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Guide to the Dorothy Thomas Archive

Introduction

In 1990, the Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors received from the estate of Dorothy Thomas, 17 boxes of materials relating to Dorothy Thomas’ writing life. Although Lincoln City Libraries does not hold literary rights to these materials, their literary executor, Wanda Barbee of Bronte, Texas, has been generous in allowing the use of these papers. Requests for usage must be cleared through Mrs. Barbee.

The collection includes thousands of letters to and from Dorothy Thomas, hundreds of story manuscripts, photographs, slides, clippings, and other ephemera. This collection was sorted and ordered by Heritage Room staff between 1997 and 1999. When possible, the original order the materials were placed in by Dorothy Thomas was preserved. This is especially true with her stories. However, the correspondence came to us in no particular order and so has been arranged chronologically and by sender, without interfiling. All material is housed in acid-free document boxes in acid-free folders. Clippings have been transferred to acid-free paper. Personnel who worked on the collection include Vicki Clarke, Joanna Lloyd, and Christine Pappas.

Holdings

A Brief Biography of Dorothy Thomas

Dorothy Thomas was born, August 13, 1898 in Kansas, the sixth of ten children to Willard and Agusta Dodge Thomas. When Dorothy was seven, the family moved to Alberta, Canada, where they homesteaded near a logging company, often providing food and shelter to the loggers. The family moved back to Kansas when Dorothy was 12, and she attended school for the first time. A bright child, Dorothy showed immediate aptitude in writing stories and creating artwork, but always struggled with her other schoolwork. Other members of the Thomas family, especially Dorothy’s sister Kennetha, share Dorothy’s artistic strengths.

After the death of her father, Dorothy moved with her mother and other siblings to Bethany, a suburb of Lincoln. Dorothy received a Second Grade teaching certificate in 1918. Not graduating from either school, she attended Cotner College for two semesters during the 1920 and 1921 school years and the University of Nebraska for a semester in 1921. From 1918 to 1929, Dorothy taught elementary and secondary school in Emerson, Tryon, Gering, Scotts Bluff, Saunders County and Lincoln. While teaching in Scotts Bluff in 1924, Dorothy met a young farmer named Martin Gable and became engaged, but later returned the ring at her mother’s urging.

Dorothy’s first publication was in the Prairie Schooner—a poem entitled “The Beast Room,” which appeared in 1927. Selling her story “The Blue Doves” to Scribners in 1928 gave Dorothy the confidence to return her 1929 teaching contract unsigned: “sink or swim, I would risk everything, work at whatever jobs I could get, and write for my life and my living.”

Despite the raging Great Depression, Dorothy’s plan succeeded, and throughout the 1930s she supported her large family with the proceeds of her writings. By 1975, Dorothy sold over 150 stories to the top magazines and journals all over the world, with many stories being placed in American Mercury, The New Yorker, Harpers and other literary magazines in the 1930s and 1940s. After the 1940s, Dorothy’s stories mainly found their way into slicks and women’s magazines—Saturday Evening Post, Red Book, Colliers, or Good Housekeeping. H. L. Mencken admired her writing, and New Yorker founding editor Harold Ross called her story “The Getaway” the “best damn story ever in The New Yorker.” Many of her stories were deemed among the best stories of the year.

Alfred A. Knopf published two novels by Dorothy, but they were really collections of short stories— Ma Jeeter’s Girls in 1931 and The Home Place in 1934. The rights to both of these books are held by the University of Nebraska Press, which has issued reprints of each. Besides her children’s book Hi-Po the Hippo, published by Random House in 1942, these were Dorothy’s only book-length publications, although, as the manuscript collection reflects, she worked extensively on other projects. These include a collection of stories from her Alberta, Canada childhood, a book on teaching children to read, and a collection of letters regarding Dorothy’s relationship with D. H. Lawrence’s widow Frieda whom, Dorothy visited in New Mexico (see the “Frieda Telling Letters”).

In her life Dorothy was associated with several prominent writers. In Lincoln in the 1920s, she came to know Loren and Mabel Dodge Eiseley and forged a life-long correspondence. In Lincoln, she also was acquainted with Mari Sandoz, Rudolph Umland, and Louise Pound. Dorothy Thomas was living in naturalist Mary Autsin’s guesthouse when Austin died in 1934 and was the last person who saw her alive. During the summer of 1935, Dorothy attended the writing retreat at Yaddo, New York, and fell in love with prominent writer Leonard Ehrlich, a relationship about which, when it ended, Dorothy wrote, “pulled a ligament in my personality.”

