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Marquis (Neeta) Papers
mssMarquis papers
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Neeta Marquis papers
Identifier/Call Number: mssMarquis papers
Physical Description:
6.70 Linear Feet
(16 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1862-1957
Abstract: Papers of Southern California author and poet Neeta Marquis.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
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.
[Identification of item]. Neeta Marquis papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Neeta Marquis, 1950-1952.
Neeta Marquis was born in Westminster, California in 1880 or 1881. Her father, John Fenelon Marquis, who was a Union soldier
during the American Civil War came to California from Illinois in 1870. His wife, Neeta Jane Haile Marquis and two children
followed months later. The family moved to Westminster, California in 1874. Marquis' father died in 1882, but the family remained
in Southern California. Neeta Marquis supported herself by teaching short story and writing classes at Los Angeles Evening
High School. She spent her free time writing poetry and articles for publication. Her poems can be found in several anthologies
of California poetry including Anthology of contemporary California poets (1925), Land of gold (1934), and others. In 1931
she penned the opera "Los Rubios," which was performed in Los Angeles. Marquis focused much of her writing on the history
of California and her articles can be found in The Los Angeles Times and many western themed publications including Westways.
Marquis was also active in several literary groups and clubs such as League of Western Writers and the Poetry Society of Southern
California. Marquis' date of death is unknown; she probably died in the mid-1950s.
The collection is chiefly comprised of personal and business correspondence of author Neeta Marquis; there is also correspondence
between her parents while her father was in the Union Army during the American Civil War as well as his early letters from
California. There are also photographs, ephemera, newspaper clippings, printed items related to literary societies, poems,
manuscripts, notes, and scrapbooks and datebooks belonging to Neeta Marquis. The majority of the collection documents Neeta
Marquis' literary career, but other subjects that can be found are the American Civil War; Lincoln's assassination; gold miners
in California and early California history and American western-themed stories by Marquis and other authors. Correspondents
represented in the collection include several notable individuals and authors: Louis Adamic, Hartley Burr Alexander, Reginald
Barker, Earl Derr Biggers, Don Blanding, Bliss Carman, Stephen Chalmers, Robert Glass Cleland, Upton Close, Sam T. Clover,
Thomas Y. Crowell, Homer Croy, Robert H. Davis, Estelle Doheny, John Foster Dulles, John Chipman Farrar, Hildegarde Flanner,
Hermann Hagedorn, W.D. Hoffman, Margaret Hosmer, Rupert Hughes, Joseph Henry Jackson, George Wharton James, Will James, Helen
Keller, Charles Fletcher Lummis, John Russell McCarthy, John Steven McGroarty, Seumas MacManus, Carey McWilliams, H.L. Mencken,
Bailey Millard, Anne Shannon Monroe, Dorothea Moore, Ted Olson, Dorothy Parker, Lawrence Clark Powell, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Carl Sandburg, Hazel Snell Schreiber, Norma Shearer, Upton Sinclair, Charles A. Siringo, Pauline Stiles, Harriet Williams
Russell Strong, Jim Tully, Sir Hugh Walpole, and Louise Ward Watkins. Additional correspondents include American Literary
Association, Automobile Club of Southern California, Book Club of California, California Federation of Women's Clubs, California
Temperance Federation, Arthur H. Clark Company, Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, Los Angeles Times, Macmillan
Company, Poetry Society of America, Saturday Evening Post, and Thomas Y. Crowell, Publishers.
Processed by Huntington Library Staff. In 2022, Brooke M. Black created a finding aid.
Organized in the following series: 1. Diaries; 2. Correspondence; 3. Photographs; 4. Ephemera; 5. Scrapbooks and datebooks;
6. Oversize materials.
Former call number: mssMarquis papers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Authors -- 20th century -- Correspondence
Poets, American -- 20th century -- Correspondence
Western stories
Women authors -- 20th century -- Correspondence
California -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Correspondence
Letters (correspondence) -- United States
Marquis , John Fenelon
Marquis , Neeta
Marquis , Neeta Jane Haile
Adamic, Louis, 1899-1951
Alexander, Hartley Burr, 1873-1939
Barker, Reginald C. (Reginald Charles), 1881-1937
Biggers, Earl Derr, 1844-1933
Blanding, Don, 1894-1957
Carman, Bliss, 1861-1929
Chalmers, Stephen, 1880-1935
Cleland, Robert Glass, 1885-1957
Close, Upton, 1894-1960
Clover, Sam T., 1859-1934
Croy, Homer, 1883-1965
Davis, Robert H. (Robert Hobart), 1869-1942
Doheny, Estelle, 1875-1958
Dulles, John Foster, 1888-1959
Farrar, John Chapman, 1896-1974
Flanner, Hildegarde, 1899-1987
Hagedorn, Hermann, 1882-1964
Hoffman, W. D. (William Dawson), 1884-1952
Hosmer, Margaret, 1830-1897
Hughes, Rupert, 1872-1956
Jackson, Joseph Henry, 1894-1955
James, George Wharton, 1858-1923
James, Will, 1892-1942
Keller, Helen, 1880-1968
Lummis, Charles Fletcher, 1859-1928
McCarthy, John Russell, 1889-
McGroarty, John Steven, 1862-1944
MacManus, Seumas, 1869-1960
McWilliams, Carey, 1905-1980
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956
Millard, Bailey, 1859-1941
Monroe, Anne Shannon, 1877-1942
Moore, Dorothea, 1860?-1942
Olson, Ted, 1899-1981
Parker, Dorothy, 1893-1967
Powell, Lawrence Clark, 1906-2001
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962
Sandburg, Carl, 1878-1967
Schreiber, Hazel Snell, -1957
Shearer, Norma, 1902-1983
Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968
Siringo, Charles A., 1855-1928
Stiles, Pauline
Tully, Jim
Walpole, Hugh, 1884-1941
Watkins, Louise Ward, 1890-1974
American Library Association
Arthur H. Clark Company
Automobile Club of Southern California
California Federation of Women's Clubs
California Temperance Federation
Los Angeles Times (Firm)
Macmillan Company
Poetry Society of America
Thomas Y. Crowell Company
Saturday evening post