Collection
Information
Biographical Sketches
Scope and Content Note
Box and Folder List
Cataloging Information
Processed by
Charles Latham
December 1988
Reprocessed by
Alexandra S. Gressitt
December 1995
Updated 2 January 2002
Manuscript Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269
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VOLUME OF COLLECTION: |
3 manuscript boxes and 1 oversize box |
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COLLECTION DATES: |
1880-1956 |
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PROVENANCE: |
Series I-gift of Harriet Day Eitel Wells Johnson, 1970; Series II-gift of Roger Kahn; Series III-gifts and purchases from various donors and dealers. |
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RESTRICTIONS: |
None |
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REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: |
Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society. |
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ALTERNATE FORMATS: |
None |
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OTHER FINDING AIDS: |
None |
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RELATED HOLDINGS: |
M 0628 Edmund Henry Eitel Papers; M 0660 IMCPL Riley Collection and see numerous entries under Riley, James Whitcomb in card catalogue. |
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ACCESSION NUMBER: |
Series I: 1970.0007; Series II: 1996.0078X; Series III: 1948.0518, 1953.0907, 1955.0314, 1958.0205, 1958.1208, 1966.1005, 1967.0026, 1967.1210, 1976.0804, 1978.0320, 1979.0714, 1979.0907, 1979.0908, 1979.1005, 1980.0718, 1987.0564, 1988.0635, 1988.0642, 1989.0287, 1989.0321, 1990.0144, 1990.0553, 1990.0582, 1990.0631, 1990.0632, 1990.0633, 1991.0016, 1991.0017, 1991.0018, 1991.0019, 1991.0020, 1991.0066, 1991.0175, 1991.0268, 1991.0535, 1991.0536, 1991.0537, 1991.0768, 1992.0001, 1992.0039, 1992.0302, 1993.0020, 1994.0192, 1994.0733, 1994.0824, 1995.0084, 1995.0360, 1996.0131, 1997.0116 |
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NOTES: |
Series III is an artificial series to which material relating to James Whitcomb Riley will be added as it becomes available. |
Harriet Day Eitel Wells Johnson was born circa 1880, Indianapolis, Indiana, died 23 January 1958, age 78, at the Indiana State Soldiers Home, Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery. She was the daughter of Henry Eitel (ca. 1853-February 1934), a prominent Indianapolis banker and financial manager of James Whitcomb Riley, and his first wife, Catherine Schramm (married 1878, died 1881). Henry Eitel subsequently married Elva May Riley, 1884 (d. 1909) and Martha Henderson, 1920, who survived him. Harriet graduated from Shortridge High School (1897) and attended The Castle Finishing School at Tarrytown-on-the- Hudson, NY. Twice married, her first husband was Samuel R. Wells, business manager of the Chicago Daily News; her second husband was Jesse T. Johnson a prominent Indianapolis architect. Harriet's association with James Whitcomb Riley stems from the ten years he resided with the Eitel's.
Marcus Dickey was born 26 September 1859, Fayette County, Indiana, son of Hugh A. and Harriet (Powell) Dickey, died 25 October 1950 in Pensacola, Florida, and was interred in Crown Hill Cemetery. He married first, 1887, Anna Mason of Hackleman, Indiana (d. 1889) and second, 1892, Isabelle E. Whyte of Madison, Connecticut. Educated at Fairmount Academy, Indiana State Normal School, 1880-3, (now Indiana State University) and Harvard, Dickey worked as school administrator for a number of years. Between 1896-1901 he was platform manager for James Whitcomb Riley and Secretary 1901-1906. Following the death of James Whitcomb Riley, Dickey was commissioned to write a biography--The Youth of James Whitcomb Riley (1919); The Maturity of James Whitcomb Riley (1922) and The Life of James Whitcomb Riley (2 vols ed.) 1923.
Margaret M. Scott, journalist, freelance feature writer, publicist, editor, and critic, was born about 1873 and died, aged 91, 17 June 1964, in Indianapolis, Indiana. She joined the staff of The News (Indianapolis) in 1892, when there was only one other female employee, and wrote society columns, music, art and drama reviews, and book reviews for Meredith Nicholson, literary editor for The News. Ms. Scott left the paper around 1910 after 18 years of service. Other professional interests included the establishment of her own literary studio, IN-VAR, derived from a Shakespearian phrase "infinite variety". She worked 12 years as a research editor and literary secretary to Professor Charles R. Williams, a former editor of The News and biographer of Rutherford B. Hayes.
