Poets Garden records
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Scope and Content
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the collection, financial records, typescript and manuscript drafts of her works (both prose and poetry, published and unpublished), her manuscript notes, scrapbooks, photographs and newspaper and periodical clippings.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.
Dates
- Creation: 1876-1971
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
Conditions Governing Use
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.
Historical Note
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.
Extent
104 Linear Feet (103 boxes, 1 map-case folder)
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.
Organization
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
Subject
- Bogart, Guy -- Archives (Person)
- Bogart, Guy -- Correspondence (Person)
- Bond, Genevieve Farnell -- Archives (Person)
- Bond, Genevieve Farnell -- Correspondence (Person)
- Bright, Verne -- Archives (Person)
- Bright, Verne -- Correspondence (Person)
- Bush, Grace E. -- Archives (Person)
- Bush, Grace E. -- Correspondence (Person)
- Cheyney, Ralph -- Archives (Person)
- Chevaillier, Alzire A. (Alzire Adrienne) -- Archives (Person)
- Chevaillier, Alzire A. (Alzire Adrienne) -- Correspondence (Person)
- Debs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor) -- Archives (Person)
- Debs, Eugene V. (Eugene Victor) -- Correspondence (Person)
- Gaw, Ethelean Tyson -- Archives (Person)
- Gaw, Ethelean Tyson -- Correspondence (Person)
- Hamilton, Florence -- Archives (Person)
- Hamilton, Florence -- Correspondence (Person)
- Kwan, Moon -- Archives (Person)
- Kwan, Moon -- Correspondence (Person)
- MacManus, Seumas -- Archives (Person)
- MacManus, Seumas -- Correspondence (Person)
- Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940 -- Archives (Person)
- Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940 -- Correspondence (Person)
- Mayne, Eric -- Archives (Person)
- Mayne, Eric -- Correspondence (Person)
- Miller, Juanita Joaquina -- Archives (Person)
- Miller, Juanita Joaquina -- Correspondence (Person)
- Morgan, Angela -- Archives (Person)
- Morgan, Angela -- Correspondence (Person)
- Norris, Gordon W. -- Archives (Person)
- Norris, Gordon W. -- Correspondence (Person)
- O'Donnol, Dion -- Archives (Person)
- O'Donnol, Dion -- Correspondence (Person)
- Price, Ruth Clay -- Archives (Person)
- Price, Ruth Clay -- Correspondence (Person)
- Reynolds, Adeline de Walt, 1862-1961 -- Archives (Person)
- Reynolds, Adeline de Walt, 1862-1961 -- Correspondence (Person)
- Scott, John Milton -- Archives (Person)
- Scott, John Milton -- Correspondence (Person)
- Sherry, Ruth Forbes -- Archives (Person)
- Sherry, Ruth Forbes -- Correspondence (Person)
- Standing Bear, Luther -- Archives (Person)
- Standing Bear, Luther -- Correspondence (Person)
- Trent, Lucia -- Archives (Person)
- Trent, Lucia -- Correspondence (Person)
- Wells, Wesley Robert -- Correspondence (Person)
- Whitaker, Robert -- Archives (Person)
- Whitaker, Robert -- Correspondence (Person)
Genre / Form
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Diaries
- Ephemera
- Manuscripts
- Memorabilia
- Periodicals
- Scrapbooks
- Typescripts
Geographic
- Los Angeles (Calif.) -- History -- Archival resources
- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
Topical
- American literature -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- American poetry -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Christian socialism -- Archival resources
- Dakota Indians -- Archival resources
- Families of prisoners of war -- Archival resources
- Poets, American -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Prison reformers -- Archival resources
- Prisoners -- Correspondence
- Religious poetry, American -- California -- Archival resources
- Socialism -- California -- Archival resources
- Socialism and literature -- United States -- History -- 20th century
- Socialists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
- Women -- United States -- History -- 20th century -- Archival resources
- Women social reformers -- United States -- Archival resources
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Repatriation of war dead -- United States -- Archival resources
- World War, 1939-1945 -- United States -- Archival resources
- Title
- Poets Garden records 0110
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Rebecca Hirsch, Anna Clark and Sarah Guidas
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Sponsor
- The processing of this collection and the creation of this finding aid was funded by the generous support of the National Historic Publications and Records Commission.
Revision Statements
- 2021 May: Finding aid updated by Bo Doub: created new container records (listed under "Unprocessed material") after finding unprocessed boxes during Grand Archives stacks shelf-reading.
Repository Details
Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States
specol@usc.edu