Eleanor Chase papers

Collection

Call Number: YCAL MSS 748

Scope and Contents

The papers include correspondence, writings, photographs, and scrapbooks documenting the life and literary career of Eleanor Chase. Correspondence contains incoming letters to Eleanor Chase (1919 to 1943). Principal correspondents include W. Graham Robertson and Robert Benchley. Also included is one letter to Alexandra Fatio Taylor from Helen Keller, 1953. Writings consist chiefly of typescript drafts of novels, short stories, poetry, and drama, most of which were unpublished during Chase's lifetime. Photographs include portraits of Eleanor Chase and of literary critic Alexander Woolcott. Scrapbooks, which have been disbound, contain letters, photographs, and clippings related to Eleanor Chase, her writings, and her family.

Dates

1914-1996
Majority of material found within 1914 - 1944

Creator

Chase, Eleanor, 1903-1944

Language

English

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Eleanor Chase Papers 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

Purchased from Alexandra Taylor on the Eugene G. O'Neill Memorial Fund, 2000. Gift of Alexandra Taylor, 2003-2007.

Arrangement

Organized into three series: I. Correspondence, 1919-1953. II. Writings, 1914-1944. III. Photographs and Scrapbooks, 1910-1996.

Extent

2.67 Linear Feet (9 boxes)

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.chase

Additional Description

Eleanor Chase (1903-1944)

Eleanor Chase Fatio, American novelist and socialite, was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, on March 3, 1903 to Nia Sawyer and Charles Curry Chase. In 1928 she published her first novel, Pennagan Place (New York: J. H. Sears & Co.). Her second novel, The Last of Wisdom (New York: J. H. Sears & Co.) followed in 1932. Chase was a member of the Authors League and friend of Alexander Woolcott and Robert Benchley.

Eleanor Chase married the Swiss-born architect Maurice Fatio in 1929. The couple lived in New York and Palm Beach, Florida. She died on October 21, 1944 and was survived by her children, Alexandra Fatio Taylor and Maurice Pierre Fatio.

Additional biographical information can be found in Eleanor of Palm Beach, by Hubert Pryor ([Philadelphia, PA: Xlibris Corp., 2002).

Processing Information

Former call numbers: Uncat MSS 25, Uncat MSS 972, Uncat Za File 609, Uncat Za File 673.

This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and arrangement, in 2013.

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, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.