Cornelius Henry Menger of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, married Amber Jean Hornstein, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Crain Hornstein in New York City, 7 April 1920. Menger first enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1916, transferred to the Coast Artillery Corp in the U.S. Army in 1917 and served in France during World War I as a Captain. He separated from the service in 1920.
Harry A. Kahn, a resident of Indianapolis, may have been married to Caroline Michael Kahn. No biographical information was located.
James Whitcomb Riley, a noted Hoosier poet, was born, 7 October 1849, Greenfield, Indiana, the third child of Reuben A. and Elizabeth (Marine) Riley, died, 22 July 1916, Indianapolis, Indiana, and is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery. Best known for his dialect verse, such as Raggedy Man (1907) and Little Orphant Annie (1908), his first poem appeared in 1870. In 1877 he started work at The Indianapolis Journal and his first publication "The Old Swimmin' Hole and Leven More Poems" came out in 1883. From the mid-1880's Riley travelled the lecture circuit. Never married, he lived in rental quarters with Mr. & Mrs. Charles L. Holstein on Lockerbie Street.
Sources: (Johnson) Indiana Biography Series Vol. 49, p 119; Vol. 50,
p. 6; Vol. 11, p. 112.
(Dickey) Indiana Biography Series Vol. 35., p. 113; Who Was Who in
America, Vol. 4, p. 249.
(Scott) Indiana Biography Series Vol. 58, p. 15; Vol. 63, p. 65
(Menger) Material in collection
(Riley) Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, p. 1196; Crowder, Richard, Those
Innocent Years, 1957.
This collection consists mainly of correspondence and literary products, a journal, clippings and some visual images. The collection was started with a bequest from Riley's niece-by-marriage, Harriet Day Eitel Wells Johnson, with other additions by donation and purchase. These various accessions were originally processed as a single collection. In 1995, in an effort to reflect provenance, the collection was reprocessed in three series, each series reflecting a particular donation or artificial collection. Series I represents materials from the original bequest from the Johnson estate and is divided into three subseries: the Johnson Papers; the Margaret M. Scott Papers and the Cornelius H. Menger Papers. No apparent relationship exists between the Menger Papers and the Johnson and Scott Papers. Series II are papers from the Harry A. Kahns and Series III is an artificial collection of James Whitcomb Riley correspondence and verse. With the exception of the Menger papers all other materials in this collection relate in some way to James Whitcomb Riley.
SERIES I: HARRIET EITEL WELLS JOHNSON PAPERS
Box 1, folders 1-17, contain papers of Harriet Eitel Wells Johnson. These include correspondence, 1893-1952, Invitations and Programs 1899-1955; Personal writings; photographs, and other personal papers. While much of the correspondence is from family members, Henry Eitel, and Elizabeth Eitel Miesse there is a large selection of correspondence from Marcus Dickey, Platform Manager and Secretary to James Whitcomb Riley, and his wife Julia Dickey.
Box 1, folders 18-23, contain correspondence and other materials of Margaret M. Scott. Letters from George Ade, John T. McCutcheon, and a collage of autographs by Ida M. Tarbell, Julia Marlow Sothern, Otis Skinner, and Charles Major are found in these folders.
Box 1, folders 23-28 contain the World War I journal of Cornelius H. Menger, and other military and personal papers. The journal is readable, well written and illustrated and gives a good picture of what was probably a typical military career.
SERIES II: HARRY A. KAHN PAPERS
Box 2, folders 1-2, contain letters, dictated by James Whitcomb Riley to Mr. and Mrs. Harry Kahn, 1914-1916, and one letter from Magdalene N. Holstein to the Kahns. Included with these letters are several photographs of James Whitcomb Riley while in Florida.
SERIES III: JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY COLLECTION
This portion of the collection represents an artificial grouping of miscellaneous Riley materials acquired by the Indiana Historical Society through the years since 1948. The materials have been arranged in two major groups: corresspondence and poetry. The correspondence (Box 2, folders 3-17) is filed chronologically. The poetry (Box 3, folders 1-21) is filed in two groups--the first chronological (folders 3-15) and the second alphabetical by title of poem (16-21). Folder 22 contains some visual images of James Whitcomb Riley. Folder 23 contains undated sketches by James Whitcomb Riley.
