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Guide to the Melville Best Anderson Papers, 1926-1930
M0731
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Table of contents
Title: Anderson, Melville Best Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1926-1930
Collection number: M0731
Creator:
Anderson, Melville Best, 1851-1933
Extent:
1 linear ft.
Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Abstract: Primarily incoming correspondence to Melville Best Anderson from former students Anna Strunsky Walling and Agnes Smith Manucci
Capponi, from colleagues E.O. James, David Starr Jordan, Thomas H. MacBride, Charles Eliot Norton, and Paget Toynbee (fellow
Dante scholar), as well as less detailed correspondence from Fremont Older and former students Samuel S. McClure and John
Huston Finley, as well as various other academic and literary figures of the early twentieth century, including many affiliated
with Stanford.
Language:
English.
None.
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights
reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To
obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the
Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Gift of Patricia Sage Liedtke, 1985.
Melville Best Anderson Papers. M0731. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Melville Best Anderson was born in Kalamazoo Michigan in 1851, the son of Helen
Best Anderson and Edward Coffin Anderson. His father's career as a teacher and minister caused the family to move
several times during Melville's childhood. At eighteen he entered Cornell University, where he began life-long friendships
with other young scholars, including David Starr Jordan. In 1872 Anderson began his career as a literary scholar, and in the
next decades he taught at
Butler University, Knox College, Purdue University and the University of Iowa. In 1891 Anderson came to Stanford at
the request of David Starr Jordan to serve as head of the English Department. Professor Anderson remained at
Stanford until 1910, when he retired emeritus to devote himself to Dante scholarship. His most celebrated literary achievement
was his translation of the Divina Comedia (final edition, Oxford University Press: 1932). Anderson died on June 22, 1933 at
his brother's home in La Jolla, California.
The Melville Best Anderson Collection of primarily incoming
correspondence was donated to the Stanford Libraries by
Patricia Sage Liedtke in 1985. The collection measures 1.0
linear foot in two regular-sized manuscript boxes, and
consists of letters to Professor Anderson from family,
friends, students and colleagues.
The collection includes extensive
correspondence from former students Agnes Smith Manucci
Capponi and Anna Strunsky Walling (poet and socialist), and
from colleagues E. O. James, David Starr Jordan, Thomas H.
MacBride, Charles Eliot Norton and Paget Toynbee (fellow
Dante scholar). Also included is less detailed
correspondence from Fremont Older (writer) and former
students Samuel S. Mc Clure and John Huston Finley, as well
as various other academic and literary figures, including
many affiliated with Stanford. More materials on Melville
Best Anderson are available in the Anderson Family Papers
collection (M051).
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Anderson, Melville Best, 1851-1933.
Capponi, Agnes Smith Mannucci.
Capponi, Agnes Smith Manucci.
Finley, John H. (John Huston), 1863-1940.
James, E.O.
Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931.
MacBride, Thomas H.
McClure, S.S. (Samuel Sidney), 1857-1949.
Norton, Charles Eliot, 1827-1931.
Older, Fremont.
Toynbee, Paget Jackson, 1855-1932.
Walling, Anna Strunsky, 1879-
American literature--20th century.