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Poets Garden records
0110
0110
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Table of contents
Title: Poets Garden records
Collection number: 0110
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
90.0 Linear feet
98 boxes, 1 map-case folder
Date (inclusive): 1876-1971
Abstract: The Poets Garden records contains publications, letters, diaries, and memorabilia of the literary group created by Los Angeles
poet Ruth Le Prade. The collection also contains materials relating to the poet Edwin Markham (1852-1940) and the labor and
socialist activist Eugene Debs.
creator:
Le Prade, Ruth
[Box/folder# or item name], Poets Garden records, Collection no. 0110, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern
California
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
USC Cinematic Arts Library Collection no. 2137, Adeline De Walt Reynolds Papers.
Edwin Markham Papers, Library of Congress.
Florence Hamilton Collection Relating to Edwin Markham, Library of Congress.
The Edwin Markham Library and Manuscripts Collection, Wagner College, Staten Island, New York.
The Cornelius Greenway Collection of Edwin Markham Papers (MS 74-17), Wichita State University.
Joaquin and Juanita Miller Collection (H2007.4), Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library, Libraries of The Claremont Colleges.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
The records of Poets Garden contain Ruth Le Prade's personal papers, those of her friends she considered part of the Poets
Garden, a small section on Eugene Debs (who died before the Garden was established as such), and publications collected either
by Le Prade or one of the Garden's other members. Le Prade’s personal papers include her correspondence with people not individually
represented at the series level in the collection, financial records, typescript and manuscript drafts of her works (both
prose and poetry, published and unpublished), her manuscript notes, scrapbooks, photographs and newspaper and periodical clippings.
The records for the people named at the series level generally include their correspondence both to and from Ruth Le Prade.
However, they may also include any combination of the following: typescript and manuscript drafts, correspondence with people
other than Le Prade, correspondence to or from Le Prade about the series’s namesake, clippings by, about or collected by the
series’s namesake, photographs, awards, plaques and scrapbooks.
The Poets Garden records are organized into 26 series. 25 of the series reflect Ruth Le Prade's original arrangement of the
collection and are based on specific people. These series contain the correspondence both to and from Ruth Le Prade with these
people, along with any other files Le Prade created or received from them. The last series consists of the publications found
throughout the collection. The series of the Poets Garden records are:
1. Ruth Le Prade
2. Edwin Markham
3. Florence Hamilton
4. Alzire Adrienne "Faith" Chevaillier
5. Eugene Debs
6. Robert Whitaker
7. Guy Bogart
8. Genevieve Farnell Bond
9. Verne Bright
10. Grace Bush
11. Ethelean Tyson Gaw
12. Moon Kwan
13. Seumas MacManus
14. Eric Mayne
15. Juanita Miller
16. Angela Morgan
17. Dion O'Donnol
18. Gordon Norris
19. Ruth Clay Price (Ruth Price Simpson)
20. Adeline de Walt "Grandma" Reynolds
21. Luther Standing Bear
22. John Milton Scott
23. Ruth Forbes Sherry
24. Selman Warren Stone
25. Lucia Trent
26. Publications
Edwin Markham dedicated the Poets Garden, located in Ruth Le Prade's backyard at 1622 S. Spaulding Street, in April 1927 with
the planting of a sycamore tree called the Song Tree in honor of Ruth Le Prade and a wisteria tree for Peace. Between 1927
and Le Prade's death in 1969, other trees were planted in honor of poets and literary figures, including a Gingko tree to
honor the Chinese poet Moon Kwan, an oak tree for Chaucer and trees honoring William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Rudyard
Kipling and Edwin Markham. There were also trees in the Poets Garden dedicated to Jesus, the Divine Mother (Mary) and Brotherhood.
The slogan of the Garden was "Bread, Beauty and Brotherhood." Le Prade hosted events at Christmas and Markham's birthday every
year in the garden, and many of the people represented in this collection were attendees of these events.
