Leonard Bacon, son of Nathaniel Bacon and Helen Hazard Bacon, was born May 26, 1887, in Syracuse, New York. A poet and literary critic, he was class poet and editor of the Literary Magazine at Yale University, from which he was graduated in 1909. Upon graduation, he taught English at the University of California at Berkeley until 1923, when he left California and returned to Peace Dale, Rhode Island, to concentrate exclusively on his writing. He won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1940 for his work, “Sunderland Capture;” he was also a literary critic for Saturday Review of Literature and Harper’s. He married Martha Stringham in 1912 and was the father of three children: Helen, Alice, and Martha. He died January 1, 1954.
The collection consists of Leonard Bacon’s collected papers including incoming and outgoing correspondence; bank statements; documents relating to trusts, insurance, and legal agreements; publications and articles; poetry; and travel brochures.
Researchers are advised to contact Rhode Island College Special Collections for questions regarding permissions to reproduce, distribute, or otherwise publish material from this collection. Although Rhode Island College has physical ownership of the collection, it does not necessarily hold literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
The collection is open for research.
Leonard Bacon papers, MSS-0094, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.
The collection has been arranged into the following series:
The collection was given to Rhode Island College in 1968 by Martha Bacon Ballinger, with the consent of her husband, Ronald B. Ballinger, as well as her sister, Helen Bacon Westlake, and Helen’s husband, J.T. Westlake.
After the collection arrived in 1968, Rhode Island College Professor Norman Smith conducted preliminary sorting of the collection. The processing of the papers and the preparation of the original finding aid was funded by a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant. The initial finding aid was prepared by Norene Rickson, library assistant in RIC Special Collections, with the assistance of Michael Kohl, Assistant Librarian in Special Collections. At this time, photographs were removed from their original locations and added to the other photograph files. Books were also removed from the collection and added to various book collections in Special Collections. In 2022, a nitrate negative was removed from the collection, digitized, and destroyed due to preservation and conservation concerns by Molly Bruce Patterson, Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at the time. In 2023, the finding aid was converted to current archival standards by Veronica L. Denison, Digital Archivist and Special Collections Librarian at Rhode Island College. At this time, the papers of Rowland Hazard, Joseph Peace Hazard, Thomas Rutherford Bacon, Caroline Hazard, Helen Hazard Bacon, and Leonard Bacon were removed from the Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers and made into their own separate collections to better reflect the various creators and their materials. Items in this collection were also reboxed into archival boxes, items foldered, and additional materials (items in the oversize folder) added to the collection.
The Rhode Island College Special Collections contains a table that was used by Leonard Bacon, as well as a bust of Bacon.
Rhode Island College Special Collections holds the
Additionally, Yale University Manuscripts and Archives holds the
The Rhode Island Historical Society holds the
And the University of Rhode Island holds the
This collection was separated from the Nathaniel Terry Bacon papers (MSS-0005) and made into its own collection in 2023. Several books were removed from the collection when it was initially arranged and described in 1968 and added to the Special Collections Book Collections. Additional published materials were removed from the collection and some added to the Special Collections Book Collections in 2023. Please contact the Rhode Island College Special Collections for further information regarding these items.
This collection has not been digitized. For information about obtaining digital copies, please contact the Rhode Island College Special Collections.
This series contains bank statements and checks, as well as material concerning the Valpax Trust.
Included in this series are publisher’s agreements with Harper & Brothers for “Earthquakes.” This series is arranged alphabetically.
This series includes several book reviews, the galley proofs for “Animula Vagula” and manuscripts copies of several poems.
This series contains two publications given to Bacon by friends, an inventory of Bacon’s California property made at the time of his death, membership documents relating to various literary and social clubs he belonged, as well as architectural drawing of The Acorns, postcards and travel brochures.