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Elizabeth Stanton Hardy papers

 Collection
Identifier: D.199

Biographical/Historical note

Elizabeth Stanton Hardy was born on August 27, 1876, in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father, William Penn Stanton, was a native Rochesterian who had moved to Cleveland. Her mother, Elizabeth (Holm) Stanton, was the niece of John Blair, a pillar of Cleveland society and the co-builder of the Ohio Canal. As a young girl, Mrs. Hardy lived in her great-uncle's house and went to private schools in Cleveland. She later completed a correspondence course on lyric poetry from Columbia University. She knew many prominent people in Cleveland, including the future wife of Dwight Morrow.

On September 5, 1905, Elizabeth married William R. Hardy, another Rochesterian, and came to live in Rochester. Mr. Hardy owned the Motorway Tire Sales Company. The couple had two children, Stanton Montgomery (1906-1968) and Elizabeth Sara. Her son became a doctor and served in the Air Force during World War II. Her daughter married Gustave Husson. During this time Mrs. Hardy was active in a number of humanitarian causes. She was chairman of a Red Cross committee that gathered supplies to outfit a hospital in Vichy, France during World War I. She was also active in the Presbyterian church, becoming the president of the Genesee Presbytery from 1928 to 1933. She was a member of both the Poetry Society of America and the local Rochester Poetry Club, serving a term as president of the latter in 1937.

Several years after her husband's death in 1947, Mrs. Hardy moved to New York City. During her three-year stay she became a member of the Pen and Brush Club, whose membership included other poets such as Laura Benet. She met these poets through Harold Vinal, the editor of Voices, a poetry magazine that frequently published her poems. She lived the last years of her life with her daughter, Mrs. Gustave Husson, in Rochester. She died on August 16, 1969.

Besides working for social and religious concerns, Mrs. Hardy was absorbed in writing poetry. She began writing poetry at the age of nine and continued to write and revise her poems until her death at the age of ninety-two. Even before her marriage, she began to have her work published in journals and newspapers. Later, her poems were published in magazines such as The Lyric, Voices, and The American Scholar. She published her first book of poems, Time in the Turning, in 1940. She also wrote a handbook for writing poetry called Poetry, the Shaping of Words in 1956. It was the product of her own experience in teaching poetry in her home for thirteen years. The New School in New York City later adopted it as a textbook. She also wrote a series of autobiographical articles that was published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer in 1949. These articles were apparently later incorporated into a book, Leaves From This Stem, but it is unclear if this was ever published. Before she died, Mrs. Hardy was putting together another book of poems, evidently to be called Signature Upon Rock. This book went through various stages of composition as she added and deleted various poems.

Scope and Contents

The typescripts of the poems associated with this projected book comprise about one-fourth of the collection, the other three-fourths being other typescripts, manuscript rough drafts, correspondence, clippings, and other memorabilia. Few of the poems exist in only a single copy; the often multiple copies with corrections demonstrate Mrs. Hardy's painstaking attention to her craft. The collection has been arranged so that the poems relating to Signature Upon Rock come first. Copies of other poems are alphabetized by title. Although all of the typescript versions of a particular poem have been placed together in Box 1,.it.is possible that manuscript rough drafts for a few of the poems can be found in Box 2, along with another version of Signature Upon Rock. The main part of the correspondence covers the years from 1933 to 1969, and relates primarily to Mrs. Hardy's poetry, although about twenty personal letters are filed separately in another folder. Two scrapbooks contain clippings and correspondence from 1924 to 1963 and also contain a few poems written and published by Mrs. Hardy before her marriage. A folder of original manuscript material includes letters written by Mrs. Hardy, biographical information on other poets, and lecture notes. A few copies of The Asian Story, a group of poems written shortly before Mrs. Hardy's death, can be found as enclosures in letters written in 1967.

Although most of the items relate primarily to Mrs. Hardy, a few of the clippings refer to her friends. A few of the letters are from or to her daughter, Mrs. Husson, and are preserved in a separate file. There are also a few gift poems written by other poets and dedicated to Mrs. Hardy. Box 4 contains issues of poetry journals, most of which contain poems by Mrs. Hardy.

Creator

Dates

  • Creation: 1923-1976

Language of Materials

English

Extent

4 box(es)

Access

The Elizabeth Stanton Hardy Papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.

Use

In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Mrs. Gustave Husson on May 25, 1981.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, item date], Elizabeth Stanton Hardy Papers, D.199, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Title
Elizabeth Stanton Hardy papers
Author
Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
Date
undated
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Library Details

Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library

Contact:
Rochester NY 14627-0055 USA