However, the Poets Garden was not just a physical garden. It also consisted of Ruth Le Prade's circle of acquaintances, friends
and correspondents, most of whom were writers and/or poets. Le Prade kept much of her correspondence with "members" of the
Poets Garden (there was, however, no official membership). In some cases, most notably Gordon Norris and Robert Whitaker,
Le Prade received the papers and correspondence of her friends to add to her collection. Beginning in 1953, Le Prade began
to donate most of her collection (both books and paper records) to the University of Southern California. She also gave a
collection documenting Florence Hamilton's relationship with Edwin Markham to the Library of Congress in 1953.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bogart, Guy, b. 1883 -- Archives
Bogart, Guy, b. 1883 -- Correspondence
Bond, Genevieve Farnell, d. 1961 -- Archives
Bond, Genevieve Farnell, d. 1961 -- Correspondence
Bright, Verne -- Archives
Bright, Verne -- Correspondence
Bush, Grace E., 1884-1967 -- Archives
Bush, Grace E., 1884-1967 -- Correspondence
Chevaillier, Alzire A., (Alzire Adrienne), d. 1935 -- Archives
Chevaillier, Alzire A., (Alzire Adrienne), d. 1935 -- Correspondence
Cheyney, Ralph, 1896-1941 -- Archives
Debs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor), 1855-1926 -- Archives
Debs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor), 1855-1926 -- Correspondence
Gaw, Ethelean Tyson -- Archives
Gaw, Ethelean Tyson -- Correspondence
Hamilton, Florence -- Archives
Hamilton, Florence -- Correspondence
Kwan, Moon -- Archives
Kwan, Moon -- Correspondence
Le Prade, Ruth -- Archives
Le Prade, Ruth -- Correspondence
MacManus, Seumas, 1869-1960 -- Archives
MacManus, Seumas, 1869-1960 -- Correspondence
Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940 -- Archives
Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940 -- Correspondence
Mayne, Eric -- Archives
Mayne, Eric -- Correspondence
Miller, Juanita Joaquina, 1880-1970 -- Archives
Miller, Juanita Joaquina, 1880-1970 -- Correspondence
Morgan, Angela, d. 1957 -- Archives
Morgan, Angela, d. 1957 -- Correspondence
Norris, Gordon W., 1907-1961 -- Archives
Norris, Gordon W., 1907-1961 -- Correspondence
O'Donnol, Dion, 1912- -- Archives
O'Donnol, Dion, 1912- -- Correspondence
Price, Ruth Clay -- Archives
Price, Ruth Clay -- Correspondence
Reynolds, Adeline de Walt, 1862-1961 -- Archives
Reynolds, Adeline de Walt, 1862-1961 -- Correspondence
Scott, John Milton, 1854-1928 -- Archives
Scott, John Milton, 1854-1928 -- Correspondence
Sherry, Ruth Forbes, b. 1883 -- Archives
Sherry, Ruth Forbes, b. 1883 -- Correspondence
Standing Bear, Luther, 1868?-1939 -- Archives
Standing Bear, Luther, 1868?-1939 -- Correspondence
Trent, Lucia, 1897-1977 -- Archives
Trent, Lucia, 1897-1977 -- Correspondence
Wells, Wesley Robert -- Correspondence
Whitaker, Robert, 1863-1944 -- Archives
Whitaker, Robert, 1863-1944 -- Correspondence
American literature--20th century--Archival resources
American poetry--20th century--Archival resources
Christian socialism--Archival resources
Clippings
Correspondence
Dakota Indians--Archival resources
Diaries
Ephemera
Families of prisoners of war--Archival resources
Letters
Los Angeles (Calif.)--History--Archival resources
Manuscripts
Memorabilia
Periodicals
Poets, American--20th century--Archival resources
Prison reformers--Archival resources
Prisoners--Correspondence
Religious poetry, American--Archival resources
Scrapbooks
Socialism and literature--United States--History--20th century
Socialism--California--Archival Resources
Socialists--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources
Typescripts
United States--History--20th century--Archival resources
Women social reformers--United States--Archival Resources
Women--United States--History--20th century--Archival resources
World War, 1939-1945--Archival resources
World War, 1939-1945--Repatriation of war dead--United States--Archival Resources
World War, 1939-1945--United States--Archival resources