Guide to the Raymond Macdonald Alden Papers
Daniel Hartwig
Stanford University. Libraries.
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
October 2010
Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved.
Note
This encoded finding aid is compliant with Stanford EAD Best Practice Guidelines, Version 1.0.
Overview
Call Number: SC0134
Creator:
Alden, Raymond Macdonald, 1873-1924.
Title: Raymond Macdonald Alden papers
Dates: 1891-1924
Physical Description:
5.5 Linear feet
Summary: Includes personal correspondence, speeches, essays, articles, lectures, notes, manuscripts, manuscript materials for some
of Alden's works, and 34 pocket journals (1891-1924). Correspondents include James and Parker Hall, Cheesman A. Herrick, Frank
Hill, Will David Howe, William Jaggard, Edmund James, Harry Stuart Veddar Jones, W. A. Neilson, A. G. Newcomer, S. A. Tannenbaum,
Ashley H. Thorndike, and Henry Van Dyke.
Language(s): The materials are in English.
Repository:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, CA 94305-6064
Email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 725-1022
URL: http://library.stanford.edu/spc
Administrative Information
Provenance
Gift of Donald H. Alden, 1975, 1985.
Information about Access
This collection is open for research.
Ownership & Copyright
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, California 94304-6064. Consent
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission
from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s) or assigns. See: http://library.stanford.edu/depts/spc/pubserv/permissions.html.
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
Cite As
Raymond Macdonald Alden Papers (SC0134). Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University Libraries,
Stanford, Calif.
Biographical/Historical Sketch
R.M. Alden, born in New Hartford, New York in 1873, was the only child of the Reverend Gustavus R. Alden and Isabella Macdonald
Alden (editor of a juvenile publication and author of numerous Sunday school books and fiction for adult readers). He began
his college career at Rollins College in Florida, a school which would award him an honorary doctorate in 1910. Alden eventually
completed his A.B. in English at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1894.
Alden earned his A.M. from Harvard (1896) and finished his Ph.D. at Penn (1898). During his student and immediately post-doctoral
years, he was an instructor at Columbian (now George Washington) University, an assistant at Harvard, and a Senior Fellow-instructor
at Penn. He came to Stanford in 1901 as Assistant Professor of English and Rhetoric. Promoted to Associate Professor in 1909,
Alden left for the University of Illinois in 1911, having been offered a full professorship and the chairmanship of the Illinois
English Department. He retraced his steps four years later when Stanford offered him a duplicate situation. Alden continued
as chairman at Stanford until his death in 1924.
Alden's major professional works include: The Rise of Formal Satire in England (1899), The Art of Debate (1900), On Seeing
an Elizabethan Play (1903), English Verse (1903), An Introduction to Poetry (1909), Tennyson--How to Know Him (1917), Shakespeare
(Master Spirits of Literature Series, 1917).
In addition, Alden served as editor for numerous editions of Shakespeare (Julius Caesar and Sonnets) and other authors, as
well as for several anthologies of essays, poems, and other readings. He was a frequent contributor to professional journals
and publications.
Alden also achieved a certain amount of recognition as a writer of fiction and poetry. His Knights of the Silver Shield (1906),
Why the Chimes Rang (1909), and The Boy Who Found the King (1922) were joined on the verse side by Consolatio--an Ode. A short
story won third prize ($1,000) in the Collier's contest of 1905.
Alden served as President of the Drama League of America from its founding in 1914 until his death in 1924. He was also a
member of the Modern Language Association, American Philological Association, American Association of University Professors,
Phi Beta Kappa, and Beta Theta Pi.
Married to Barbara G. Hitt in 1904, Alden had a daughter and four sons. He was active in the Palo Alto Presbyterian Church.
[Information obtained from the Who Was Who in America, Vol I, 1897-1942, and from the Stanford Illustrated Review, October
1924.]
Description of the Collection
Raymond Macdonald Alden (1873-1924) was an Assistant and later Associate Professor of English at Stanford from 1901 to 1911.
He returned to Stanford as a full Professor and as department chairperson in 1915, maintaining this position until his death.
This collection contains a relatively small portion of Alden's personal and professional papers. There are four boxes of incoming
correspondence (with a few copies of outgoing letters interfiled), most of which came from English teachers with whom Alden
was acquainted at other institutions. There are four boxes of manuscripts and manuscript materials for some of Alden's minor
works: essays, articles, lectures, notes for lectures, speeches (including the valedictory address that Alden delivered at
the University of Pennsylvania commencement of 1894), several poems, and a number of short stories (including all of those
from the collection The Ends of the Earth, publication unknown).
In addition, the collection contains thirty-four pocket journals in which Alden chronicled the days of the years 1891 through
1924. These diaries note weather conditions, general activities, reading done and writing completed. There are also brief
comments on major historical events (San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, outbreak of World War I, etc.), although the journals'
purpose appears to have been primarily one of objectively recording factual data.
This collection also contains 5 issues of the Carbondale Firefly, a privately printed and distributed journal which Alden
produced in his childhood.
Access Terms
Alden, Raymond Macdonald, 1873-1924.
