Adelaide Crapsey Papers

We are experiencing technical difficulties with the new University Archives interface and have made the decision to temporarily take it down while we work to resolve them.


Other Views:  Print/PDF  |  EAD Note: You may browse using the navigation on the left, or use Ctrl-F to search within this finding aid.

Adelaide Crapsey papers
Creator: Crapsey, Adelaide, 1878-1914
Call Number: A.C89
Dates: 1878-1934
Physical Description: 2.0 Cubic feet
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Table of Contents:

Biographical/Historical Note
Scope and Content
Arrangement
Subject(s)
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Access
Use
Citation
Content List
Collection Overview
Title: Adelaide Crapsey papers
Creator: Crapsey, Adelaide, 1878-1914
Call Number: A.C89
Dates: 1878-1934
Physical Description: 2.0 Cubic feet
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Biographical/Historical Note
Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1914) was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Algernon Sidney Crapsey and Adelaide (Trowbridge) Crapsey. Her father was assistant minister of Trinity Church, Brooklyn, but within the first year after Adelaide's birth he became rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Parish, Rochester.

Adelaide Crapsey attended public schools in Rochester, then entered Kemper Hall, Kenosha, Wisconsin in 1893. She graduated in 1897 at the head of her class, and entered Vassar College, from which she graduated in 190l. At Vassar she was the class poet for three years and editor-in-chief of the 1901 Vassarion.

Before beginning her planned teaching career Adelaide Crapsey took a year's vacation to regain her strength and to recover from the shock caused by the death of her sister Emily in 1901. She then taught literature and history at Kemper Hall from 1902 to 1904, and Miss Lowe's School in Stamford, Connecticut from 1906 to 1908. In the meantime she had spent the year 1904-05 in Rome studying at the School of Classical Studies of the American Academy. She returned to Rochester in time to attend her father's trial for heresy, at the end of which he was deposed from the ministry.

The strain of the trial, with the death of her eldest brother Philip in May 1907, left Adelaide Crapsey in poor health. She accompanied her father to the Hague Peace Conference in June, but her health did not improve from the trip, and it was decided that she should return to Rome in December 1908. In the following two years she lived in Rome and London, with short periods in Paris and Fiesole. She continued her study of English prosody at the British Museum in 1910, and corresponded with T.S. Omond, an English prosodist, concerning possible publication of her work.

Adelaide Crapsey obtained an appointment as an instructor in poetics at Smith College in 1911, and returned to the United States immediately to begin work in February. Her health continued to be poor, and she was frequently overcome with fatigue. In the summer of 1911, her condition was diagnosed as tuberculosis. She did not tell her family, but continued to teach at Smith. In July 1913, she collapsed and was sent to a private nursing home at Saranac Lake, New York, where she stayed until August 1914. She then returned to her family home in Rochester, grew suddenly worse, and died October 8, 1914.

Her poetry was published after her death by Claude Bragdon (Verse, Manas Press, 1915) and the completed portion of her work on prosody as A Study in English Metrics in 1918. A second edition of Verse was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1922, reprinted in 1926 and 1929, and a third edition was published in 1934, reprinted 1938.

Scope and Content
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscript and typed copies of poems, manuscript and typed drafts of the studies of metrics, reading notes, critical notices of Verse, published and unpublished articles about Adelaide Crapsey, photographs and memorabilia.

Arrangement
The arrangement of material in Box 2 follows that suggested by Susan Sutton Smith in her book The Poems of Adelaide Crapsey, pp.viii-xxii, xxxix-xlvi.

Subject(s):
Poetry
Correspondence
Photographs
Crapsey, Adelaide, 1878-1914
Poets, American
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of: Paul B. Crapsey January 23, 1961; Esther Lowenthal January 23, 1961, June 8, 1965, and November l, 1966; Arthur H. Crapsey, Jr., March 24, 1970; John S. Marsh March 20, 1978. Also various purchases.Access
The Adelaide Crapsey papers is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.Use
Reproductions are made upon request but can be subject to restrictions. Permission to publish materials from the collection must currently be requested. Please note that some materials may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. For more information contact rarebks@library.rochester.eduCitation
[Item title, item date], Adelaide Crapsey papers, A.C89, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Administrative Information
Author: Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
Publisher: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester
Address:
Rush Rhees Library
Second Floor, Room 225
Rochester, NY 14627-0055
rarebks@library.rochester.edu
URL:


Content List
Box 1, Folder 1Scrapbook. Compiled by Mrs. Adelaide (Trowbridge) Crapsey. Adelaide Crapsey, 1878-1914
"This book contains the collected data covering the period 9 Sept. 1878 - Oct. 1914 and extracts from her Mother's journal". Transcripts of letters in scrapbook, 1893-1912.

