Call Number:

MC.1287

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

1 linear ft. (3 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Jonathan and Kimball Flaccus collection (HC.MC.1287), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1840-1995 (inclusive)

Creator:

Flaccus, Jonathan and Flaccus, Flaccus, Kimball, 1911-1972

Abstract:

Autographed letters and photographs, mostly literary, collected over two generations.

Kimball Flaccus (1911-1972) was born August 8, 1911, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dartmouth College, and received an master's from Columbia University and a Ph.D. from New York University. He taught English and creative writing at City College of New York, Drexel Institute of Technology, and Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina, among other institutions. He published his first book of poems, Avalanche of April, in 1934; other books include The White Stranger and Seventy New Poems. He was married three times, to Violetta Raditz, Josephine Thurston, and Alice Pennock. Kimball Flaccus died June 16, 1972, in Philadelphia.

Jonathan Flaccus is the son of Kimball Flaccus and Violetta Raditz. He graduated from Haverford College in 1962.

The collection contains letters, documents, and photographs. There are two series: 1) letters and documents, and 2) photographs. The letters and documents series includes letters and other documents collected due to the signatures of significant figures, particularly writers. Also included are materials written by Kimball Flaccus, including two scrapbooks of clippings and reviews and two versions of Quetzalcoatl: A Verse Drama.

The photographs series includes signed photographs, some of which are inscribed to Kimball Flaccus. Photographs of the Wolfe house were taken by Kimball Flaccus and feature Mabel Wolfe Wheaton. Negatives and contact sheets include images of "Venus Observed," "Flanders Madrigals," "Class Night," and "Love's Labor's Lost." Miscellaneous photographs include a carte de visite of Fannie Virginia Casseopia Lawrence, a redeemed enslaved child, and a cabinet card of Sarah Bernhardt. There is a ninth-plate ambrotype of a man reading a newspaper and carte des visites of students from Oakdale School in Norristown, Pennsylvania. A photo album from the summer of 1927 documents the European trip of Hildegard Hulse Woodward, a children's book illustrator, Mary Brooks, and Genevieve Thomas. A family photo album with many tintypes may include images from the family of Winslow Homer.

The collection is arranged in two series: 1) letters and documents, and 2) photographs.