Zoë Akins papers, 1878 - 1959

Summary

Creators:

Akins, Zoë, 1886-1958.

Abstract:

This collection contains the personal and professional papers of American writer Zoë Akins (1886-1958). It includes correspondence with various literary, theatrical and motion picture figures of the first half of the twentieth century. There are also manuscripts of novels, plays, poems, short stories, outlines for plays, and articles. There is also correspondence related to her husband, Hugo Rumbold (d. 1932), and the Rumbold family.

Extent:

92 Linear Feet (185 boxes, 1 folder )

Language:

Materials are in English, French, and Spanish.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Zoë Akins Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The papers consist of the following series:

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-60) are arranged alphabetically by author and title. The manuscripts cover a wide span of Akins' literary career including some of her childhood writing and the episodes for television she was working on at the time of her death. Included in this series are: Akins' articles, essays, interviews, short stories, plays, screenplays, poems and novels (both published and unpublished). This series also includes manuscripts by other authors, most notably by W.H. Auden, Carlo Beuf, Hildegarde Flanner, Patterson Greene, Orrick Johns, George O'Neil, Hugo Rumbold, and George Sterling.

2. Correspondence (Boxes 61-165) is arranged alphabetically by author. This series includes personal letters and letters related to Akins' writing; the personal letters cover almost all of Akins' life, from her teenage years when she became engaged, briefly, to William Marion Reedy, till the end of her life. A large number of letters deal with the entertainment business, both Hollywood and Broadway, concerning the production of screenplays and plays.

This series includes the personal and business correspondence of Hugo Rumbold and the Rumbold family. Akins retained many business letters of her late husband concerning his various projects. This series also includes a number of letters written or received by Rumbold family members dealing with their diplomatic work, including comments on historical events and meeting famous people in the late 19th and early 20th centuries all over the world.

This series also includes letters from notable people in the literary, acting, and publishing fields in America and Europe, including: Aline Barnsdall, Ethel Barrymore, Carlo Beuf, Billie Burke, Willa Cather, George Cukor, Patterson Greene, Gerald Grove, William Harris, Carl Hovey, Jobyna Howland, Orrick Johns, George S. Kaufman, Alice Kauser, Sonya Levien, Anita Loos, Amy Lowell, W. Somerset Maugham, H.L. Mencken, Harry Moses, Kay Rasmus Nielsen, George O'Neil, Max Pfeffer, Rosamond Pinchot, Una Pope-Hennessey, William M. Reedy, Etheldred Rumbold, Horace Rumbold, Hugo Rumbold, David O. Selznick, Edward Sheldon, Sara Teasdale, Harriet Ware, Edith Wharton, and John Wheelock. The series also includes letters from various magazines, movie studios, production companies, and theatres, including: Charles Scribner's Sons, Ladies' Home Journal, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, R K O Pictures, Richard Madden Play Co., Samuel French, Inc., Shubert Theatres Corporation, and the Theatre Guild.

3. Photographs (Boxes 166-168) are arranged alphabetically by subject. The first group consists of famous actors and actresses from Hollywood and Broadway, from 1905, through the 1950s; this series also includes some photographs from various productions of Akins' screenplays and plays. The second group includes Akins and Rumbold family photographs.

4. Drawings (Boxes 169-170) are arranged alphabetically by artist. This series includes drawings by Alfred Joseph Frueh, Norman Bel Geddes, Kay Rasmus Nielsen, and Hugo Rumbold. A number of these drawings are of stage sets for Akins' plays, "The Human Element," and "Papa."

5. Ephemera (Boxes 171-184, Oversize Box 185, Oversize folder) are arranged into various subseries. These include: Akins' Personal & Family Material, Hugo Rumbold & Rumbold Family Material, Financial & Legal Material, Contracts, Agreements & Copyrights, Box Office Statements & Receipts, Printed Articles, Clippings, Scrapbooks, and the Pulitzer Prize awarded to Akins.

Biographical / historical:

Zoë Akins (1886-1958) was a dramatist, novelist, poet and screenwriter. Born in Humansville, Missouri, on 30 October, she was educated at home before attending Monticello Seminary in Godfrey, Illinois, and Hosmer Hall in St. Louis. While a teenager in St. Louis, Akins wrote poetry and criticism for William Marion Reedy's "Mirror" in 1905, she moved to New York to be an actress but eventually found writing to be her true talent. Her early plays include, "Iseult the Fair," "Papa," "The Magical City," and the moderately successful "Déclassée," with Ethel Barrymore.

In 1928, Akins moved to California permanently to work as a screenwriter under contract to Paramount and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where she became a favorite writer of George Cukor. During this time she wrote the screenplays "Christopher Strong" and "Morning Glory" for Katharine Hepburn and "Camille" for Greta Garbo. During these years she continued to write for the stage and, in 1935, won the Pulitzer Prize for her dramatization of Edith Wharton's story, "The Old Maid." In addition to many screenplays and plays, Akins also authored two volumes of poetry, criticism, two novels, teleplays, magazine and newspaper articles.

On March 12, 1932, Akins married Capt. Hugo Rumbold, an artist and set designer from a British diplomatic family, but, tragically, he died only eight months later on 18 November; she never remarried. Akins lived the remainder of her life in Southern California, where she died, after a brief illness, on October 29, 1958.