After leaving Lincoln, Dorothy lived in a variety of places—Espanola, New Mexico; New York City; Vernon, New Jersey; the US Virgin Islands, and finally, Bronte, Texas. While in Vernon, Dorothy met retired machinist John Buickerood who lived in her trailer park. They were married on Valentine’s Day, 1959, and consolidated their trailers. They lived happily reading, writing and gardening together until his death in 1990.

Dorothy’s personal correspondence and diary writing is voluminous, and many of the people she kept in touch with were family members. Never having children of her own (although she did take in two troubled foster children in 1950s), Dorothy doted on the children in her family and was affectionately known as Aunt Dolly. Dorothy loved clothes almost as much as she loved books and many of her letters contain drawings and descriptions of the newest article of clothing she had sewn.

Dorothy died in 1990. She had long been weakened by myasthenia gravis and suffered a debilitating stroke brought on by an unfavorable review of one of her stories. Dorothy cared about her literary reputation and hoped to be “discovered” in the Twenty-First Century. Dorothy’s correspondence shows that she had a buoyant spirit and was ever confident in her ability to create a good story. She wrote that on her grave marker, she wished it to say, “she told an enjoyable story.”

By Christine Pappas, 12/99

Manuscripts

Sold / Published Stories BOX 1

1920s: The Goat [Avenue, 1927]

1920s: Three Blue Doves [Scribners, Oct. 1929]

1930s: A Jeeter Wedding [American Mercury, 1931]

1930s: Agusta and the Big Brewer’s Horses [Harpers, Nov. 1932]

1930s: The Red Chair [Canadian Home Journal, 1933]

1930s: To the Brave, the Fair [Omaha World Herald, 1933]

1930s: The Consecrated Coal Scuttle [Harper’s, May, 1933]

1930s: All Day Sunday [American Mercury, July 1933]

1930s: Ma Jeeters’s Girls [published by Knopf, 1933]

1930s: The Girl from Follow [Atlantic Monthly, 1934]

1930s: The Sunday Dishes [1934]—TV playscript; Woman’s Day ?

1930s: First Love [Atlantic Monthly, May 1934]

1930s: The Getaway [New Yorker, 1934]

1930s: Hazel [Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 1934]

Home Place Stories

1930s: Fall (from Home Place), [Harper’s, Jan. 1935]

1930s: Christmas Morning (from Home Place), [Harper’s, Jan. 1936]

1930s: Spring (from Home Place), [Harper’s, Aug. 1935]

1930s: Summer (from Home Place), [Harper’s, Sept. 1935]

1930s: Second Fall (from Home Place)

1930s: The Home Place carbons [published by Knopf, 1936]

1930s: The Home Place proof of illustrations

1930s: Ice Cream on Monday [Atlantic Monthly, July 1935]

1930s: Apple Wood [Atlantic Monthly, 1936]

1930s: Home for the Wedding [Good Housekeeping, Sept. 1936]

1930s: Past Speaking [Sat. Eve. Post, Dec. 26, 1936]

1930s: Flowers Appear on the Earth [New Yorker, 1936]

1930s: Garish Day [Harper’s, July 1937]

1930s: Helen, I’ve Seen Your Father [Sat. Eve. Post, Sept. 25, 1937]

1930s: The Car [Sat. Eve. Post, 1938]

1930s: Morning [Canadian Home Journal, May 1939]

1930s: Star Light, Star Bright [Ladies Home Journal, Ap. 2, 1939]

1940s: After Many Mysteries [Woman’s Day early 1940s]

1940s: The Handkerchiefs [Sat. Eve. Post May 11, 1940]

1940s: We’ll Not Speak of It [Ladies Home Journal March, 1941]

1940s: My Pigeon Pair [Harper’s June 1941]

1940s: Love is a Proud and Gentle Thing [Sat. Eve. Post, Ap. 28, 1942]

1940s: Sin [Sat. Eve. Post July 4, 1942]

1940s: The Thread that Runs So Truly [Woman’s Day, Aug. 7, 1942]

1940s: Come and Bring the Children [Sat. Eve. Post, Aug. 8, 1942]

1940s: Such Sweet Sorrow [Ladies Home Journal, Oct. 1943]

