Harvey Breit Correspondence
Scope and Contents
This collection of more than 225 pages of correspondence sent to reviewer Harvey Breit between 1940 and 1965 includes letters and some manuscripts from more than fifty literary and political figures of the mid-twentieth century. Most entries consist of only one or two letters, but more frequent correspondents include W.H. Auden, Dudley Fitts, Marianne Moore, Katherine Anne Porter, C.P. Snow, Wallace Stevens, and William Carlos Williams. John Steinbeck's file includes the typescript of an article he intended to send to the Saturday Review. William Carlos Williams, Louis Armstrong, and W.H. Auden files also include some manuscript material.
Dates
- 1940 - 1965
- Other: Majority of material found within 1945 - 1955
Creator
- Breit, Harvey (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on use of the materials in the department for research; all patrons must comply with federal copyright regulations.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright for materials resides with the literary executors of individual letters. All users must comply with federal copyright regulations.
Extent
1.00 Boxes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Harvey Breit, poet, playwright, and interviewer, was a reviewer for the New York Times Book Review from 1940-1965. This collection consists of more than 225 pages of correspondence sent to Breit during this period by more than fifty authors and public figures.
Arrangement Note
All materials are arranged alphabetically by author.
Method of Acquisition
This collection of correspondence to Harvey Breit was acquired by the McCormick Library of Special Collections from the firm of Hamill & Barker in the early 1970s.
14 of the letters were donated in January of 2011 to Northwestern by Paula Frosch, who acquired them as a gift from the American Chess Foundation. A portion of the letters was first donated to Columbia University, and then given to Northwestern to complement our existing collection (with Frosch's permission) by Michael Ryan, Director of Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
The letters included were from Atkinson; Barzun, Bemelmans; Bourke-White (1/30/1949); Caldwell; Chambers; Evans; Fitts (3/12/1948); Kober; Lindbergh; Rome; Schulberg; Trilling; and Westcott (9/14/1955).
Accruals and Additions
Jason Nargis processed the additions in January, 2011.
Other Descriptive Information
Correspondence to Harvey Breit consists of approximately 225 pages from fifty-six authors.
- Aiken, Conrad, 1889-1973
- Algren, Nelson, 1909-1981
- Armstrong, Louis, 1901-1971
- Atkinson, Brooks, 1894-1984
- Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973
- Auslander, Joseph, 1897-1965
- Baldwin, Faith, 1893-1978
- Barzun, Jacques, 1907-2012
- Bemelmans, Ludwig, 1898-1962
- Bishop, Elizabeth, 1911-1979
- Bishop, John Peale, 1892-1944
- Blackmur, R. P. (Richard P.), 1904-1965
- Bogan, Louise, 1897-1970
- Bourke-White, Margaret, 1904-1971
- Bradbury, Ray, 1920-2012
- Breit, Harvey
- Byrne, J. F. (John Francis), 1879 or 1880-1960
- Caldwell, Erskine, 1903-1987
- Chambers, Whittaker
- Cousins, Norman
- Daniels, Jonathan, 1902-1981
- Durante, Jimmy, 1893-1980
- Edman, Irwin, 1896-1954
- Eliot, T. S. (Thomas Stearns), 1888-1965
- Evans, Madge, 1909-1981
- Faulkner, William, 1897-1962
- Fitts, Dudley, 1903-1968
- Forster, E. M. (Edward Morgan), 1879-1970
- Fraenkel, Michael, 1896-1957
- Greene, Graham, 1904-1991
- Jarrell, Randall, 1914-1965
- Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968
- Kober, Arthur, 1900-1975
- Koestler, Arthur, 1905-1983
- Lerner, Max, 1902-1992
- Lindbergh, Anne Morrow, 1906-2001
- Miller, Henry, 1891-1980
- Mizener, Arthur
- Moore, Marianne, 1887-1972
- Morris, Wright, 1910-1998
- O'Faoláin, Seán, 1900-1991
- Olson, Charles, 1910-1970
- Patchen, Kenneth, 1911-1972
- Perry, Ralph Barton, 1876-1957
- Porter, Katherine Anne, 1890-1980
- Potter, Stephen, 1900-1969
- Rickey, Branch, 1881-1965
- Rodgers, Dorothy, 1909-1992
- Rome, Harold, 1908-1993
- Rosenfeld, Paul, 1890-1946
- Ross, Nancy Wilson, 1901-1986
- Roth, Lillian, 1910-1980
- Sandburg, Carl, 1878-1967
- Schulberg, Budd
- Schwartz, Delmore, 1913-1966
- Sender, Ramón José, 1901-1982
- Snow, C. P. (Charles Percy), 1905-1980
- Spencer, Theodore, 1902-1949
- Steinbeck, John, 1902-1968
- Stevens, Wallace, 1879-1955
- Taylor, Harold, 1914-1993
- Thirkell, Angela, 1890-1961
- Thurber, James, 1894-1961
- Trilling, Lionel, 1905-1975
- Warren, Robert Penn, 1905-1989
- Wescott, Glenway, 1901-1987
- Williams, William Carlos, 1883-1963
- Wilson, Edmund, 1895-1972
- Woodburn, John, 1901-1952
- Title
- Guide to the Harvey Breit Correspondence
- Author
- Sigrid Pohl Perry
- Date
- 01/01/1995
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Repository Details
Part of the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections Repository
Deering Library, Level 3
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-491-3635
specialcollections@northwestern.edu