An item listing of the contents, excluding newspaper clippings, is available in the IHS Library.
Box 1, Series I: Harriet Eitel Wells Johnson Papers 1883-1956.
Folder Contents
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1 |
Correspondence, 1893-1916 (see also VC and OMB 0057) |
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2 |
Correspondence, 1920-1939 |
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3 |
Correspondence, 1940-1945 |
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4 |
Correspondence, 1946-1949 |
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5 |
Correspondence, 1950-1952 |
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6 |
Correspondence, n.d. |
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7 |
Invitations and Programs, 1899-1955 |
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8 |
Writings, 1941 & n.d. |
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9 |
Class of 1897 Roster, n.d. |
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10 |
Membership Card, n.d. |
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11 |
(OMB 0057) Broadside, 1942 |
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12 |
Advertising, n.d. |
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13 |
(VC) Photographs and Paintings (see also OVA; B & W negatives and OVA graphic storage) |
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14 |
Newspaper Clippings, 1931-1956 (see also OMB 0057, including Flat File: FF 11-m). Publications 1919, 1927, 1930, 1949 |
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16 |
Correspondence (Reproductions), 1894-1911, n.d. |
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17 |
James Whitcomb Riley Envelopes |
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18 |
Margaret M. Scott Correspondence, 1916-1938 (see also VC-OVA storage and OMB 0057) |
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19 |
Margaret M. Scott Correspondence, n.d. |
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20 |
Margaret M. Scott, James Whitcomb Riley materials, 1883-1909, n.d. (see also VC) |
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21 |
(VC) Margaret M. Scott, Photographs, n.d. |
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22 |
Margaret M. Scott, Newspaper Clippings, 1939-1951, n.d. |
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23-25 |
Cornelius H. Menger, Journal, 1915-1920 |
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26 |
Cornelius H. Menger Military Papers (see also OMB 0057 and OMB 0057, Flat File: FF 11-m) |
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27 |
Cornelius H. Menger, Physicial Training Notes of Company Administrator |
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28 |
Cornelius H. Menger, Notes on Running a Motel |
Box 2, Series II: Harry Kahn Papers, 1914-1916 and Series III: James
Whitcomb Riley Collection, 1880-1916
Folder Contents
Series II:
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1 |
Harry Kahn Correspondence, 1914-1916 |
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2 |
VC) Harry Kahn Photographs, 1914-1916 |
Series III:
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3 |
JWR Correspondence, 1880-1883 |
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4 |
JWR Correspondence, 1884-1885 |
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5 |
JWR Correspondence, 1888 |
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6 |
JWR Correspondence, 1890 |
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7 |
JWR Correspondence, 1891 |
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8 |
JWR Correspondence, 1892-1894 |
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9 |
JWR Correspondence, 1895-1897 |
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10 |
JWR Correspondence, 1897 [Correspondence, 1897-1903, laid in: Laughlin, Clara E. James Whitcomb Riley: Reminiscences. New York. Fleming H. Revell Company, 1916.] |
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11 |
JWR Correspondence, 1898-1899 |
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12 |
JWR Correspondence, 1900-1903 |
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13 |
JWR Correspondence, 1904 |
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14 |
JWR Correspondence, 1909 (see also VC, 35mm negative storage) |
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15 |
JWR Correspondence, 1911 |
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16 |
JWR Correspondence, 1915 |
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17 |
JWR Correspondence, n.d. |
Box 3, Series III: James Whitcomb Riley Collection, 1880-1916
Folder Contents
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1 |
Poetry, 1880 |
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2 |
Poetry, 1885 |
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3 |
Poetry, 1888 |
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4 |
Poetry, 1890 |
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5-10 |
Poetry, 1891 (6 vols.) |
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11 |
Poetry, 1895 |
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12 |
Poetry, 1897 |
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13 |
Poetry, 1900 |
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14 |
Poetry, 1901 |
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15 |
Poetry, 1903 |
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16 |
Poetry, "A", n.d. |
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17 |
Poetry, "L", n.d. |
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18 |
Poetry, "M", n.d. |
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19 |
Poetry, "P", n.d. |
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20 |
Poetry, "T", n.d. |
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21 |
Poetry, "W", n.d. |
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22 |
Visual Images, 1901, 1916 |
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23 |
Sketches, n.d. |
For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:
END