1940s: Help One Fainty Robin [New Yorker, 1944]

1940s: Worth the Telling [Good Housekeeping, March 1945]

1940s: We Got Back [Ladies Home Journal, July 8, 1945]

1940s: Never Said a Word [Ladies Home Journal, Aug. 1947]

1940s: Impatient Bridegroom [Sat. Eve. Post, May 15, 1948]

1960s: Mina’s Man Trap [Ladies Home Journal, Nov. 1961]

1960s: A Word Fitfully Spoken [Ladies Home Journal, May 1961]

1960s: Of Day of Rest and Gladness or Angels Ever Bright and Fair [Redbook, 1964-5]

1960s: Madonna of the Rocking Chair or Joy Cometh in the Morning [Redbook, 1966]

1960s: Violets are Brief or Faster, Faster, Faster [Redbook, Ap. 1967]

1960s: The Holy Stove [Redbook, Jan. 1968]

1980s: The Car [Sat. Eve. Post, June 1984]

1980s: Another Lilac Time [West Texas Sun, Nov. 1989]

1990s: The Goat [West Texas Sun, Ap. 1990]

A. Sold Stories but Date Unknown BOX 2

 

A Good Heart [Canadian Home Journal]

Harvest Idyl [sold in 1957 to English magazine ? ]

In the Lord’s Hands [Woman’s Home Companion]

The Mercy Barrel [Woman’s Day]

Spur of the Morning [sold to a Canadian magazine]

A Touch of Genius [Canadian Home Journal]

The Woman Not to be Known [Woman’s Day]

Woman Trouble [Mercury Magazine]

You Have to Believe in Love [Woman’s Day]

 

Complete Alberta Christmas Stories BOX 2The Halfway Spot that Whirled the Sun Across the Sky [early 1960s]The Christmas Whopper or The Christmas Lie [Sat. Eve. Post , Dec. 1983]

First Canada Christmas or Christmas Lost and Christmas Found
Something to Draw On [1959]

Joy Cometh in the Morning [Redbook, Dec. 1966]

C. Unsold Stories By Decade Arranged by Dorothy Thomas BOX 2

1920s: Angus
1920s: The Blue Teapot

1920s: The Call

1920s: A Fairy Story

1920s: Frost in the Morning

1920s: No Panties

1920s: Sunday School Lesson

1920s: Twas Meant

1920s: A Writing of Divorcement

1930s: Antelope Boy

1930s: Belinda, Europe and a Good New Fiddle

1930s: The Bloom and the Blossoming

1930s: Buried Treasure

1930s: The Carved and Painted Bed

1930s: The Creation of Stinky Oleander

1930s: Diagnosis in Gillian’s Pasture

1930s: A Dr. Christiansen Play Script

1930s: Every Day a Red Rose

1930s: A Face Seen in a Dream

1930s: Four Triple A

1930s: Gone to Find the One I Love

1930s: Let there be Duck and Damsels

1930s: The Living Heir

1930s: Mountain Idyl

1930s: Runaway Squaw

1930s: Tigers of Consequence

1930s: To Do the Chores

1930s: Twin Sons

1930s: Young Man’s Vision, Old Man’s Dream

1940s: The Bargain

1940s: The Big Jump

1940s: Butter on the Cat’s Paws

1940s: A Good Name

1940s: I Came to See You

1940s: I’ll Ask My Husband

1940s: A Little Learning

1940s: Mrs. Johnson and the Atomic Bomb

1940s: The Opera Tune

1940s: Right to Marry

1940s: Some Sturdy Midsummer Illusion

1940s: There are Lions

1940s: The Wake of the Party

1940s: The Wandersome One

1950s: Above the Storm

1950s: The Blizzard

1950s: The Closed Door

1950s: Cold White Fury

1950s: Spur of the Morning

1950s: The Very Necessary Little Dog

1960s-1970s: The Faithful Orchard

1960s-1970s: The Halcyon Day

1960s-1970s: O Time in Your Flight

1960s-1970s: Steam Children

1960s-1970s: Today is My Husband’s Wedding Day

1960-1966: Based on Life in Vernon, N.J.: Christmastree Arcadia
1960-1966: Based on Life in Vernon, N.J.: In Time of Tomatoes

1960-1966: Based on Life in Vernon, N.J.: Our Corn Patch

D. Unsold Stories, Dates Uncertain BOX 2

Abigail: A Biblical Screen or Television Play
Ann Hays’ Story of the Girl Sent from Sweden

