Guide to the Clarence Urmy Papers M0020
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
1999 ; revised 2020
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
Fax Number: (650) 723-8690
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Clarence Urmy Papers
Creator:
Urmy, Clarence, 1858-1923
Identifier/Call Number: M0020
Physical Description:
2 Linear Feet
(4 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1878-1936
Abstract: Clarence Thomas Urmy was born 10 July 1858 in San Francisco, California, and was considered "the first native poet of California."
He published several volumes of collected verse and wrote dramatic and music criticism for the San Jose Mercury Herald.
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
Conditions Governing Use
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns. Most of
these materials are believed to be in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use of public domain materials.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Urmy family, 1945.
Biographical / Historical
Poet Clarence Urmy (1858-1923) was born in San Francisco on July 10, 1858. He was the grandson of 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 bachelor's degree. He worked
for a number of years in music houses including Sherman and Clay in San Francisco. Urmy 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 Contents
Collection contains the following: Correspondence to Urmy from publishers concerning his poetry. 1897-1922 (ca. 35 items)
; correspondence 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) ; manuscript 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) ; six photographs of
Urmy ; scrapbook of autographs ; biography of Urmy by Mabel Urmy Seares ; Ina Coolbrith letters, poems, and clippings (ca.
7 items).
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item] Clarence Urmy Papers, M0020, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Box 1, folder 1
Series 1. Editor and publisher letters to Urmy
Language of Material: English.
Box 1, folder 2
Series 2. Correspondence
1897-1922
Language of Material: English.
1. William Doxey to Urmy
1897, Jan 13
Language of Material: English.
2. C [Urmy] to "Mabel" [Mrs. Seares]
1897, Jan 17
Language of Material: English.
3. C [Urmy] to "Mabel" [Mrs. Seares] enclosed agreement between W.Doxey (publisher) and Urmy
Language of Material: English.
4. Horace Annesley Vachell
1899, Nov 29
Language of Material: English.
5. Robert Coningsley Clarke to "Dear Sir" [Urmy]
1900, May 8
Language of Material: English.
6. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy enclosed list of poems
1905, Oct 20
Language of Material: English.
7. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1905, Nov 8
Language of Material: English.
8. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1905, Dec 4
Language of Material: English.
9. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1905, Dec 9
Language of Material: English.
10. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1905, Dec 18
Language of Material: English.
11. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1906, Feb 10
Language of Material: English.
12. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1906, May 16
Language of Material: English.
13. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1906, May 16
Language of Material: English.
14. Marian Phelps to Urmy
1906, Mar 24
Language of Material: English.
15. Alfred Lindsay to Urmy
1906, May 30
Container Summary: (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?
Container Summary: (postcard)
Language of Material: English.
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, Sep 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
Container Summary: (photostat)
Language of Material: English.
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
Container Summary: (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
Language of Material: English.
51. Francis W. Reid to Mabel Seares postcard with poem "Clarence Urmy"
1933, Feb 5
52. Helen Tobin to Mabel Seares
1933, Mar 20
Container Summary: (postcd.)
53. Mrs. Frederick Seares to Mrs. Lehman
1933, Mar 28
Container Summary: (copy)
54. Helen Miller Lehman to Mabel Seares
1933, Apr 19
Container Summary: Postcard
55. Helen Miller Lehman to Mabel Seares
1933, May 8
Container Summary: 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
Language of Material: English.
58. C [Urmy] to "Mabel" [Mrs. Seares]
Language of Material: English.
59. [B. Kulen] to Mrs. Seares
Dec 7
Language of Material: English.
Series 3. Manuscripts
Language of Material: English.
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
Language of Material: English.
Box 2, folder 13
assorted manuscript verse (and some lists of his poems in the back)
undated
Language of Material: English.
Series 3. Clippings, ephemera, photographs
Language of Material: English.
Arrangement
As a result of later processing, folders in the latter part of Box 2 were moved to a Box 3 along with other material.
Box 2, folder 15
printed prose
Language of Material: English.
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 clippings & ephemera, including diploma from Napa College excerpts from diary, programs from muscial performances
Language of Material: English.
Box 2, folder 20
clippings, notes & ephemera about Bret Hart, R.H. Stoddard, San Francisco, etc.
Language of Material: English.
Box 2, folder 21
photographs
Container Summary: (five of him)
Box 3, folder 22
Biography of Urmy by Mabel Urmy Seares
Language of Material: English.
Scope and Contents
(prepared about 1935-6, but she couldn't revise it because of illness)
Box 3, folder 23
Scrapbook of autographs (and list of contents prepared by Urmy's brother Percival Urmy)
Language of Material: English.
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 3, folder 24
Series 4. Ina Coolbrith letters, poems etc.
Language of Material: English.
5. "Ina Coolbrith and Clarence Urmy" by Mabel Seares
6. "Ina Coolbrith" Laura Bell Everett
Series 5. Other material
Language of Material: English.
Box 4, folder 1
Urmy's copies of "Common Prayer," and "The Hymnal"
1892
Language of Material: English.
Box 4, folder 2
Urmy's copy of the Bible
1865
Language of Material: English.
Box 4, folder 3
Daguerreotype of Clarence Urmy as a child
Language of Material: English.
Box 4, folder 4
Small poetry publications: "By the Guadaloupe," with photograph by Newton Barry; "At a Wayside Shrine," with decorations by
Janet Tobin; and "A Wreath of California Laurel," inscribed to Ralph and Marion... 1910, with photographs by Frederick W.
Martin and A.C. Vroman
Language of Material: English.
Box 4, folder 5
"The Lyric Land of California," by Mabel Urmy Seares, illustrated by the verse of Clarence Urmy, with two etchings by Benjamin
C. Brown. Laid in is a manuscript poem, "To my brother...," and a newsclipping of a book review for this piece, 1914
Language of Material: English.
Box 4, folder 6
Two collections of published poems by Urmy. 1. "The Day that I was Born," 1924, with a drawing by Loren Barton and 10 uncredited
early San Francisco area photographs, one of which is of El Retiro, Saratoga, Clarence Urmy's summer home. 2. "Songs of the
Spirit," 1922
Language of Material: English.
Box 4, folder 7
Two copies (different bindings) of "A California Troubadour," 1912. One signed by Urmy, and one inscribed to Ralph and Marion
from Mabel, 1912. Folder 8. "A Vintage of Verse," 1897, inscribed to Marion Freer Saxe, from R.B.U., April, 1897
Language of Material: English.
