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Archer (Kate Rennie) Papers
MS.066
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Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Kate Rennie Archer papers
Creator:
Archer, Kate Rennie, 1863-1960?
Identifier/Call Number: MS.066
Physical Description:
2.5 Linear Feet
6 boxes.
Date (inclusive): 1907-1970
Date (bulk): 1930-1960
Abstract: Archive contains correspondence,
manuscripts of published and unpublished poems and stories, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings,
photographs and miscellaneous items documenting the literary activity of a San Francisco Bay
area poet and a poetry teacher Kate Rennie Archer.
Physical Location: Stored offsite at NRLF: Advance notice
is required for access to the papers.
Language of Material:
English .
Collection is open for research.
Gift of Kate Rennie Archer, 1966.
Outgoing correspondence to Gita Lewis Specker donated by Specker, 1971.
Outgoing correspondence to Gita Lewis Specker donated by Specker, 1971.
Scottish poetess, Kate Rennie Archer (given name Catherine), was born in Glasgow to a
traveling shipping family. She spent most of her childhood moving around the Europe, as well
as lived both in Malta and Algiers. She married a Scottish Royal Horse Artillery Captain,
Douglas Archer in 1912. She was not only a trained teacher specializing in literature, folk
lore and music, but she served in the Red Cross as a qualified nurse during the World War I.
Her husband's unstable health forced the couple and their young son Douglas Jr. to move from
Edinburgh, in search of a milder weather, to California in 1927. Always known for her active
spirit, she and her 10-year-old son made history by traveling on a 'shoestring budget from
San Francisco to Glasgow' in the 1930's, a voyage which received wide press coverage in the
US. At the outbreak of the World War II the Archer's supported the war efforts in the Bay
Area while their son Douglas Jr. Archer joined the military serving under the Royal Canadian
Air-Force in Great-Britain. Deeply effected by the sights and aftermath of the two wars,
many of her writings are about war and portrayals of the psychological effects of these
events.
Kate Rennie Archer's lifelong passion for writing poetry started at a very early age. Her
first poem was published in "Glasgow Weekly" at 12 years of age. In the Bay Area she devoted
over a decade to teaching creative writing at Dominican College in San Rafael, and
established a Poetry Workshop at 1515 Gough Street in San Francisco in the 1950's. Never
forgetting her roots, she was passionate interpreter and advocate of Scottish poetry through
lectures, readings, and radio programs. Authoring either under a name of Kate Rennie Archer
or K.R.A., she steadily contributed poetry through
out her life to newspapers and journals, such as
New York Times,
Oakland Tribune,
San Francisco Chronicle,
Maple
Leaf
,
The Carmel Pine Cone-Cymbal. Her main body of work remains
the following published collections of poetry:
- Jock Tamson's Bairns: and other poems, Glasgow, Gowans, 1934.
- Tumbleweed Trail, San Francisco, Ca, Canterbury Press, 1936.
- Petals of the Quelder-Rose. Mills College, Oakland, ca, Eucalyptus Press, 1940.
- Recurrent Vigil, Berkeley, Ca, Gillick Press, 1943.
- Coffee Shop, Berkeley, Ca, Gillick Press, 1947.
- Persimmon Harvest, San Francisco, Ca, The Abbey Press, 1955.
- Night Clerk, Western Union: of time and communications, Glenwood Edition, 1960's
Kate Rennie Archer on the vocation of a poet:
"We are not spectacular because poetry as an art has no pictures to show, no music to soothe and charm, it is a reserved and solitary process, and only comes to notice as protest or prophecy, as encouragement or condemnation in emergency".
"We are not spectacular because poetry as an art has no pictures to show, no music to soothe and charm, it is a reserved and solitary process, and only comes to notice as protest or prophecy, as encouragement or condemnation in emergency".
Kate Rennie Archer Papers. MS 66. Special Collections and Archives, University Library,
University of California, Santa Cruz.
Finding aid revision statement
This finding aid was revised in the Reparative Archival Redescription Project in 2021-2022.
Previous versions of this finding aid are available upon request.
Kate Rennie Archer. Huntington Library and Art Gallery. Manuscript Division (Papers,
1931-1969).
Scope and Content of Collection
The archive covers Kate Rennie Archer's literary and teaching activities between 1930-1960.
The bulk of the material consists of manuscripts of poems and stories that portray her
observation on regional and world events, especially the Great Wars, and captures various
California scenary and locals during her time. The archive also consists of correspondence,
personal papers, realia, photographs, scrapbooks and miscellany publications.
Books authored by Kate Rennie Archer have been cataloged and physically separately from the
archive:
- Call frae the heather; Published Mills College, Oakland, Calif., The Eucalyptus press, 1940. [PS3501.R335C3]
- Night clerk western union (of time and communications). [N.p.] Glenwood editions [n. d.] [PS3501.R335N5 ]
- Persimmon harvest. San Francisco, The Abbey Press, 1955. [PS3501.R335P4]
- Petals of the guelder rose. Berkeley, Calif., Gillick Press [c1941]. [PS3501.R335P44]
- Tumbleweed trail. San Francisco, the Canterbury Press, [c1936]. [PS3501.R335T8]
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs.
Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair
use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to
determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more
information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Poets, American -- California -- 20th century
Poets, American -- California -- 20th century
Women poets, American -- 20th
century