The Bargain or The Good Swap (6/28/67)

The Building of the Sussex County Home Place

A Clap of Thunder Brought Me into this World

Cooking with Gas or High Point Venture

Come Look

Death Wish in a Pretty Place or To Heaven From the Pretty Place (4 versions) or To Town

A Delicate Undertaking

The Fall

Farm Homes

Fire Guard

For Baby’s Christmas

Fortnight Away

Forty Odd

The Happy Ending

Hospital Story

Journal of an Impractical Nurse (1952)

A Late and Sudden Wooing or Two Early and a Third Sudden but Late Wooing

 

D. Unsold Stories, Dates Uncertain BOX 3

The Light Blue China Hen

Little Girl Wife

A Little Learning

The Long Mystery of the Averted Scandal

Love Letters from Espanola

Mary Austin

A Matter of Time or Fortnight Away

The Most Amazing Secret of What Was Needed to Get a Baby Sister

My Mother and Me (or I) on the Night of My Sudden Birth
Never Said a Word

Next to Last Happy Rights

Old Pointer (1938)

Our Three Ducks

Papa’s Supper

Pedro and Otero of New Mexico

Prairie Children (see Manuscripts Written by Others, Prairie Children by Agusta Dodge Thomas)

Rain from Heaven

Responsibility

Right as Rain

A School Marm’s Story

Set Another Plate

The Old Spicer House

Split Up

The Story of the Building of Our House in Bronte

A Sunday Joke

Tell Us About the Children

Three Silk Handkerchiefs or The Holy Stove

A Time for Embracing or The Mobil and Completely Simple Life

To Stay the Night

To Them, Benighted

Town

The Trip from the Schoolhouse

Two-Mile Journey from School to Our Homestead or Journey in the Head

Two with a Light: An Alaska Idyll

Uncle Martin’s Halocination

Up in the Hills

Visit from the Luckiest Wiseman

Westward to Santa Fe

Worst Laid Plans Gang Too

You are my Other Self

Scraps of Stories

Misc. Pages

E. Frieda Telling Letters BOX 4

Original Frieda Telling Letters Written to Ted Mabley

Edited Letters to Ted Mabley

E. Frieda Telling Letters BOX 5

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 1

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 2

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 3

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 4

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 5

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 6

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 7

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 8

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 9

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 10

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 11

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 12

Frieda Lawrence Book Story 13

Frieda Telling Letter 2nd Version

Frieda Telling Letters Handwritten

Edited Letters to Ted about Frieda

Again We Went to Taos to See Frieda Lawrence

Frieda Telling Letters Bronte Version

Poetry BOX 6Poetry

Poems

Children’s Poetry

Nursing Home Telling or Grandpa Walked Home

A Story Told in Big Country Nursing Home

Sunday Joke and Beauteous Evening
Nonfiction BOX 6
Loren Eiseley Celebration Talk

Plays

A Tutoring Book

The Story Opening

Memoir

Dorothy

Dorothy: In her Kansas and Alberta Early Years

A Nine Decade Personal History

A Personal History
Manuscripts Written by Others BOX 6Carney, Paul: Stories
Franklin, Mary: The Overturning of Marcella

Franklin, Mary: Snow White, Clara and the Seven Dwarfs

Frost, Robert: A Masque of Reason

Hays, Allegra Thomas: A Very Special Day

Int Haut, Della: Quicksand on the Middle Fork

Merrill, Kennetha Thomas: Wrack and Ruin: A Tale of the Horses

Merrill, Kennetha Thomas, Allegra and Burrus: The Others Remember

Murray, Don and Fred Clasel: The Homeless

Thomas, Agusta Dodge: Prairie Children

Wollin, Gosha: Untitled

II. GENERAL BOX 7

Addresses and Phone Numbers

Alberta—Letters about Battle Lake

Alberta—Valuble Letters and Papers

Alberta—Dorothy’s Trip to Alberta, June-July, 1957

Book Sales by Consignment

Buickerood, John

Buickerood, John—Sympathy Cards Received upon Death

Buickerood Land and Ski Runs

Buickerood Wedding—February 14, 1959

Christmas Cards

Clarke, Deanna—Correspondence

Clippings—About Dorothy Thomas

Clippings—Misc.

