Register of the Henry Meade Bland Collection, 1907-1951

Processed by Don Walker; machine-readable finding aid created by Don Walker

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

University Library, University of the Pacific

Stockton, CA 95211

Phone: (209) 946-2404

URL: http://www.pacific.edu/Library/Find/Holt-Atherton-Special-Collections.html

Register of the Henry Meade Bland Collection, 1907-1951

Collection number: Mss67

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

University Library

University of the Pacific

Contact Information

Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections
University Library, University of the Pacific
Stockton, CA 95211
Phone: (209) 946-2404
URL: https://www.pacific.edu/university-libraries/find/holt-atherton-special-collections

Processed by:: Don Walker
Date Completed:: 1994
Encoded by:: Don Walker

Descriptive Summary

Title: Henry Meade Bland Collection,

Date (inclusive): 1907-1951

Collection number: Mss67

Creator: Mildred Bland McCormack & Robert L. Breeden

Extent: 0.5 linear ft.

Repository: University of the Pacific. Library. Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections

Stockton, CA 95211

Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access

Collection is open for research.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Henry Meade Bland Collection, Mss67, Holt-Atherton Department of Special Collections, University of the Pacific Library

Biography

Henry Meade Bland (1863-1931), was a native California poet who succeeded Ina Coolbrith as the state's Poet Laureate (1929). After graduate study at the University of the Pacific (1890-91), Stanford (M.A. 1895) and the University of California, he taught English at San Jose State Teachers College(1899-1931), the forerunner of San Jose State University. During the early years of the twentieth century, Bland penned reviews of the works of California writers for Town and Country. He was the friend of Joaquin Miller (his daughter married Miller's grandson), Jack London, John Muir, Edwin Markham, and other California literary figures. His verse was published in Sierran Pan & Other Poems (1924) and six other volumes. His prose writings include Stevenson's California (1924) and Prose & Poetry for Children (1914). Edwin Markham wrote of Bland's poetry that it contained "lines of true beauty and mystic music." David Starr Jordan noted that Henry Meade Bland's poetry was "always sane."

Scope and Content

This Bland collection contains copies of the poet's works with annotations in his own hand, Bland obituaries and a study of the poet's work (1951).

BOX 1: HENRY MEADE BLAND COLLECTION, 1907-1958

1.1 HMB OBITUARIES, 1931

"Unto That Still, Fair Garden," San Jose Mercury Herald, (4/30/31).

"Henry Meade Bland," Westward.

"Bard of Sierras--State's Sweetest Singer," San Jose Mercury Herald, (4/30/31)

"Autobiography of Poet Laureate Given," n.s., (4/30/31).

"State Poet Laureate Dead," n.s., (4/30/31).

"Henry Meade Bland, Poet of California," n.s., (4/30/31).

"Henry Meade Bland, Laureate Poet of California Passes Away," San Jose Mercury Herald, (4/30/31).

"Long Friendship Ended," n.s., (5/1/31).

"Henry Meade Bland," n.s. [newspaper photo]

"Rites Tomorrow for Dr. Bland, Poet Laureate," San Jose Mercury Herald, (5/1/31).

"A Tribute to the memory of Henry Meade Bland," Assembly Daily Journal, (5/6/31).

"Tributes Paid to Life, Writings of Dr. Bland," San Jose Mercury Herald, (5/8/31).

1.2 OTHER BLAND PAPERS

-Like Dawn Sierran [order form for copies of book]

-Comment on the Bland Poems

-"Door to Markham Cottage Now Bears Plaque," San Jose Mercury Herald, (3/18/26).

-"Short Story Club of State Normal is a Medium for Developing Talent," n.s.

-"Dr. Bland Awarded Prize in Contest of World's Poets," n.s.

-"Faces You Have Seen," n.s.

-"State Confers Honor on Professor Bland of Normal School Faculty," n.s. [1929?]

-Resolution of Respect in memory of Dr. Henry Meade Bland from the California State Legislature, (1931).

-"San Jose Poet," San Jose Mercury Centennial Edition, (6/17/51). [Edwin Markham]

1.3 TYPESCRIPT & PRINTED COPIES OF INDIVIDUAL POEMS

-"Sir Henry Hudson," n.s.

-My Juliet Rose; "One eve an autumn rose full-blown"; "The Rose"

-A Ballad of Peace (1928) [printed by lst Methodist Church, San Jose]

-"A Song of Songs" (1927) [ded. to Rockwell D. Hunt; w/ env. ad- dressed to Mabel Breeden]

-"Poems for Christmas" (1930) [w/ env.; addressed to Mabel Breeden]

-"From Mount Lowe," n.d.

-"The Sea," n.d. [2 l.]

-"The Ninth of September" (1928) [4 l.]

-California - A Song of the Ultimate West, n.d.

1.4 FRAMED COPY OF "THE FIREPLACE SPEAKS," (1928). [handwritten by poet; ded. to Mabel Breeden]

1.5 BOOKS WRITTEN OR EDITED BY HMB

-A Song of Autumn and Other Poems, (1907).

-Prose and Poetry for Children, (1914).

-The Golden Gate Birthday Book, (1914).

-Sierran Pan and Other Poems, (1922).

-Stevenson's California, (1924).

-A Day of Poetry, (1925). [2 copies]

-California and Other Poems, (1926).

-A Day in the Hills, (1926). [3 copies]

-Forty-Seven Poems by Henry Meade Bland, (1928).

-The Search and Other Poems, (1928). [2 copies]

-The University of California, (1930).

-Like Dawn Sierran, (1937).

1.6 BOOKS ABOUT HMB

-Peterson, Martin Severin, The Poet Bland and Sixteen Specimen Poems, (1943).