Acquisition information:

The bulk of the collection was acquired from Zoë Akins on March 20, 1952. The following material was acquired separately and added to the collection: Orrick Johns, H.L. Mencken letters to Akins, and H.L. Mencken letter to Jobyna Howland, gift of Zoë Akins, July 28, 1952. Zoë Akins Addenda acquired from the Zoë Akins Estate, May 12, 1961. Zoë Akins manuscripts, "First Verse" and "Iseult, The Fair," gift of Henry O'Neil. Zoë Akins letter to Alexander Woollcott acquired from Walter R. Benjamin, January 10, 1978, (accession number 493). Zoë Akins typewritten letters (carbon copies), gift of Occidental College Library, January 21, 1982, (accession number 926). Zoë Akins diary, 1924, acquired from R.E. Evans, December 23, 1986, (accession number 1312).

Processing information:

1. The cataloging of this collection was begun in 1952 by Gertrude Ruhnka and continued by Kay Peterson in the 1990s. In 2006, it was decided to completely recatalog the collection according to current standard authorized cataloging forms. The original Summary Report prepared by Gertrude Ruhnka, and used by subsequent catalogers, has been retained and is cataloged in Ephemera Box 181 (16).

2. Zoë Akins' autograph notes appear on manuscripts and letters throughout the collection. Unless substantive, it was decided not to index each instance separately. Additionally, autograph notes made by Gertrude Ruhnka, while going through the collection with Miss Akins, were not indexed, but, if the notes were substantive, noted on the folder.

3. Zoë Akins appears to have been an indifferent speller, especially of proper names and titles of her own works. She frequently misspelled the names of friends, both in letters to them and when writing about them; this habit was also shared by her mother, Sarah Elizabeth Akins. Regardless of the Akins' spelling, letters are cataloged and indexed using the authorized name both on the folder and in this Finding Aid.

4. There are references to Zoë Akins throughout the collection; only substantive references and author/title references for her works have been subject indexed.

5. A number of Akins' books, plays, and screenplays were published and/or produced under more than one title; it was decided to catalog and index these works by the title used at the time by Akins.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in the following 5 series:

1. Manuscripts (Boxes 1-60)
2. Correspondence (Boxes 61-165)
3. Photographs (Boxes 166-168)
4. Drawings (Boxes 169-170)
5. Ephemera (Boxes 171-184, Oversize Box 185, Oversize folder)

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Related resources

Other descriptive data:

Individual call numbers included in the collection: mssZA 1-7330.

Indexed terms

Subjects:

Women dramatists, American -- 20th century -- Archives
Women novelists, American -- 20th century -- Archives
Women poets, American -- 20th century -- Archives
Women screenwriters -- United States -- Archives
Drawings United States 20th century
Ephemera United States 20th century
Family papers United States 20th century
Letters (correspondence) United States 20th century
Manuscripts United States 20th century
Personal papers United States 20th century
Photographs United States 20th century
Plays United States 20th century
Poems United States 20th century
Screenplays United States 20th century

Names:

Barnsdall, Aline, 1882-1946
Barrymore, Ethel, 1879-1959
Beuf, Carlo, 1893-1981
Burke, Billie, 1885-1970
Cather, Willa, 1873-1947
Cerf, Bennett, 1898-1971
Churchill, Winston, 1874-1965
Cukor, George, 1899-1983
Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940
Fitzgerald, Zelda, 1900-1948
Greene, Patterson
Grove, Gerald, Sir, 1886-1962
Harris, William, 1884-1946
Hovey, Carl, 1875-
Howland, Jobyna
Hurst, Fannie, 1889-1968
Johns, Orrick, 1887-1946
Kaufman, George S. (George Simon), 1889-1961
Kauser, Alice, 1872-1945
Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert), 1885-1930
Lawrence, Frieda, 1879-1956
Levien, Sonya, 1888?-1960
Loos, Anita, 1893-1981
Lowell, Amy, 1874-1925
Luhan, Mabel Dodge, 1879-1962
Maugham, W. Somerset (William Somerset), 1874-1965
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956
Moses, Harry, 1873-1937
Nielsen, Kay Rasmus, 1886-1957
O'Neil, George, 1898-1940
Pfeffer, Max, 1884-
Pinchot, Rosamond, 1904-1938
Pope-Hennessy, Una, 1876-1949
Reedy, William Marion, 1862-1920
Rumbold, Etheldred, Lady, 1879-1964
Rumbold, Horace, Sir, 1869-1941
Rumbold, Hugo, -1932
Selznick, David O., 1902-1965
Shaw, Bernard, 1856-1950
Sheldon, Edward, 1886-1946
Sterling, George, 1869-1926
Teasdale, Sara, 1884-1933
Ware, Harriet
Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937
Wheelock, John Hall, 1886-1978
Woollcott, Alexander, 1887-1943

Restrictions:

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Terms of access:

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.

For more information about the copyright ownership of unpublished materials in the Zoe Akins Papers, researchers are encouraged to contact the Huntington's Curator of Literary Manuscripts.

Previously, no copies could be made of any of the letters by Willa Cather; additionally the letters were not to be published from in any print or electronic medium. These restriction expired in 2011. For more information about securing publication permission for the letters of Willa Cather, please contact the Willa Cather Trust.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Zoë Akins Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:

Huntington Library, Manuscript Collections

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, CA 91108, US

Contact:

(626) 405-2191

reference@huntington.org

Website