Financial Information

Friends of Loren Eiseley

Geneology I

Geneology II

Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors/ NLHA

Horizontal Sundial Plans

Kansas—Trip, 1953

Letters about Writing and Publishing

Letters from Readers

Lifetime Literary Achievement Award

Little People’s Corner

Kirkham Family Newsletter

II. GENERAL BOX 8

Medical

Poetry Society of Texas

Sussex County Welfare Board

Teaching Papers

Texas Nightwriters

Texas Observer (Joe Holley and Alicia Daniel)

University of Nebraska Press

Personal Miscellanea

CORRESPONDENCE BOX 8A. Letters to Dorothy Thomas BOX 8

Letters from Unknown Authors

Miscellaneous

Abercrombie, Edna

Ackerman, Dora (John’s sister)

Adler, Fagan A.

Alcorn, Helen—1953-1983

Allen, Myrtle—1953-1983

Alumbaugh, Goldie

Armijo, Karen

Asher, Eleanor

Aull, Peggy

Barbee, Alan Hodges

Boardwell, Mrs. Bruce

Brower, Bill

Brown, Dorris

Brown, June Heacock

Buickerood, Ed and Helen (John’s brother and sister-in-law)

Buickerood, Jim (John’s nephew, son of Ed and Helen)

Buickerood, John (and from Dorothy to John)

Burgess, Eve

C., Martha

Callahan, Grace

Campbell, Hope—1954-1977

Champe, Flavia Waters—1954-1990

Chodorov, Edward

Christenson, Brenda

Christenson, Gale

Church, Peggy

Clark, Deanna and Ross (Dorothy’s foster children)

Clemens, Lois

Cooper, George

Corlett

Crockett, Harriet

Daniels, Sherrill

Darrow, Martha

Day, Bess (includes “Singer of Life” interview)

Denlon, Grace

Dodge, Doris

Doyle, Esther

Drury, Margaret

Dunbar, Eva

Earnest, Altha

East, Therese

Eckert, Vera

Ehrman, Lola Pharook

Eiseley, Mabel and Loren

Esser, Grace D.

Ewing, Gordon

Farron, Paul

Ferris, Bernice (Aunt Bird)

Fink, Agusta

Fitzgerald, Florence

Fitzgerald, Marty

Franklin, Rosalie

Freeborn, Roselyn

Frisbie, Jo

Gable, Martin (early boyfriend)

Giel, Marilyn and Jack

Glaze, Eleanor

H., Bob and Fritz

Hanck, Randy and Louise

Hanson, Lois

Hare, Dennis O.

Harper, Mary

Harris, Ann

Harris, Eva B.

Havener, Sandra

Hays, Bonna and Hobe

Heaner, Dorothy

Hey, Ann and Harry

Hoover, Helen

Howell, Madge Bunny

Hult, Carrie

Hyde, Herb

Int-Hout, Della

Jacobs, Elijah

Jarvis, Deana King

Jewett, John Figgis

Johnson, Libbie

Kadhibs,

Kemp, Mildred

Kirk, Joy

Kirkham, Steve

Klinkhamer, Tina/Carolyn Randall

Klug, Bertha and Carl

Kudlack, Ed and Marjorie

A. Letters to Dorothy Thomas BOX 9

Kysekla, Jo

Lakey, Denise

Lancaster, Sarah Heaner

Lane, Rose Wilder

Larkin, Elizabeth

Lasch, Robert and Zora

Lent, Helen

Lewis, Marguerite Good

Lightly, Florence and Paul

Lisowski, Austiss

London, Lloyd

Long,

Lowe, Robert Liddell

Mabley, Mabelle

Mabley, Ted

Mabley, Ted—Traveling with Strangers

MacGregor, Thelma

Macklin, Eugenie

Marshall, Mary Thomas

Martin, Katie

Marx, Groucho

McHugh, Jane

Mencken, H. L.

Menke, Dorothea and Hattie

Michel, Darlene

Miller, Skedge

Murphy, Eve O.

Murray, Don

Newton, C. A.

Nickel, Mrs, Louis

Nielson, Soren

O’Brien, Edward

Older, Vera and Jim

Packwood, Ann

Palmer, Charlotte and Rocky

Pearce, T. M.

