William Hobart Mitchell papers
Creator: Mitchell, William Hobart
Call Number: D.418
Dates: circa 1908-2002
Physical Description: 48 boxes
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
Series I: Correspondence
Box 1
Box 2
Box 3
Box 4
Box 5
Box 6
Box 7
Box 8
Series II: Music career
Box 9
Box 10
Box 11
Box 12
Box 13
Box 14
Box 15
Box 15A
Box 15B
Box 15C
Box 15D
Box 15E
Box 15F
Series III: Writings
Box 16
Box 17
Box 18
Box 19
Box 20
Box 21
Box 22
Box 23
Box 24
Box 25
Box 26
Box 27
Box 28
Box 29
Box 30
Box 31
Box 32
Box 33
Box 34
Box 35
Box 36
Box 37
Box 38
Box 39
Box 40
Box 41
Box 42
Box 43
Box 44
Box 45
Box 46
Box 47
Box 48
Box 49
Series IV: Personal papers
Folder
Series V: Teaching materials
Folder
Collection Overview
Title: William Hobart Mitchell papers
Creator: Mitchell, William Hobart
Call Number: D.418
Dates: circa 1908-2002
Physical Description: 48 boxes
Language(s): Materials are in English
Repository: Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Biographical/Historical Note
William Hobart Mitchell was born November 6, 1908 in New York City. Beginning at an early age, Mitchell surrounded himself with music. He served as a boy chorister in the Grace Church Choir School and went on to study voice both in New York City and later as a student at the University of Rochester (UR 1929). As a student at the University, Mitchell majored in English and was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity organization.

Upon graduating in 1929, Mitchell spent two years backpacking across the globe. He traveled throughout the United States singing on sixteen different radio station programs. While traveling, Mitchell wrote columns about his experiences for the Rochester Times Union newspaper. From San Francisco, he traveled to Japan and then on to Korea. While in Peking, China, he performed a concert at the Grand Hotel before leaving for Shanghai. Journeying from Thailand to India and then onto Europe, he finally returned to New York in 1931. Mitchell wrote a series of newspaper columns for various publications including the Daily Mail and the Christian Science Monitor reflecting on his travels. Once he returned, he attempted to turn his articles and travel notes into a published manuscript. His efforts were ultimately unsuccessful.

Mitchell continued to write non-fiction and fiction works during the early 1930s, as well as an epic poem titled Night Rain based upon his relationship with a woman named Vera that ended in 1932.

Mitchell enrolled in Columbia University's Master of Arts program and completed an American Literature degree in 1936. Afterwards he taught English courses at New York University for six years. During this time Mitchell also continued to explore his love of music and his interest in writing. He composed several pieces of lyrical poetry as well as a piece titled Second Symphony. Mitchell also began to collect newspaper clippings and document headlines of national and international events for a novel titled Hart Lausing. This unpublished novel appears to be semi- autobiographical and describes the personal and professional life of a New York University English professor.

In 1938, Mitchell married Claramary Greeley, whom he met through a friend while living in New York City.

Prior to the outbreak of World War II and continuing after the United States began its involvement in the conflict, Mitchell expressed his beliefs in pacifism by writing letters to local and national political figures, including President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, urging these leaders to reconsider their decision to engage in a military action.

After being drafted into the armed services in 1943, Mitchell appealed to the draft board as a conscientious objector and served his time in a Civilian Public Service unit stationed at Rochester New York's Strong Hospital. While there, Mitchell was compelled to participate in several experiments, including the effects of low protein diets on young men. During his service, Mitchell continued to sing and held performances for his fellow servicemen.

After completing his service, Mitchell continued work on his novel Hart Lausing and in 1945 began touring colleges and universities and singing in their church services. He continued to perform regularly until 1962. During this period Mitchell wrote and recorded his most famous piece, "Sermon in Song" which offered small churches, which could not afford live music, the opportunity to share with their congregations recorded selections suitable for most religious occasions.

Interested in expanding this opportunity, in 1954, Mitchell formed Chancel a company dedicated to helping those in the religious community utilize sacred music. This company published newsletters as well as led community programs for youth in a local YMCA. Also in 1954, Mitchell recorded a series titled "Poetry in Song" on various stations owned by the National Association of Educational Broadcasters. Mitchell continued to record these pieces each year through 1959. While preparing these records, Mitchell also wrote numerous articles, many of which were published by religious publications such as Motive Magazine. He also continued to explore his interest in the application of music in therapeutic healing.

In 1963, Mitchell returned to teaching and joined the faculty at Mitchell College in New London, Connecticut.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mitchell began to research the experiences of other conscientious objectors of World War II. He gathered materials published from the War Resister's League, copies of the Reporter and Information published by the American Friends Service Committee, as well as newspaper clippings documenting the pacifism movement in the United States before, during and immediately following the war. Drawing on his own experiences as well as those who served in other Civilian Public Service units, Mitchell wrote the book We Would Not Kill. Friends United Press published the book in 1983.

