Yale Collection of American Literature portrait file
Scope and Contents
Portraits primarily depicting prominent nineteenth and twentieth century American writers, artists, and photographers, as well as scientists, educators, social reformers, and statesmen. Included are images of Joel Barlow, William Cullen Bryant, Hart Crane, James Dwight Dana, T. S. Eliot, Max Ewing, Robert Frost, H. D., Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sinclair Lewis, Dorothy Parker, Wendell Phillips, Frank Stockton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Robert Penn Warren, Noah Webster, and John Greenleaf Whittier. A small number of portraits document British and European figures. The collection also contains a few group portraits and images of art, buildings, and landscapes, as well as non-photographic materials, such as clippings, correspondence, notes, and pamphlets. Among the visual formats found in the collection are prints, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, engravings, etchings, postcards, photogravures, sketches, silhouettes, a small amount of negatives, and print reproductions of portraits. Photographers represented include Carl Van Vechten, Brady's National Photographic Portrait Galleries, Ernest Knee, and Edwin Rosskam.
Dates
- 1842-1980
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Yale Collection of American Literature Portrait File is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was assembled by the library in the 20th century from materials acquired at various times and from various sources. Source information may be recorded on the folder or on individual items.
Arrangement
Arranged in alphabetical order by surname.
Extent
2.33 Linear Feet (4 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
Portraits primarily depicting prominent nineteenth and twentieth century American writers, artists, and photographers, as well as scientists, educators, social reformers, and statesmen. Included are images of Joel Barlow, William Cullen Bryant, Hart Crane, James Dwight Dana, T. S. Eliot, Max Ewing, Robert Frost, H. D., Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sinclair Lewis, Dorothy Parker, Wendell Phillips, Frank Stockton, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Robert Penn Warren, Noah Webster, and John Greenleaf Whittier. A small number of portraits document British and European figures. The collection also contains a few group portraits and images of art, buildings, and landscapes, as well as non-photographic materials, such as clippings, correspondence, notes, and pamphlets. Among the visual formats found in the collection are prints, cabinet cards, cartes-de-visite, engravings, etchings, postcards, photogravures, sketches, silhouettes, a small amount of negatives, and print reproductions of portraits. Photographers represented include Carl Van Vechten, Brady's National Photographic Portrait Galleries, Ernest Knee, and Edwin Rosskam.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections as they are acquired, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Folder titles in brackets were supplied by staff during processing.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Abolitionists -- United States
- Artists, American
- Authors, American
- Barlow, Joel, 1754-1812 -- Portraits
- Bryant, William Cullen, 1794-1878 -- Portraits
- Cabinet photographs
- Cartes-de-visite (card photographs)
- Composers -- United States
- Crane, Hart, 1899-1932 -- Portraits
- Dana, James Dwight, 1813-1895 -- Portraits
- Dramatists, American
- Educators -- United States
- Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965 -- Portraits
- Engravings (prints)
- Etchings (prints)
- Ewing, Max -- Portraits
- Frost, Robert, 1874-1963 -- Portraits
- H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), 1886-1961 -- Portraits
- Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 -- Portraits
- Lewis, Sinclair, 1885-1951 -- Portraits
- Musicians -- United States
- Negatives (photographs)
- Parker, Dorothy, 1893-1967 -- Portraits
- Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884 -- Portraits
- Photographers -- United States
- Photographic postcards
- Photographic prints
- Poets, American
- Portrait photography
- Scientists -- United States
- Screenwriters -- United States
- Silhouettes
- Sketches
- Social reformers -- United States
- Statesmen -- United States
- Stockton, Frank R., 1834-1902 -- Portraits
- Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896 -- Portraits
- Studio portraits
- Warren, Robert Penn, 1905-1989 -- Portraits
- Webster, Noah, 1758-1843 -- Portraits
- Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892 -- Portraits
- Women authors, American
- Women poets, American
- Title
- Guide to the Yale Collection of American Literature Portrait File
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- by Brooke McManus
- Date
- September 2021
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.