Finding aid for the Emilie Michel Rifkind collection of H.L. Mencken letters 6197

Sue Luftschein
USC Libraries Special Collections
2019 July
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, California 90089-0189
specol@usc.edu


Language of Material: English
Contributing Institution: USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Emilie Michel Rifkind collection of H.L. Mencken letters
creator: Rifkind, Emilie Michel
creator: Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956
Identifier/Call Number: 6197
Physical Description: 0.21 linear feet. 1 box
Date (inclusive): circa 1905-1946
Abstract: The collection consists of letters written by H.L. Mencken to Louis Michel, Mrs. Louis Michel, and their daughter Emilie Michel Rifkind. Also included are Mencken's wedding announcement and calling card, a clipping from the Baltimore Sun about a piece by Michel, and letters from Princeton University librarian Julian Boyd to Emilie Rifkind about the letters. H.L. Mencken (1880-1956 was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, and cultural critic. Louis Michel, a German immigrant, met Mencken in Baltimore, where Michel was a lauded poet and sheriff's deputy. The two developed a life long friendship.

Biographical note

H.L. Mencken (1880-1956 was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, and cultural critic. Louis Michel, a German immigrant, met Mencken in Baltimore, where Michel was a lauded poet and sheriff's deputy (see Baltimore Sun, "Hon. Louis Michel Tells of His Home in Germany", January 27, 1907 and "Louis Michel to Return", May 1907). The two developed a life long friendship.

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of letters written by H.L. Mencken to Louis Michel, Mrs. Louis Michel, and their daughter Emilie Michel Rifkind. Also included are Mencken's wedding announcement and calling card, a clipping from the Baltimore Sun about a piece by Michel, and letters from Princeton University librarian Julian Boyd to Emilie Rifkind about the letters. The letters from Mencken were written on Baltimore Sun, American Mercury, and personal stationery and addressed to the Michel family in Baltimore and later Los Angeles. The early letters are handwritten; the later typed.

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Preferred Citation

[Box/folder no. or item name], Emilie Michel Rifkind collection of H.L. Mencken letters, Collection no. 6197, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Emilie Michel Rifkind.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Authors, American -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Letters
Printed ephemera
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956 -- Correspondence
Michel, Louis -- Archives

Box 1, Folder 1

Ephemera circa 1905, 1930

Scope and Contents

A clipping (from the Baltimore Sun?) about Michel's campaign song "Hail, Roosevelt and Fairbanks", pasted on a sheet of paper with a handwritten note from Mencken, "Famous at last!"; Mencken's wedding announcement and Mr. and Mrs. Mencken's calling card.
Box 1, Folder 2

Mencken to Louis Michel 1906, 1907, 1914

Box 1, Folder 3

Mencken to Louis Michel 1921, 1926-1928

Box 1, Folder 4

Mencken to Louis Michel 1930-1935

Box 1, Folder 5

Mencken to Mrs. Louis Michel 1935, 1937

Box 1, Folder 6

Mencken to Emilie Michel Rifkind 1935-1946

Box 1, Folder 7

Julian Boyd to Emilie Michel Rifkind 1942-1943