Pryor, Nancy and John

Purchard, Dora

Rodenberger, Lou

Rodman, Nathan

Rowland, Barbara

Roy, Elizabeth

S., Denise and Jody

S., Geneva

Sanders, Bob

Sanford, Annette

Sartin, John

Schultz, Marian and Bert

Sedluck, Thema

Sexton, Annie

Sheldon, Mrs. A. B.

Sjolin, Oscar and Jenny

Skippen, Pat and Skipper

Sowanick, Paul and Nancy

Speight, Anne

Spencer, Mrs. Tom

Stafford, Amber

Stauffer, Helen Winter

Stelfox, Henry

Stepanek, Orin

Sterling, Pan–1952-1955

Sterling, Pan–1956-1960

Sterling, Pan–1961-1966

Sterling, Pan—1967-1970 and undated

Stuart, Winifred

Sulphen, Florence

Swanson, Berry

Taylor, John

Teague, Ruth and Walter

Teller, Walter

Theissen, Leonard

A. Letters to Dorothy Thomas BOX 10

Thomas, Agusta Dodge

Thomas, Agusta Dodge—1936-1937

Thomas, Augsta Dodge—Death of

Thomas Hays, Allegra

Thomas, Aurelle

Thomas, Bob

Thomas, Buzz and Marie

Thomas, David and Mildred

Thomas, Esther

Thomas, Evan

Thomas, Hap

Thomas, Jacquelyn

Thomas, John

Thomas Kelly, Laurie

Thomas, Margaret and Vance

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—General

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1950s

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1960

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1961

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1962

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1963

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1964

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1965

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1966

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1966

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1968

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1969

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1970

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1971

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1972

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1973

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1974

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1975

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1977

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1978

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1979

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—1980

Thomas Merrill, Kennetha—death of

Thomas, Lowell and Elaine—1950s

Thomas, Lowell and Elaine—1960-1066

Thomas, Lowell and Elaine—1967-1969

Thomas, Lowell and Elaine—1970s

Thomas, Lowell and Elaine—1980-1990

Thomas, Lowell and Elaine—The Thomas Times

A. Letters to Dorothy Thomas BOX 11

Thomas, Macklin—1935

Thomas, Macklin and Marjorie—1958-1982

Thomas, Marjorie Joan

Thomas, Mark and Grace

Thomas, Michael

Thone, Ruth

Umland, Rudolph

Wallis, Bill

Ward, Bert and Christine

Watkins,

Watson, Jane

Wells, Paulene

Westmorland, Roberta

Wheeler, Elsie Jane

Williams, Robert Orzo

Wilson, Nadene and Ray

Zesch, Mrs. Kurt

Becky

Bernard

Betty

Betty and Al

Carol

Charlotte and Rocky

Claire and Paul

David

Dennis

Esther

Eva

Florence and Betty

Gayle

Genny

Gerry

Gladys

Goldie

Gretchen

Hazel

Henry

Irene

Jim and Hylda

Joan

Jocelyn

June and Lou

Karen

Kay

Kristen

Lauralea

Lillymae

Louise

Louise

Marj

Mary Alice

Ola

Patty

Ross

Scottie

Tony and Ruth

Walter

B. Literary Correspondence BOX 11

 

Jack Chambrun Letters 1

Jack Chambrun Letters 2

Jack Chambrun Letters 3

Jack Chambrun Letters 4

Letters about Nineth-Nine Alarm Clocks—1938-1939

Letters about Writing and Publishing: 1976-

Letters from Readers

Literary Correspondence I—1953-1964 (Henry Volkening)

Literary Correspondence II—1965-1975 (Sylvia Plapinger)

Redbook—Conflict over Angels Ever Bright and Fair—1967

C. Letters from Dorothy Thomas BOX 12

Letters Dorothy Wrote Home: 1919-1920 (Gering) and 1924 (Tryon)

Dorothy’s Letters: 1930s

Letters from Yaddo: 1935

Letters Dorothy Wrote Home: 1935-1939

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1940s

Letters to Ted Mabely from Washington, D.C.: 1943-4

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1950s

Dorothy’s Letters: 1951

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1952

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1953

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1954

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1955

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1956

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1957

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1958

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1959

Dorothy’s Letters and Diary Writing: Jan-May, 1960 (Vernon, NJ)

Dorothy’s Letters and Diary Writing: June-Dec., 1960 (Vernon, NJ)

Dorothy’s Carbobs: Jan.-June, 1961 (some journal, mostly letters)

