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Manuscript Collections
The Robert Frost manuscript collection (MS-1178) contains correspondence, manuscripts, typescripts, galley proofs, legal and financial documents, appointment and engagement calendars, and ephemera of the American poet Robert Frost, as well as some correspondence and manuscript writings about Frost and individual issues of periodicals in which Frost’s poetry was published.
The bulk of the collection is made up of incoming personal and professional correspondence, more than forty manuscript notebooks as well as drafts and fair copies of Frost’s poetry, plays, and prose. Legal and financial papers, appointment calendars, and printed ephemera, as well as writings about Frost by those who knew him, provide context for the poet’s literary work.
There are also numerous collections available for research in Rauner Library that relate to Robert Frost in some way:
- Lawrance Thompson Collection of Robert Frost (MS-590)Thompson was an English professor who was selected by Frost to be his biographer in 1939.The collection contains photographs of Robert Frost, audio-recordings of Frost speeches and photocopies of Frost letters, as well as published and unpublished source material for Thompson's publications on Robert Frost.
- Papers of Edward Thomas (MS-958)Thomas was a British poet and close friend of Frost who died in WWI. His papers include his collection of books, typescripts, manuscripts, notes, correspondence, photographs, newspaper and magazine clippings about Thomas’ prose and poetry. Diaries, manuscripts/notes of Helen Thomas' work, and Myfanwy (Ann) Thomas' articles about her parents, and correspondence of Helen Thomas and Ann Thomas are also included.
- Papers of Edward Connery Lathem (MS-965)Edward Connery Lathem was a member of Dartmouth’s class of 1951 and Dean of Dartmouth College Library. He was also a close friend of Robert Frost as well as the editor of a 1969 of Robert Frost’s work which is still considered the standard edition. A small portion of his papers contain materials related to his research and writings on Frost.
- Collection of Robert Frost Lectures of Edward Connery Lathem (MS-1012)The Robert Frost lectures collection contains transcribed lectures and readings by Robert Frost collected by Edward Connery Lathem. The lectures, delivered from 1941-1962, were given at colleges, universities, and other cultural institutions.
- Papers of Edward Hyde Cox (MS-1168)Edward Hyde Cox was a wealthy benefactor of Dartmouth College and other institutions in New England and was also a good friend of Robert Frost. Relevant materials in Cox’s papers include photographs of Robert Frost, some audio reels of Cox discussing Frost with others, some Frost-related correspondence, and his personal annotated Robert Frost poetry books.
- Papers of Kathleen Morrison (MS-1211)Kathleen "Kay" Johnston Morrison (1898-1989) was secretary-manager to the poet Robert Frost from 1938 until Frost's death in 1963 and was then the literary executor afterward. The bulk of her papers at Dartmouth is related to her 25-year secretarial stint for the poet.
- Papers of Anne Morrison Gentry Smyth (MS-1213)Smyth was the daughter of Kathleen “Kay” Morrison and Theodore Morrison. As such, she was well acquainted with Frost from childhood. Her papers contain documents related to her visits to Frost during his hospitalization at the end of his life as well as other Frost-related ephemera and some materials about Ezra Pound.
- Papers of Edna Davis Romig (MS-1215)Romig was a Professor of English at the University of Colorado at Boulder and a friend of Robert and Elinor Frost. Her papers primarily contain correspondence from Robert and Elinor Frost as well as correspondence about Robert Frost from Carl Burell, Robert S. Newdick, and Charles R. Green. The papers also include a few items of ephemera related to Robert Frost.
- Papers of Sylvia Clark (MS-1216)Sylvia Clark was born in Derry, New Hampshire, in 1871.Many of the items in the Clark papers document her association with Robert Frost, first as a neighbor of the poet in Derry, New Hampshire, and later as a colleague while teaching at Pinkerton Academy.
- Papers of J.J. Lankes (MS-1115)Julius John (J.J.) Lankes was an instructor of art at Wells College in New York state and a noted woodcut artist who was most often associated with illustrating publications of Robert Frost's poetry. The collection includes numerous sketches, photographs, prints, and correspondence related to Robert Frost.