Hall, James Parker.
Herrick, Cheesman A.
Hill, Frank Ernest, 1888-1969
Howe, Will David, 1873-1946.
Jaggard, William, 1868-1947.
James, Edmund.
Jones, Harry Stuart Vedder.
Jordan, David Starr, 1851-1931
Neilson, William A. W.
Newcomer, A. G.
Stanford University. Department of English. Faculty.
Tannenbaum, S. A.
Thorndike, Ashley Horace, 1871-1933.
Wilbur, Ray L., (Ray Lyman), 1875-1949
Authors.
College teachers.
English language--Study and teaching.
Essays.
Journals.
Manuscripts (for publication).
Notes.
Speeches.
Index of Major Correspondents
Name |
Adams, Reverend Charles Ryan |
Adams, Joseph Q. |
American Book Company |
American Magazine |
Baker, George P. |
Barstow, C.L. |
Basset, L.E. |
Bernays, Albin |
Birmingham Library |
Blodgett, B.G. |
Boston Public Library |
Bovard, George F. |
Boyer, C.V. |
Briggs, L.B.R. |
Burnight, T.S. |
Carruth, W.H. |
Christian Endeavor World |
Clark, F.H. |
Clark, G.A. |
Coolbrith, Ina |
Cooper, Lane |
Cranston, William |
Croll, Morris W. |
The Dial |
Douglas, Lloyd F. |
Duffield & Co. Publishers |
Duniway, Clyde A. |
Earle, Homer P. |
Paul Elder & Co. |
Ensminger, F.P. |
The Evangelist |
Fenning, Frederick A. |
Flugel, Ewald |
Folger, H.C. |
Forbis, John F. |
Ford, J.H. |
Furness, Horace Howard |
Gaw, Allison |
Gayley, C.M. |
Good Housekeeping Magazine |
Gosse, Edmund |
Gray, H.D. |
Greenlaw, Edwin |
Hall, James Parker |
Harper and Brothers Publishers |
Hart, Walter Morris |
Harvard Graduates Magazine |
Hempl, George |
Herrick, Cheesman A. |
Hill, Frank |
Henry Holt & Co. |
Howe, Julia Ward |
Howe, Thomas C. |
Howe, W.D. |
Huston, C.A. |
Illinois, University of |
Jaggard, William |
James, Edmund |
Jessup, Alexander |
Jones, H.S.V. |
Jones, Llewellyn |
Jordan, David Starr |
Kellogg, V.L. |
Kelly, W.H. |
Kemp, D.C. |
Kittredge, G.L. |
Liddell, Mark H. |
The MacMillan Co. |
Manly, John M. |
Markham, Edwin |
McClatchy, V.S. |
Modern Language Reviews |
Monaghan, James |
Montague, A.P. |
Morris, A.R. |
Morrow, William |
Morton, Edward P. |
The Nation |
Neihardt, J.G. |
Neilson, W.A. |
Nevin, Allan |
Newcomer, A.G. |
Nolen, John |
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. |
Noyes, Alfred |
Noyes, George R. |
Omond, T.S. |
Padelford, Frederick M. |
Peers, E. Allison |
Pennsylvania, Associated Clubs |
Pennsylvania, University of |
Pepper, George W. |
Perriman, J.W. |
Perry, Bliss |
Pittman, E.K. |
Presbyterian Publication House |
Remington Typewriter Co. |
Riley, Alice |
Robinson, Fred N. |
Rollins College |
Benjamin H. Sanborn & Co. |
Schelling, Felix E. |
Scott, Foresman, & Co. |
Searles, Colbert |
Seward, S.S., Jr. |
Sherman, Stuart P. |
Skinner, Ada M. |
Smith, Kate E. |
Stoll, Elmer E. |
Tannenbaum, Dr. S.A. |
Tatlock, John S.P. |
The Texas Review |
Thayer, William R. |
Thompson, Karl O. |
Thorndike, Ashley H. |
Tolman, A.H. |
Trumbull, C.G. |
Trumbull, H. Clay |
Van Dyke, Henry |
Villard, Oswald Garrison |
Vincent, John H. |
Weygandt, Charles |
Wilbur, Ray Lyman |
Winans, J.A. |
Woodbridge, Homer |
Woolbert, Charles S. |
Wright, C.F. Tucker |
Box 1, Folder 1
Correspondence, Allin, C.D.
Box 1, Folder 2
_______, Automobile Association
Box 1, Folder 5
_______, Basset, Lee Emerson
Box 1, Folder 6
_______, Bobbs-Merrill Co.
Box 2, Folder 4
_______, Houghton Mifflin Co.
Box 3, Folder 6
_______, Scribners, Charles
Box 4, Folder 3
_______, Fragementary and Unidentified
Box 4, Folder 4
_______, R. M. Alden to his family
Box 4, Folder 6
Alden, Barbara Hitt : letters received on the death of R.M. Alden
Box 4, Folder 7
Alden, Barbara Hitt : Correspondence re: Carnegie Foundation Pension
Box 4, Folder 8
Alden, Barbara Hitt : Correspondence, General
Box 5
Daily Journals, 1891 - 1907
Note
[Professor Alden kept a diary from 1891 to 1924, a period which encompassed his adult life from age 18 until six months prior
to his death. The pocket journals include brief entries for each day of the year, recording the weather, the day's primary
activities (often citing particular restaurants and nearly always mentioning what the author had read) and occasional notes
on historical events (the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the outbreak of World War I, etc.)]