Dorothy’s Carbons: Jan.-June, 1962

Dorothy’s Carbons: July-Dec., 1962

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1963

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1964

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1965

Dorothy’s Carbons: Jan-July, 1966

Dorothy’s Carbons: July-Dec. and undated, 1966

Dorothy’s Carbons: Jan.-June, 1967 (St. Croix)

Dorothy’s Carbons: July-Dec., 1967

Dorothy’s Carbons: Jan-June, 1968

Dorothy’s Unattached Carbons: 1966-1969 and undated (St. Croix)

C. Letters from Dorothy Thomas BOX 13

Dorothy’s Carbons: July-Dec, 1968

Dorothy’s Carbons: Jan.-Aug, 1969

Dorothy’s Carbons: Sept.-Dec., 1969

Dorothy’s Carbons: re: New Jersey Land, 1969

Dorothy’s Unattached Carbons: 1969

Dorothy’s Carbons: Jan.-June, 1970

Dorothy’s Carbons: July-Dec., 1970

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1971

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1972

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1973

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1974

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1975

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1976

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1977

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1978

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1979

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1980

Dorothy’s Carbons: Jan.-June, 1981

Dorothy’s Carbons: July-Dec., 1981

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1982

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1983

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1983

C. Letters from Dorothy Thomas BOX 14

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1984

Dorothy’s Carbons: Jan. 29-Aug. 30, 1985

Dorothy’s Carbons: Sept. 19-Dec.28, 1985 and Undated

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1986

Dorothy’s Carbons: Jan. 1-May 30, 1987

Dorothy’s Carbons: June 9-Dec. 17, 1987 and Undated

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1988

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1989

Dorothy’s Carbons: 1990

Dorothy’s Carbons: Loose and Undated I

Dorothy’s Carbons: Loose and Undated II

DIARIES BOX 15-17Diary—1923 and 1934-5

Diary—1939

Diary—1946 and 1948

Diary—1949 and 1951

Diary—1950s (sets of notes in this folder)

Diary—1952

Diary—1953

Diary—1956(?)

Diary—1957(?) (envelope of notes)

Diary—1957 (trip to Alberta)

Diary—1958 (two diaries for 1958)

Diary—1959 (loose sheets of notes)

Diary—1963

Diary—1964 and 1965

Diary—1966 (two diaries for 1966)

Diary—Jan. 9, 1967-Aug. 1967 and Aug. 14, 1967-June, 1968

Diary—1969

Diary—1970-1975

Diary—July, 1972-Oct., 1988 (diary includes photographs)

Diary—Jan-April, 1974

Diary—Sept., 1947-Dec., 1975

Diary—1975 (blank) and Jan.-Aug, 1975

Diary—Aug.-Oct., 1975 and Nov.-Dec., 1975

Diary—Jan., 1976-Jan., 1977

Diary—Jan.-Sept., 1977

Diary—Jan.-March, 1978

Diary—Aug. 13, 1978-1979 (204 loose pages in this folder)

Diary—Aug. 13, 1979-1980 (loose pages in this folder)

Diary—1981

Diary—Jan. 3-Nov.11, 1982 (10 loose pages in this folder)

Diary—Dec. 30, 1982-Jan. 1, 1985

Diary—Sept. 30-Nov. 28, 1983

Diary—1985 (diary includes key in box)

Diary—May-Dec., 1985

Diary—1986-7

EPHEMERA
A. Slides

 

Mainly taken on trip to Canada and of art subjects in photography class. A few slides of Dorothy and John taken around the time of their wedding in 1959. A few slides of Dorothy in the 1940s. Pictures of Dorothy’s foster children Deanna and Ross Clark (c. late 1940s).

PhotographsC. Awards

Contact the Heritage Room:

The Jane Pope Geske Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors
Bennett Martin Public Library
136 South 14th Street
Lincoln, NE 68508-1899

Phone: 402-441-8516

E-mail: heritage@lincoln.ne.gov

Regular hours:

Sunday: 2:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Monday – Thursday: 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM

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Nebraska Authors Website:

Nebraska Authors

Support the Heritage Room:

Join the Nebraska Literary Heritage Association to support the Heritage Room. Donations to the Foundation for Lincoln City Libraries may also be designated for the Heritage Room.

Donate Books or Papers to the Heritage Room:

We would enjoy discussing any possible donations of works by Nebraska authors or author memorabilia with you. We provide a Certificate of Gift for those who cannot visit in person.