Guide to the Clarence Urmy Papers,
1878-1936
M0020
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Stanford University Libraries
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford, California, 94305-6064
Repository email: specialcollections@stanford.edu
1999
Title: Clarence Urmy Papers ,
Identifier/Call Number: M0020
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
1.0 Linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1878-1936
creator:
Urmy, Clarence, 1858-1923
Biographical Note
Urmy, Clarence 1858-1923
He was born in San Francisco on July 10, 1858. He was the grandsoneof Elea Thomas who was one of the founders of the Methodist
church in the state of California. Urmy's father was a methodist minister for 50 years. Urmy attended San Francisco public
schools and then Napa College where he studied music and received a batchelor's degree. He worked for a number of years in
music houses (Sherman and Clay in San Francisco). He continued to study voice at this time and did some performing in San
Francisco and San Jose. He was the organist at Santa Clara Methodist Church and later at Trinity Episcopal Church in San Jose.
He taught piano at the College of the Pacific and four years at San Jose Teachers' College.
Urmy was the first native poet of California. He published three volumes of collected verse:
A Rosary of Rhyme, Vintage of Verse, and
California Troubadour. Two more volumes were nearly ready for publication at his death:
Wild Willow and
Under the Toyon Tree. His poems appeared in a large number of national magazines. He also did dramatic and music criticism for the San Jose Mercury
Herald.
Urmy died on June 3, 1923 in San Jose. A Clarence Urmy Memorial was established at Stanford in 1930, which consists of a prize
given each year to the student submitting the best original poem.
Scope and Content Note
Urmy, Clarence
Correspondence to Urmy from publishers concerning his poetry. 1897-1922 ca. 35 items
Corresponding primarily to Mabel Urmy Seares from many sources largely concerning Clarence's works and various memorials set
up in his honor. A number of these are from Alfred Lindsay and Helen Millar Lehman. ca. 60 items
Holograph and typescript of his poems and collected volumes ca. 100 items
Clippings of his works in print, both poetry and prose, criticism of music and drams by Urmy, and a number of clippings about
him (including programs etc.) ca. 260 items.
Five photographs of Urmy
A scrapbook of autographs
A biography of Urmy by Mabel Urmy Seares
Ina Coolbrith--letters, poems, and clippings ca. 7 items
Inclusive dates: 1878-1936
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item] Clarence Urmy Papers , M0020, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
Provenance
Gift of Urmy family, 1945.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Access Restrictions
None.
Letters to Urmy from editors and publishers
1897-1922
Box 1, Folder 2
1. William Doxey to Urmy
1897, Jan. 13
2. C” [Urmy] to “Mabel” [Mrs. Seares]
1897, Jan. 17 “
3. C” [Urmy] to “Mabel” [Mrs. Seares] enclosed agreement between W.Doxey (publisher) and Urmy
? “
4. Horace Annesley Vachell
1899, Nov. 29
5. Robert Coningsley Clarke to “Dear Sir” [Urmy]
1900, May 8
6. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy enclosed list of poems
1905, Oct. 20
7. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1905, Nov. 8
8. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1905, Dec 4
9. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1905, Dec. 9
10. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1905, Dec. 18
11. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1906, Feb. 10
12. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1906, May 16
13. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1906, May 16
14. Marian Phelps to Urmy
1906, Mar. 24
15. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1906, May 30
Physical Description:
(copy)
16. Alfred Holman to Urmy
1907, Jan. 21
17. Sheperd Knapp to Urmy
1908, July 16
18. to Mrs. F Seares
1909, Apr. 22?
Physical Description:
(postcard)
19. A.M. Robertson to Urmy
1912, May 10
20. C.Alexander to Urmy
1916, Apr. 2
21. Marguerita Wilkenson to Urmy
1917, Apr. 28
22. Marguerita Wilkenson to Urmy
1917, May 10
23. Urmy to M. Wilkenson
[1917, May 12]
24. M. Wilkenson to Urmy
1917, May 17
25. Will B. Turney to Mabel Seares
1923, Jun. 24
26. C.M. Dennis to Mabel Urmy Seares
1923, Jun. 27
27. Claud H. Simson to?
1924, Jun. 24
28. A.W. Noel Porter to Mabel Urmy Seares
1924, Sept. 25
29. Delancy Lewis to Mabel Urmy Seares
1925, Sept 22
30. Edward O'Day to Percival Urmy
1926, Aug. 31
31. F.P. Brown to Newton Barry enclosed letter to H.Roy Kelley to Mrs. Seares
1926, Sept 20
32. [J.Milshen] to H.Roy Kelley
1927, Dec. 23
33. [J.Milshen] to H.Roy Kelley
1928, Jan. 16
34. Garton D. Keyston to Percival Urmy
1928, Oct. 4
35. Sonnet in Memory of Clarence Urmy” by Francis Wm. Reid
1930, Jan. 6 “
Physical Description:
(photostat)