After the death of his wife, Claramary in January 1966, Mitchell began to court Jean North. North began working with Mitchell in 1955, shortly after he formed Chancel. The two married in June 1966 and traveled extensively throughout Europe, as well as to Corfu and Sri Lanka, and William conducted research and wrote about countries he and Jean visited. Both kept travel notebooks. After their trip to Salzburg, Mitchell began writing Salzburg Christmas, which he completed in 1980, but never succeeded in getting published. During this same period, Mitchell wrote several other unpublished manuscripts about his travels.

Beginning in 1984, Mitchell researched and conducted interviews with several dozen craftspeople in the greater New York state area. These interviews culminated in published articles appearing in the Sunday Bulletin and the Daily News.

William Hobart Mitchell died ca. 2002 at the age of ninety-four.

Scope and Content
The William Hobart Mitchell Papers are comprised of five series: Correspondence, Music Career, Writings, Personal Papers and Teaching Materials. The largest body of correspondence contains letters written between Mitchell and his first wife, Claramary (Clerky), that document their courtship in the mid 1930s as well as William's time in the Civilian Public Service unit during World War II. The majority of the letters relate to William's musical tours of universities and colleges throughout the United States between the late 1940s and the early 1960s. This group of letters shares William's experiences during his travels as well as documenting Claramary's everyday life in New York City and later in Rye, New York.

The second group of letters comprises exchanges between two different women, Frances Bingham and a woman named Vera, whom William courted before marrying Claramary in 1938. The third group are between William and his mother and date from 1934 through 1958. They document changes both in William's life as well as those of his family members. The fourth group of letters was exchanged between William and his friends and associates from 1931 through 1960.

Also included in the Correspondence series are a number of letters between William and various publishers from 1934 through 1990 while attempting to get different manuscripts published.

The second series, Music Career, includes choral programs from William's tours of universities and colleges between 1929 and 1957 and the newspaper coverage and reactions he garnered. These programs feature William's "Sermon in Song" piece that combined a musical melody with a religious message. Also included in this series are recordings of William's "Sermon in Song" pieces captured both on reel-to-reel tape and copied onto cassette tapes.

The business records from Chancel document the rise in use of recorded music in religious services. This company published a record catalog as well as analyzed musical pieces composed for Church services.

Articles William wrote and published in Motive Magazine and the Christian Science Monitor about the use of recorded music in Church services comprise another group of documents in this series. Promotional headshots and negatives are included.

The third series, Writings, document William's earliest passion and career goal. His reflections on his two year backpacking trip around the world are divided into six parts: "Rochester to Peiping", "Peiping to Darjeeling", "India to Rochester", "Peiping to Penang", "Penang to Port Said" and "Cairo." Travel notes, unbound manuscripts and bound volumes are included, as well as newspaper clippings of articles published in the Rochester Times Union, the Daily Leader and the Christian Science Monitor that he wrote while traveling.

William's epic poem Night Rain is included in this series, as is the body of correspondence exchanged with Vera that inspired the poem's creation. Notes, background research and drafts of William's war novel Hart Lausing begun in the late 1930s comprise another body of writing. William's Second Symphony and several lyrical poems are also included.

William's travels in the 1970s and 1980s inspired him to write about Sri Lanka and its customs, as well as the people of Oaxaca, Mexico and Corfu. The manuscripts are included in this series, as are numerous interviews and published articles William conducted and wrote about craftspeople living in the greater New York area.

Most significant in this series is William's published book We Would Not Kill, which documents his experiences and those of other conscientious objectors during World War II. In addition to drafts of his book and correspondence with publishers, background notes and research materials are also included in this series.

Materials related to William's years teaching at New York University and later Mitchell College comprises the fourth series. These documents include a small body of correspondence between William, colleagues, and students, as well as student work and the Mitchell College yearbook from 1968.

The fifth series includes William's personal papers and document his early life as a school boy through his time at the University of Rochester, a small body of correspondence pertaining to his marriage to Claramary Greeley in 1938, and insurance claim after she died in 1966.

Arrangement
Series I. Correspondence

Series II. Music Career

Series III. Writings

Series IV. Personal Papers

Series V. Teaching Materials

Subject(s):
New York (State)--Rochester
Correspondence
Photographs
Travel writing
Essays
Mitchell, William Hobart
Musicians
Immediate Source of Acquisition
William Hobart Mitchell made a gift of his personal papers in 1970, with subsequent donations in 1974, 1980, and the 1990s.Access
The William Hobart Mitchell 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], William Hobart Mitchell papers, D.418, 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