Box 6
Daily Journals, 1908 - 1924
Box 7, Folder 1
Articles: "Studies in Modern Tragedy, I & II"
Box 7, Folder 2
_______: "Studies in Modern Tragedy, III & IV"
Box 7, Folder 3
_______: "Literature and Morality"
Box 7, Folder 4
_______: "Art and Morality", "Types of Modern Tragedy", and "Theory of Poetry".
Box 7, Folder 5
Essays: "Some Thoughts on Victorianism", "The American Professor" (2 versions)
Box 7, Folder 6
_______: "The Late Victorians", "The Punctuation of Shakespeare's Printers", and "The Relation of Verse to the Drama"
Box 7, Folder 7
_______: "Some Notes on So-called Trochaic Meters in English"
Box 7, Folder 8
Lectures: "Hyper-class Consciousness: A Study in Morbid Social Psychology", "Imagination and Reality", "The Pilgrim Consciousness
and the Commonwealth", and "The Young Man's Christ"
Box 7, Folder 9
_______: "The Meaning of Christmas", "The Dark Ages and Modern Literature", "Notes on the History of the Doctrine of Divine
Justice", and "Palo Alto Presbyterian Church: an Historical Sketch"
Box 7, Folder 10
_______: "The Non-Vocational Student", "Personality and Modern Tragedy", "Literature and Nationalism", and "The Historical
Novel"
Box 7, Folder 11
Notes for Assorted Lectures: Shelley, Poetry and Drama, Poetry and Life, Poetry and Music, Poetry and Tragedy, and the Non-Vocational
Element in Education
Box 8, Folder 1
Notes for Lectures on Tragedy
Box 8, Folder 2
Notes and Assorted Materials for Lectures on Tragedy
Box 8, Folder 3
Reading Lists and Bibliographies
Box 8, Folder 4
Reminiscence of The University of Pennsylvania Zelosophic Club of 1894 (written in the form of a letter, 1909).
Box 8, Folder 4
Speeches: "Myself, My Work, and My Neighbor" and "The Utilities of Culture" (the letter being the Valedictory Oration for
the Penn Class of 1894)
Box 8, Folder 5
"Know Thyself" (A Farce) and Assorted Poems
Box 8, Folder 6
Novel: The Turkish Balloon
Box 8, Folder 7
Short Stories: "The Ills That Tom Was Heir To", and "The Tongue of Sapphira"
Box 8, Folder 8
_______: "Two Balloons and a Girl", "The Encyclopedist", "The Agitator", and "Mr. Wetherbee's Good Time"
Box 8, Folder 9
_______: "The Eligibility of Pilkington", "The Vindication of Uncle Silas", and "A Sprig of Holly"
Box 8, Folder 10
_______: Ends of the Earth - collection's introduction and the title story
Box 8, Folder 11
_______: Ends of the Earth - "Promised Land", "Lake of the Sky", and "Marantha"
Box 9, Folder 1
Short Stories: Ends of the Earth - "Her Other Self", "Filippo", and "San Felice"
Box 9, Folder 2
_______: Ends of the Earth - "The Race for Home", "According to Lucy", and "The Flight"
Box 9, Folder 3
_______: "The Seven Kingdoms and the Hidden Spring", "The Adventures of Pscyhe", and "The Halowe'en School"
Box 9, Folder 4
_______: "An Hour in ST. Batholomew's", "In St. Bartholomew's"
Box 9, Folder 5
_______: "Jo-John and the Ogre", "In a Quaker Library", "Monte Potiri"
Box 9, Folder 6
_______: "The New Rose in the Old Garden", "Mr. Funk's Collision", "The Ideal Man", and "Ad Astra"
Box 9, Folder 7
"Why the Chimes Rang" and Related Ephemera
Box 9, Folder 8
Publishing Agreements, 1900 - 1932
Box 9, Folder 10
Bibliography of R.M. Alden's Writings
Box 10, Folder 2
University of Pennsylvania, Alumni Register
November 1924
Box 10, Folder 3
_______, "The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle"
January 1942
Box 10, Folder 4
_______, "The Record of '94"
Box 10, Folder 5
_______, "Ninety-four : Five Years After"
Box 10, Folder 6
_______, "Ninety-four : Twenty-five Years After"
Box 10, Folder 7
_______, "Ninety-four : Fifty Years After"
Box 10, Folder 9
"Ajax et Cassandra" Mss. and drawings
Box 10, Folder 10
Anderson, Melville B. The Great Refusal : A War-Poem
Box 10, Folder 11
Alden, Barbara Hitt. Chapparal, Vol. 3 no. 10 (1902) - Annotated Copy
Box 11
Scrapbook
circa 1888-1910