letter on the back to Mrs. M.U. Seares
1930, Jan. 18
36. Francis Wm. Reid to Mrs. Mabel Seares
1930, Jan. 23
37. Francis Wm. Reid to Mrs. Mabel Seares
1930, Jan. 27
38. Garton D. Keyston to Mabel Seares
1930, Mar. 8
39. Garton D. Keyston to Mabel Seares
1930, Jun. 10
40. Francis W. Reid to “friend” [Mabel Seares]
1930, Nov. 24
41. Ina L. Cook to Mabel Seares
1931, Jan. 9
42. Ina L. Cook to Mrs. John R. Jarboe Kathryn Jarboe Bull, J.C.Bull, Esq.
1931, Jan. 18
43. Francis W. Reid to Mrs. Mabel Seares
1931, Apr. 2
44. Garton D. Keyston to Mabel Seares
1931, Jun. 4
45. Garton D. Keyston to Mabel Seares
1932, Jun. 6
Scope and Contents note
enclosed: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place poems 1931-32
46. Mrs. Frederick Seares to Mr. Reid
1933, Jan. 27
Physical Description:
(copy)
47. Helen Miller Lehman to Mabel Seares
1933, Jan. 23
48. Helen Miller Lehman to Mabel Seares
1933, Jan. 28
49. Helen Miller Lehman to Mabel Seares
1933, Jan. 30
50. Helen Miller Lehman to Mabel Seares
?
51. Francis W. Reid to Mabel Seares postcard with poem “Clarence Urmy”
1933, Feb. 5
52. Helen Tobin to Mabel Seares
1933, Mar. 20
Physical Description:
(postcd.)
53. Mrs. Frederick Seares to Mrs. Lehman
1933, Mar. 28
Physical Description:
(copy)
54. Helen Miller Lehman to Mabel Seares
1933, Apr. 19
Physical Description:
Postcard
55. Helen Miller Lehman to Mabel Seares
1933, May 8
Physical Description:
postcard
56. Garton D. Keyston to Mrs. Seares
1936, Jun. 24
Scope and Contents note
enclosed: 1st, place poem; and “To Clarence Urmy”
57. CTU” [Urmy] to Mr. Holman
? Jan 14 “
58. C” [Urmy] to “Mabel” [Mrs. Seares]
? “
59. [? B. Kulen] to Mrs. Seares
? Dec. 7
Box 1, Folder 3
Vol. 1 Apr. holograph notebook
1878-Oct. 1880
Box 1, Folder 4
Vol. 2 Nov. holograph notebook
1880-Dec. 1895
Box 1, Folder 5
Vol. 3 Feb. holograph notebook
1896-May 1901
Box 1, Folder 6
Vol. 4 Jul. holograph notebook
1901-Jan 1904
Box 1, Folder 7
Vol. 5 holograph notebook
1904-4
Box 1, Folder 8
Vol. 6 holograph notebook
1906
Box 1, Folder 9
Vol 7 holograph notebook
1910-13
Box 1, Folder 10
Wild Willow book of verse original manuscript
Box 1, Folder 11
Under the Toyon Tree book of verse original manuscript
Box 2, Folder 12
assorted manuscript verse -
dated
Box 2, Folder 13
assorted manuscript verse - (and some lists of his poems in the back)
undated
Box 2, Folder 16
“Peace” - prize winning poem in the San Francisco Chronicle contest (and letters praising it, and one from M.H. deYoung)
Box 2, Folder 18
music and drama criticism
Box 2, Folder 19
biographical (including diploma from Napa College and exerps from a diary, programs from muscial performance
Box 2, Folder 20
concerning California (about Bret Hart, R.H. Stoddard and Clinton Scollard)
Box 2, Folder 21
photographs
Physical Description:
(five of him)
Box 2, Folder 22
Biography of Urmy by Mabel Urmy Seares (prepared about 1935-6, but she couldn't revise it because of illness)
Box 2, Folder 23
Scrapbook of autographs (and list of contents prepared by Urmy's brother Percival Urmy)
Scope and Contents note
Includes: Aldrich, Thomas Bailey; Butterworth, Hezekiah Bryant, William Cullen; Coolbrith, Ina; Dorr, Julia; Davis, Jefferson;
Fawcett, George D.; Hay, John; Holmes, Oliver Wendell; Howe, Julia Ward; Hubbard, Elbert; Jewett, Sarah O.; Kimball, Harriet;
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth; Mason, Caroline Atwater; Moulton, Louise Chandler; Piatt, John James; Rexford, Eben Eugene; Sangster,
Margaret Elizabeth; Thorpe, Rose Hartwick; Whitney, Adeline Dutton Train; Whittier, John Greenleaf; Wilde, Oscar; Winter,
William
Box 2, Folder 24
Ina Coolbrith letters, poems etc.
1. letters to Urmy
Physical Description:
(9)
2. poems, manuscript
Physical Description:
(2)
5. “Ina Coolbrith and Clarence Urmy” by Mabel Seares
6. “Ina Coolbrith” Laura Bell Everett