Box 1, Folder 2Correspondence, 1893-1912
Transcripts of letters in scrapbook.

Box 1, Folder 3Correspondence: Adelaide Crapsey to Esther Lowenthal, July - December 1913
Box 1, Folder 4Correspondence: Adelaide Crapsey to Esther Lowenthal, January - February 1914
Box 1, Folder 5Correspondence: Adelaide Crapsey to Esther Lowenthal, March - May 1914
Box 1, Folder 6Transcripts of Crapsey-Lowenthal correspondence
Box 1, Folder 7Correspondence, 1909 - 1914
Box 1, Folder 8Correspondence, 1930 - 1933
Box 1, Folder 9Enlarged photographic reproduction of Adelaide Crapsey's graduation picture, Vassar College, Graduation photograph, Photograph of Adelaide Crapsey, 1901, 1909
Original of Adelaide Crapsey's graduation picture from Vassar College in scrapbook in folder 1.

Box 1, Folder 10Cyanotypes (5)
Adelaide Crapsey at Alice Ward's house, College Avenue, Rochester, NY
Adelaide Crapsey, Hawley Ward, Alice Ward, and "Bandit" at Ward house
Ward House, College Avenue, Rochester, NY
Alice Ward
Adelaide Crapsey and Carl Gordon at Ward house, College Avenue, Rochester, NY
Box 1, Folder 11Scrapbook, October 1914 to circa 1933
Compiled by Mrs. Adelaide (Trowbridge) Crapsey. Adelaide Crapsey 1878-1914. "This book contains the collected data covering the period 8th Oct. 1914 to date [ca1933]"

Box 2, Folder 1Poems. Holograph manuscripts
Box 2, Folder 2Poems. Drafts of "Nor moon..." and "Snow"
Box 2, Folder 3Poems. Drafts of longer poems
Box 2, Folder 4Bound manuscript volume of "Verse"
Box 2, Folder 5Notebooks
Box 2, Folder 6Translations, Holograph copies
Box 2, Folder 7Arrangements of poems for "Verse" made by Adelaide Crapsey
Box 2, Folder 8Typed copy of Verse. "Presentation Copy"
Box 2, Folder 9Poems. Typed copies corrected by Adelaide Crapsey
Box 2, Folder 10Poems. Typed copies. Imperiale Parchment
Box 2, Folder 11Poems. Manuscript copies in hand of Esther Lowenthal
Box 2, Folder 12Poems. Typed copies, Hammermill Bond
Box 2, Folder 13Poems. Typed copies in Scrantom, Wetmore Co. binder
Box 2, Folder 14Typed copies of "The Fiddler"
Box 2, Folder 15Poems. Typed copies, Berkshire Linen USA
Box 2, Folder 16Poems. Typed copies, Ravelstone Bond
Box 2, Folder 17Poems. Typed copies, Mount Tom Bond
Box 2, Folder 18Poems. Typed copies, No watermark, blue ribbon, elite typewriter
Box 2, Folder 19Poems. Typed copy, Berkshire Parchment Linen USA
Box 2, Folder 20"The Witch." Clipping. Published in The Century Illustrated Magazine, November 1914
Box 2, Folder 21Esther Lowenthal's notes concerning "Verse"
Box 3, Folder 1"Experiment in Prosodic Analysis,"Holograph draft
Box 3, Folder 2"Experiment in Prosodic Analysis," Typed draft
Box 3, Folder 3"Metrics and Phonetics," Two typed drafts
Box 3, Folder 4"A Study in English Metrics," Rough drafts
Box 3, Folder 5"A Study in English Metrics," Rough drafts
Box 3, Folder 6"A Study in English Metrics," Holograph draft
Box 3, Folder 7"A Study in English Metrics," Typed drafts
Box 3, Folder 8"A Study in English Metrics," Typed final draft
Box 3, Folder 9Metrical analysis, Book lists
Box 3, Folder 10Metrical analysis, notes
Box 3, Folder 11Stories and poems published at Vassar, photocopies
Box 3, Folder 12Readers' tickets, British Museum Reading Room, 1909-1910
Box 3, Folder 13The Poems of John Keats. Copy annotated by Adelaide Crapsey
Box 4, Folder 1Nathaniel Schmidt. "Adelaide Crapsey". Typescript
5 pages

