The Rhode Island Writers' Guild, or Writer's Guild as they called themselves in some materials, was founded in 1950 by Ruth Eddy. She placed an advertisement in a writing journal in 1949 seeking writers for a self-help group in Rhode Island and in 1950 got a turnout of four which formed the nucleus of the Guild. The motto of the Guild was "If you feel WRITE, the Guild's for you!", which was chosen after a contest and written by Ann Papazian. "The purpose of the Rhode Island Writers' Guild shall be to encourage the development of skills in writing, particularly writing for publication" according to the histories of the organization written by Muriel E. Eddy. Membership was not limited to those who lived in Rhode Island or those who had actually published. A member is described in the histories as "Anyone of good character interested in the objectives and purposes of this organization". Most members are described as semi-professional, meaning that they did not earn enough money from writing to retire from their jobs in other fields. The Providence Public Library occasionally referred potential members to the group. The Guild described itself as interested in the quality of the writing done by its members, and their contributions to the cultural life of their community and the state of Rhode Island. It also sought to encourage good communication and the spirit of fellowship among writers. In spite of the formation of splinter and rival groups in the early years of the Guild, the group flourished for about 25 years but faded out of existence after the death of Muriel Eddy in 1978 and met its formal demise in 1980.
In its active days, the Guild offered tutorials and workshops for budding writers, and helped them to find publishing opportunities. Published writers gave inspirational talks at meetings, and the Guild members helped to publicize events such as Author’s Week and Poetry Day. The Guild also offered awards such as writer of the year or poet of the year and sponsored readings of works by their members. Ruth Eddy had strong support with the organization of the Guild from her parents, Muriel Eddy and Clifford M. Eddy, both of whom served on the board of the Guild at various times. The Eddys were friends with H.P. Lovecraft and were themselves published authors in genres as varied as song lyrics and horror stories.
Ruth Muriel Eddy, the founder of the Guild, was born in 1921. She graduated from Central High School in Providence, Rhode Island in 1939, and from Eastern Nazarene College in 1943. In 1966, she received an extension diploma from Brown University. She was a proofreader for Oxford Press, a newsroom typist for the Providence Journal, and a public relations writer for WJAR-TV. Other jobs included stints in the departments of Employment Security and Social Welfare for the state of Rhode Island, director of senior citizens groups in both Providence and East Providence, Rhode Island, typing instructor and creative writing instructor. She was primarily a poet and several of her books of poetry,
Clifford Martin Eddy, Jr. (1896-1967) was born in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated from Classical High School in Providence. He is known primarily for his short stories in the horror, science fiction and supernatural genres and began his writing career by publishing stories in magazines like
Muriel Elizabeth (Gammons) Eddy (1896-1978) was born in Taunton, Massachusetts and was educated in Attleboro Falls, Massachusetts, Redlands, California, and at the Horace Mann School in San Jose, California. She married Clifford Eddy in 1918 following a correspondence which developed from their common interest in creative writing. They both continued their writing careers after marriage and raised three children: Clifford Myron, Fay Audrey and Ruth Muriel. The Eddys met H. P. Lovecraft in 1923 and maintained a close friendship with him until his death in 1937. Over the years Muriel Eddy wrote many profiles of Lovecraft, the last of which,
There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Rhode Island Writers' Guild Records, Ms. 2008.015, Brown University Library.
The collection consists of thirteen series. The administrative records series contains materials concerning the actual administration, functioning, and history of the group. The series includes membership lists, membership forms and some filled out membership applications along with the charter, two histories of the Guild, minutes of some of the meetings and a listing of the contents of the collection as it was when it was purchased.
The correspondence series is arranged by date. The letters of John McCabe which are witty, voluminous and illustrated by his own drawings have been separated, placed last, and kept in date order. The newsletters series includes the newsletters of the Guild. At one point, the newsletter was titled the
The Guild held contests and offered awards for poet of the year and in 1976 offered special awards for writers of history. The awards series includes awards for excellence, author of the year, junior and senior achievement awards and later and Eddy Memorial and Clarke Memorial awards. The biographical material series contains information on both members and non-members.
The actual output by the members is represented in the four series labeled hymns, periodicals, poetry and prose. These are filed within each category by the author's last name.
The photograph series shows the members both at work and at play. There are many photographs of events such as Christmas parties as well as some of roundtable discussions and speakers addressing rooms crowded with attentive members.
The publicity series concentrates mostly on Poetry Day, October 15, and contains many proclamations declaring Poetry Day in Rhode Island. These are signed by the Rhode Island governors who held office during the three decades that the Guild was active.
The miscellaneous series contains items like Clifford Eddy's Guild membership card, business cards for both Ruth Eddy and her mother Muriel, the wooden plaque of the organization, a reel to reel tape, and a 1950's map of the campus of Brown University where many of the early meetings were held.
The collection is arranged into the following series:
The collection was purchased through Ruth Eddy in 1983.
When Brown University purchased the collection, it was housed in several boxes and twenty-three scrapbooks. The scrapbooks contained the bulk of the Guild’s archives of newspaper clippings and photographs as well as a handful of documents relating to the 1976 bicentennial celebration in Rhode Island. The clippings have been left in the scrapbooks. The bicentennial album has been left intact and placed in the first series, administrative records. The photographs have been removed to separate acid-free envelopes for preservation purposes.
Brown University Library catalog record for this collection:
This collection includes monographs that were cataloged separately. They can be found under the following search entry: