Overview of the Collection
Access
Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Scope and Content
Related Materials in the Huntington Library
Arrangement
Indexing Terms
Overview of the Collection
Title: Ina D. Coolbrith Papers
Date (inclusive): 1889-1932
Bulk dates: bulk
1906-1927
Creator:
Coolbrith, Ina D. (Ina Donna), 1841-1928.
Extent: 864 pieces in 12 boxes
Repository:
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection consists of correspondence and the personal
papers of California poet Ina Donna Coolbrith (1841-1928), chiefly reflecting her
life for the period after the San Francisco earthquake and fire.
Language: English.
Access
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services
Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.
Administrative Information
Publication Rights
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to
quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such
activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is
one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item]. Ina D. Coolbrith Papers, The Huntington Library, San
Marino, California.
Provenance
Purchased in two lots from N. Kovach, December 6 1950, and February 20, 1951.
Biographical Note
Poet Ina Donna Coolbrith (1841-1928) moved with her family to Los Angeles, California in 1852, and she later
lived in San Francisco.
Her
verse was published in two books,
A Perfect Day (1881) and
Songs from the Golden
Gate
(1895) and in various periodicals, including
Overland Monthly,
Californian,
Harper's weekly,
Century magazine, and Scribner's.
In the
early days of the
Overland Monthly, Coolbrith was
associated with Bret Harte as an editor; gave encouragement to the young Joaquin
Miller; and by the turn of the century had published several volumes of her own
verse. The San Francisco fire destroyed her manuscripts and mementos and left her
without employment. When the exposition was held in San Francisco she summoned a
World Congress of Authors and in the same year was crowned poet laureate of
California. She was poet laureate of
California from 1915-1928.
Scope and Content
The collection consists of correspondence and the personal papers of California poet
Ina Donna Coolbrith (1841-1928). The materials primarily date after 1906, as many of
her manuscripts and mementos were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco fire. The papers
include letters from personal friends about her
health, birthday greetings, etc., fan letters from readers and admirers, requests for her poems and
for permission to use them, materials related the publication of her writings, material related to
lecturer and editor George W. James
and the Coolbrith Home Fund,
and materials concerning the Congress of Authors
in San Francisco (1915), including letters from numerous authors in response to her
invitation to attend the event. There are also a few occasional references to poetry
in American for the period of 1906 to 1925. Unfortunately the present collection
contains little of importance bearing on Coolbrith's relation with such literary
figures as Bret Harte, Joaquin Miller, or George Sterling. There are two boxes of
ephemera at the end of the collection.
Correspondents represented in the collection include: Gertrude Atherton (12 pieces),
Albert M. Bender (3 pieces), Amanda (Mathews) Chase (3 pieces), Ina Coolbrith (19
pieces), Bio (Terrill) DeCasseres (3 pieces), Iza Duffus Hardy (14 pieces), George
Wharton James (26 pieces), Charles Meeker Kozlay (3 pieces), Charles Fletcher Lummis
(7 pieces), Edwin Markham (8 pieces), Edward F. O'Day (5 pieces), James D. Phelan (4
pieces), Charles Phillips (11 pieces), Don Carlos Pickett (6 pieces), Herman George
Scheffauer (4 pieces), and Edmund Clarence Stedman (7 pieces).
Some notable letters include two November 1926 letters from Albert M. Bender
concerning George Sterling's death; an August 21, 1912 letter from Amanada
(Matthews) Chase describing a visit to Katharine (Tynan) Hinkson; a February 9,
1912, letter from Ina Coolbrith to George Wharton James mentioning "I told you Harte
did not like Joaquin & that we disagreed with regard to his talent ...", as well
as another February 9, 1912, letter from Coolbrith to Laurie Haynes Martin regarding
Bret Harte's career; a September 22, 1921, letter from George H. Himes, telling of
printing a book for Joaquin Miller in 1868; correspondence from George Wharton James
regarding the Coolbrith Home Fund; and "Five Quatrains for my friend, Henry Meade
Bland" by Edwin Markham (June 1, 1918).
Related Materials in the Huntington Library
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by author, with ephemera at the end of the collection.
Indexing Terms
Subjects
Coolbrith, Ina D. (Ina
Donna), 1841-1928.
Poets, American -- California.
Poets, American -- 20th century --
Correspondence.
Women poets, American -- 20th century
-- Archives.
Forms/Genres
Ephemera -- 20th century.
Letters (correspondence) -- 20th
century.
Added Entries
Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn,
1857-1948.
Bender, Albert M. (Albert Maurice),
1866-1941.
Hardy, Iza Duffus.
James, George Wharton,
1858-1923.
Kozlay, Charles Meeker.
Lummis, Charles Fletcher,
1859-1928.
Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940.
O'Day, Edward F. (Edward Francis),
1883-1959.
Phelan, James D. (James Duval),
1861-1930.
Scheffauer, Herman George,
1878-1927.
Stedman, Edmund Clarence,
1833-1908.