Box 4, Folder 2Hideo Kawanami. "Adelaide Crapsey and Michel Revon: Their Connection with Japanese Literature"
Printed version (in Japanese) and typescript copy of English translation (16 pages)

Box 4, Folder 3John Rothwell Slater. "The Adelaide Crapsey Collection." Typescript of article published in the University of Rochester Library Bulletin, vol. 16, no. 3, 1961
Spring, 1961. 4 pages

Box 4, Folder 4Sister M. Edwardine. "Adelaide Crapsey: A Biographical Study". Thesis, 1929
Bound typescript, 39 pages

Box 4, Folder 5Walter O. Loescher. "The Personality and Poetry of Adelaide Crapsey." M.A. thesis, University of Rochester, 1947
Bound typescript, 87 pages

Box 4, Folder 6Volume of Verse owned and inscribed by Louise Townsend Nicoll with three letters regarding Adelaide Crapsey, May 8, 1976, June 2, 1976
John S. Van E. Kohn to Bob [Robert Kolvoord?] (May 19, 1976), Louise Townsend Nicholl to John S. Van E. Kohn (May 8, 1976), and Louise Townsend Nicholl to R[obert?] Kolvoord (June 2, 1976). Also a letter found in Cecila Beaux's copy of Verse and mistakenly attributed to Adelaide Crapsey.

Box 4, Folder 7Karen Alkalay-Gut. "Death, Order, and Poetry: 'The Presentation Copy' of Adelaide Crapsey", May 1985
Computer print-out of article published in American Literature, vol. 57, no. 2 (May, 1985). 32 pages. An offprint copy of the article has been cataloged for the book collection.

Box 4, Folder 8Karen Alkalay-Gut. "'Keeping the Edge of Deprivation Sharp': Adelaide Crapsey's 'To the Dead in the Grave-yard Under My Window'"
Computer print-out, 5 pages

Box 4, Folder 9Karen Alkalay-Gut. "The Dying of Adelaide Crapsey"
Computer print-out, 35 pages

Box 4, Folder 10Volume of Verse owned by Medora Addison Nutter
Two letters from Adelaide Crapsey to Medora Addison are tipped in (a third letter was not attached and has been added to the correspondence in Box l, folder 6) and a photograph of Adelaide Crapsey is pasted on the title-page.

Box 4, Folder 11Jean Webster. "Poems by Adelaide Crapsey," Century, February 1916
page 511

Box 4, Folder 12Mary Elizabeth Osborn. "The Vocabulary in Adelaide Crapsey's Verse," reprinted from American Speech, vol. III, no. 6, August 1928
pages 457-459

Box 4, Folder 13Winifred Wells. "'The Shimmering Shroud'"
Review of Knopf 1922 edition of Verse removed from an unidentified periodical.

Box 4, Folder 14W.S.B. "Adelaide Crapsey," Transcript, March 8, 1916
Box 4, Folder 15F.H. "'The Immortal Residue,'" The New Republic, January 22, 1916
Pages 312-313

Box 4, Folder 16Charles Kenfield. Score for "Six Cinquains." Poems by Adelaide Crapsey set to music for soprano and piano by Charles Kenfield
Included are notes by the composer.

Box 4, Folder 17James Brasic. Score for "Triad for Bass Voice, Flute and Piano." Words by Adelaide Crapsey; music by James Brasic, 1974
Box 4, Folder 18Jean Mason. "Tuberculosis as Muse: Three Poets on North America's 'Magic Mountain.'" Ars Medica, vol.1, no. 1, Fall 2004
Box 4, Folder 19Karen Alkalay-Gut. Alone in the Dawn: The Life of Adelaide Crapsey. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1988


Other Views:  Print/PDF  |  EAD