Collected Poems, 1917-1952 (1952), and Songs for Eve (1954). MacLeish also wrote several plays, some of the most important being Panic (1935), The Fall of the City (1937), Air Raid (1938), J.B. (1958), Herakles (1967), and Scratch (1971). Counted among his works of prose are A Time to Speak (1941), The American Story (1944), Poetry and Experience, (1960), and A Continuing Journey (1968).
During the 1930s MacLeish was an editor of Fortune magazine. He served as Librarian of Congress, 1939-44, Assistant Secretary of State for Public and Cultural Affairs, 1944-45, and Boylston Professor of Rhetoric and Poetry at Harvard University, 1949-62. MacLeish's poetry and dramatic writings earned him Pulitizer Prizes in 1932, 1952, and 1959, the Bollingen Prize and the National Book Award for poetry in 1953, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977, and the National Medal for Literature in 1978. Archibald MacLeish died in Boston on April 20, 1982.
His major works of poetry include Tower of Ivory (1917), The Pot of Earth (1925), The Hamlet of A. MacLeish (1928), New Found Land (1930), Conquistador (1932), America Was Promises (1939), Collected Poems, 1917-1952 (1952), and Songs for Eve (1954). MacLeish also wrote several plays, some of the most important being Panic (1935), The Fall of the City (1937), Air Raid (1938), J.B. (1958), Herakles (1967), and Scratch (1971). Counted among his works of prose are A Time to Speak (1941), The American Story (1944), Poetry and Experience, (1960), and A Continuing Journey (1968).
Found in 5 Collections and/or Records:
Millicent Todd Bingham papers
Collection
Call Number: MS 496D
Overview:
One-fifth of the papers are devoted to correspondence, books, articles, speeches and research notes relating to her publication of Emily Dickinson's poems in Bolts of Melody (1945) and three subsequent books about Emily Dickinson. Bingham's education as well as her professional life as a teacher of French and as a geographer, particularly of Peru, are thoroughly documented with correspondence, research notes, publications and other papers (1885-1929).
Dates:
1865-1968
Mina Kirstein Curtiss papers
Collection
Call Number: YCAL MSS 14
Overview:
The papers consist of personal and professional correspondence.
Dates:
1917-1966 (inclusive)
John Sylvester Fischer papers
Collection
Call Number: MS 850
Overview:
Family and general correspondence, subject files, writings, diaries and memorabilia. The general correspondence makes up nearly half the papers, documenting Fischer's professional career. As editor of Harper's Magazine (1935-1967) with time out as an editor of Harper & Brothers (1947-1953) he numbered many prominent writers among his correspondents. Notable are Bruce Catton, Norman Cousins, Ralph Ellison, Malcolm Foster, John Kenneth Galbraith, John...
Dates:
1907-1980
Anne Morrow Lindbergh papers
Collection
Call Number: MS 829
Overview:
The papers consist of correspondence, diaries, writings, childhood, school and college materials, housekeeping and social records, reports, memoranda and correspondence from the many organizations in which Anne Morrow Lindbergh took an active interest. Also included are voluminous mail from members of her reading public and memorabilia, both objects sent by admirers and items collected by her on her travels. The death of Charles Lindbergh in 1974 is documented by mail from friends, members of...
Dates:
1906-1997
Found in:
Manuscripts and Archives
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Anne Morrow Lindbergh papers
Robert Penn Warren papers
Collection
Call Number: YCAL MSS 51
Overview:
The papers consist of drafts of manuscripts and related material, correspondence, photographs, and newspaper clippings documenting Warren's life from his undergraduate years until his death in 1989.
Dates:
1906-1989