H. L. Mencken Collection MS-0001
Special Collections and University Archives staff
Special Collections & University Archives
04/12/2001
5500 Campanile Dr. MC 8050
San Diego, CA 92182-8050
askscua@sdsu.edu
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & University Archives
Title: H. L. Mencken Collection
Creator:
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis) (Henry Louis Mencken)
Identifier/Call Number: MS-0001
Physical Description:
21.00 items
Physical Description:
.21 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1914-1968
Language of Material:
English
.
Scope and Contents
This small collection of pamphlets, reprints, and correspondence is part of the larger collection of one hundred individually
cataloged monographs and serials by and about H. L. Mencken, which is also housed in Special Collections. These small items
consist of promotional materials, special event publications, letters, and one sound recording.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The copyright interests in these materials have not been transferred to San Diego State University. Copyright resides with
the creators of materials contained in the collection or their heirs. The nature of historical archival and manuscript collections
is such that copyright status may be difficult or even impossible to determine. Requests for permission to publish must be
submitted to the Head of Special Collections, San Diego State University, Library and Information Access. When granted, permission
is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical item and is not intended to include or imply permission
of the copyright holder(s), which must also be obtained in order to publish. Materials from our collections are made available
for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including
but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials.
Accruals and Additions
9999-027, 1976
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, folder title, box number, H. L. Mencken Collection, Special Collections and University Archives, San
Diego State University Library.
Biographical Note
H. L. Mencken was a critical but humorous journalist, literary reviewer, and language expert. In 1899 he became a reporter
for the
Baltimore Morning Herald; beginning in 1906, and continuing throughout much of his life, he worked at various intervals for
The Baltimore Sun. He was co-editor of
The Smart Set, and was co-founder of the
American Mercury. Additional publications of his were
Prejudices,
The American Language, and an autobiographical trilogy.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Journalism--United States
Satire, American
Personal Papers
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956
box 1, item 1
A Personal Word. Description of the editorial and business organization of the Smart Set, a circulation booster. n.p., n.d.
[1914], 16 pages.
Item 1
box 1, item 2
The American Language. A chapter from the 4th edition. Publisher's advance printing of one complete chapter with descriptive
text on cover. Prints the entire preface to the new edition and the complete chapter X: Proper Names in America. n.d. [ca.
1939], 83 pages.
Item 2
box 1, item 3
American Profanity. Reprinted from American Speech, New York: Columbia, University Press, Dec 1944, 9 pages. Signed by H.L.
Mencken.
Item 3
box 1, item 4
The Eminent Physician by H.L. Mencken. Berkeley: Gillick Press, n.d. [1940], 7 pages. Item 4
box 1, item 5
The Incomparable Physician by H.L. Mencken. San Francisco: McDonald, 1936, 14 pages. Item 5
box 1, item 6
Menckeniana. A selection from H.L. Mencken's Mencken Chrestomathy with a forenote by George Jean Nathan. New York: Knopf,
1949, 16 pages. Green wrappers, printed label.
Item 6
box 1, item 7
The Smart Set. Suggestions to our visitors. 26 policy statements "issued as a jocosity" by Mencken N.Y. n.d. [1915], 4 pages. Item 7
box 1, item 8
Suggestions to our visitors by George Jean Nathan and H.L. Mencken, editors of The Smart Set. Reprinted at San Francisco,
1968 by the Roxburghe Club, 8 pages.
Item 8
box 1, item 9
Spiritual Autopsies, an article on Gamelia Bradford. by H.L. Mencken. Issued as an advertisement by the publisher for Bradford's
American Portraits. New York: Houghton, 1921, 4 pages.
Item 9
box 1, item 10
Upton Sinclair. Biographical and critical opinions from England, France, Germany, Belgium and the U.S.A including Henry Barbusse,
H.L. Mencken and others. Pasadena: Sinclair, n.d. [1922], 32 pages.
Item 10
box 1, item 11
H.L. Mencken by Walter Lippmann. Reprinted from The Saturday Review, Dec. 11, 1926. New York: Knopf (1926), 8 pages. Item 11
box 1, item 12
The Love Story of an Old Maid by Sara Haardt. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius Publications. Blue Book no. 375, n.d. [192?],
32 pages.
Item 12
box 1, item 13
A Literary Chameleon: A New Estimate of Mr. H.L. Mencken by J.D. Logan. Milwaukee: privately printed, 1926, 22 pages. Copy
no. 30 of 300 numbered copies, signed by the author. Also signed by Mencken in full, on the cover.
Item 13
box 1, item 14
H.L. Mencken Speaking. Mencken conversing with Donald H. Kirkley Sr. of The Baltimore Sun, recorded by the library of Congress,
D.C., June 30, 1948. 33 1/3 LP record, and cassette tape.
Item 14
box 1, item 15
Book review for L'Action Française, Sept. 14, 1933. One 3x5" card. Item 15
Scope and Contents
La revue de critique l'American Mercury, que dirige le Juif Mencken, est, de l'avis de M. Bernard Fay, spècialiste des choses
d'Amérique, "l'une des plus vivantes, des plus pittorerques, des plus typiques des Etats-Unis." en mème temys "qu'une des
forces d'opinion les plus solides."
box 1, item 16
Typed letter signed to Mr. Silvay. One sheet, signed in full on American Mercury green letterhead. Item 16
Dated Jun. 10, 1926
box 1, item 17
Typed letter signed to Mark Sullivan, Washington D.C. On the letterhead of The Smart Set, The Aristocrat of Magazines. Item 17
Dated April 4, 1922.
box 1, item 18
Two typed letters signed to Harry Ruby. Beverly Hills. On the author's personal Baltimore stationary, with the mailing envelope. Item 18
Dated November 1933 & November 25, 1933.
box 1, item 19
Two typed letters signed to Mr. Dellquest. On the author's personal Baltimore stationary. Item 19
Dated May 5, 1944 and April 28, 1945.
box 1, item 20
Two typed letters signed and addressed to "Gentlemen." On the author's personal Baltimore stationary. Item 20
Dated September 28, 1944 and September 7, 1945.
box 1, item 21
Typed letter signed to Miss Day. One sheet on American Mercury green letterhead. Item 21
Dated April 25, no year.
