Description
This collection consists of: drafts of works; literary reviews, by and
about Robin Lampson; clippings describing Lampson's activities; bulletins &
hand-outs describing his teaching activities; professional and personal
correspondence; research materials on Sharon-Hill, Frederick Law Olmsted and
the landscaping of the University of California, the Golden Spike, Jack London
and yellow fever; as well as photographs, some business papers and
memorabilia.
Background
Robin Lampson (1900-1978) is best remembered for his verse novels,
"Laughter out of the ground" (1936)--an epic of the California Gold Rush--and
"Death loses a pair of wings" (1939)--the tale of Dr. William Gorgas' victory
over yellow fever. In the years immediately following World War I, Lampson
studied English and Russian at Stanford University. In 1922 he was sent to
Russia with the American Relief Administration. There he administered the
distribution of food relief in the vicinity of Tashkent for about two years.
Following his return to the United States, Lampson worked at a variety of jobs,
eventually returning to college at the University of California, where he
received an A.B. degree in 1932. From this date, his poetry began appearing
with some frequency in literary journals. As a poet, Lampson was a
neo-classicist, preferring rhyming sonnet structures to free verse. He invented
a sonnet type that borrowed rhyme-schemes from Renaissance Italian terza rima.