Dreiser (Theodore) Papers, 1917-1953

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Title:
Theodore Dreiser papers
Dates:
1917-1953
Creators:
Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945
Abstract:
Papers belonging to American writer Theodore Dreiser.
Extent:
3.6 Linear Feet (3 boxes)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Theodore Dreiser papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts and newspaper clippings relating to Theodore Dreiser and his friends and associates. Most of the correspondence is between Dreiser and his intimate friend and secretary, Elizabeth Kearney Coakley. The collection's manuscripts consist of writings by Dreiser, his wife Helen Patges Dreiser, Elizabeth Kearney Coakley, and Thelma Cudlipp. Subjects addressed within the manuscripts include Vladimir Ilʹich Lenin, Sherwood Anderson and the death of Theodore Dreiser. All newspaper clippings in the collection relate to Dreiser and his circle of friends. Issues addressed within the collection include Dreiser's writing and the writing of other authors of the period, politics (especially communism), and the attempts made by Dreiser to market his talent, and his novels, to film studios and producers. Correspondents include Jacques Chambrun, Elizabeth Kearney Coakley, Thelma Cudlipp, André de Lattre, Helen Patges Dreiser, Patrick Kearney, William Charles Lengel, Henry Louis Mencken, Ginger Rogers, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jacques Léon Sylvan, Walter Winchell, the Finnish Relief Fund, the Theatre Arts Committee and the magazine Common Sense.

Biographical / historical:

Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945) was an American writer, reporter, editor and social reformer. Between the publication of his first work, the novel Sister Carrie, published in 1900, and the publication of his masterwork, An American Tragedy, in 1925, he composed collections of short stories, plays, autobiographical accounts, philosophical essays and novels. With the publication of An American Tragedy Dreiser became interested in numerous social causes, interests that would increase dramatically during the 1930s. Although critical of communism early on, Dreiser published an anti-capitalist work, Tragic America, in 1931 and joined the American Communist party before his death. In 1893 he married a teacher, Sarah Osborne White. They separated in 1909, when Dreiser became infatuated with Thelma Cudlipp (who would become an artist and book illustrator), the teenage daughter of a colleague. Dreiser was fired from his newspaper position. Dreiser and Sarah never formerly divorced, and she died in 1942. Dreiser had several affairs throughout his life but married Helen Patges Richardson in 1944; they had met in 1919. He died in Hollywood in 1945, leaving two novels to be published posthumously, The Bulwark in 1946, and The Stoic in 1947.

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Elizabeth Kearney Coakley Hicks Gore, February 1958.
Processing information:

Processed by Alan Jutzi in the 1970s. In July 2026, Brooke M. Black created a finding aid.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Brooke M. Black
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-07-28 13:21:48 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

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.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Theodore Dreiser papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Website