Robinson Jeffers family photograph collection photCL 257
Suzanne Oatey
The Huntington Library
July 2020
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
reference@huntington.org
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington LibraryPhoto Archives
Title: Robinson Jeffers family photograph collection
Creator:
Matthias, Blanche
Identifier/Call Number: photCL 257
Physical Description:
1.17 Linear Feet
(1 box)
Date (inclusive): approximately 1919-1944
Date (bulk): 1919-1940
Abstract: A collection of family photographs of
American poet Robinson Jeffers, his wife Una Jeffers, and their twin sons Donnan and Garth,
approximately 1919-1944. Photographs include the family home called Tor House, built by
Jeffers in Carmel, California.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
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[Identification of item]. Robinson Jeffers family photograph collection, The Huntington
Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Blanche C. Matthias, 1983.
Robinson Jeffers (1887-1962) was an American poet best known for his works focusing on the
California coast. In 1913 he married Una Call Kuster and a year later they settled in
Carmel, California, where Jeffers eventually built the stone cottage and tower he called Tor
House. In 1916, the couple had twin sons, Donnan Call and Garth Sherwood.
Blanche C. Matthias (1887-1983), donor of this collection, was a personal friend of the
Jeffers, and presumably took many of the photographs. Matthias was a Chicago art critic and
poet, and moved to Carmel, California with her husband in the 1920s.
A collection of photographs of American poet Robinson Jeffers, his family and friends, and
his home he called Tor House, in Carmel, California. The bulk of the images date from
approximately 1919 to 1940 and are chiefly black-and-white prints, 8 x 10 inches and
smaller, of Jeffers, his wife, Una, their twin sons Donnan and Garth, and a few friends:
George Sterling, C.E.S. Wood, and Blanche Matthias. The photographs belonged to Matthias,
and are mostly personal, informal images taken at or around Tor House, the distinctive stone
house Jeffers built on an open stretch of coast. Other items in the collection are: four
color snapshots of Jeffers' grandchildren, the latest dated 1969; two copies of sketched
portraits of Jeffers by M. A. Werboff; and a keepsake folder about Tor House from the series
"Homes of California Authors" (Book Club of California, 1967), with an essay by Theodore M.
Lilienthal.
Processed by Huntington Library staff, circa late-20th century. In 2020, Suzanne Oatey
created a finding aid derived from a collection file.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Dwellings -- California
Carmel (Calif.)
Photographs
Jeffers, Robinson, 1887-1962
Jeffers, Robinson, 1887-1962 -- Homes and
haunts
Jeffers, Una, 1884 or 1885-1950
Jeffers, Donnan Call
Jeffers, Garth Sherwood
Matthias, Blanche
Sterling, George,
1869-1926
Tor House (Carmel, Calif.)
Wood, Charles Erskine Scott,
1852-1944
Lilienthal, Theodore M.
(Theodore Max), 1893-1972
Box 1
Robinson Jeffers family photograph collection