Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 823

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

63 linear feet (132 boxes, 1 oversized folder)

Preferred Citation:

Waldo Frank papers, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1879-1977 (inclusive)

Creator:

Frank, Waldo David

Form:

Scrapbooks, Clippings (information artifacts), Correspondence, Contracts, Photographs, Poems, Typescripts, Notebooks, and Diaries

Abstract:

The papers document the literary career and the personal and professional life of twentieth-century American novelist and writer Waldo David Frank. Comprising correspondence, writings, publicity, writings by others, memorabilia, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings spanning from 1879 to 1977, the collection contains 132 boxes and 3565 folders. The correspondence documents Frank's personal and professional relationships with writers, editors, artists, friends, and family. Letters from friendships with other writers and artists such as Jean Toomer, Sherwood Anderson, Alfred Stieglitz, Lewis Mumford, Van Wyck Brooks, and Hart Crane document congenial collaborations, sharing of ideas, and disagreements. The writings contain his notebooks, major works, articles, essays, and early writings tracing Frank's works and ideas of society and culture with psychological and social themes of man and his environment. Frank's passion for the culture and study of Spain, Latin America, and Mexico is apparent in correspondence and his research, preserved through notes and photographs of South America and Mexico. Letters and photographs display Frank's relationships with family members, his wives (Margaret Naumburg, Alma Magoon Frank, and Jean Klempner Frank) and his children. The materials in this collection divulge not only the writings of Waldo Frank, but the struggles of the writer and his encounters with himself and society as he seeks his vision of truth in the world. He was courageous in the face of his critics and his political enemies even when experiencing both written and physical attacks. Even though Frank claimed he was an outsider he was embraced by the people and cultures he championed and studied. Although largely forgotten by the end of his lifetime, his correspondence, writings, and ideas remain, providing insight into literary circles, political ideas, and historical events in the United States and Latin America during the early- to mid-twentieth century.

1889 Waldo David Frank was born on 25 August to Julius J. and Helene Rosenberg Frank in Long Branch, New Jersey. He was the youngest of four children. He had one brother Joseph Julius, born 1884, and two sisters, Edna, born 1885 and Enid, born 1888.

1901 Waldo Frank traveled to England with his mother Helene Rosenberg Frank. Wrote his first journal.

1902-1906 Waldo Frank attend DeWitt Clinton High School in New York, but did not receive a diploma because he refused to take a Shakespeare course.

1907-1907 Waldo Frank graduated from a private preparatory school in Lausanne, Switzerland.

1907-1911 Frank attended Yale University, receiving a bachelor of arts and master's degree. In the summer of 1911 Frank journeyed to Wyoming and Montana where he stayed on ranches. His journey is recorded in a photograph album with handwritten notes.

1911-1912 Waldo Frank worked as a reporter for the New York Evening Post and New York Times. Frank's manuscript The Spirit of Modern French Letters was accepted by Yale University Press, but Frank withdrew it from publication.

1913 Frank traveled to Paris where he stayed from February to September. He studied Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Baruch Spinoza.

1914-1915 Frank lived in Greenwich Village, New York writing plays and short stories. He began dating Margaret Naumburg at this time. His first stories are published in Smart Set.

1916 Establishes the literary magazine, Seven Arts, with co-editor Van Wyck Brooks. In December Frank marries Margaret Naumburg pioneer in art therapy and founder of the Walden School.

1917 Frank's first novel The Unwelcome Man, is published in January. In June he registers for the World War I draft as a pacifist. In September Frank becomes ill. Meanwhile the Seven Arts suspends publication in October.

1918 Frank travels the United States and journeys through the Midwest, Southwest and spends the summer in Carmel as he researches for Our America. The Art of the Vieux Colombier is published.

1919 Our America is published. From November to December Frank was in Kansas where he worked for the Ellsworth, Kansas County Leader and served as an organizer for the Non-Partisan League.

1920 Journeyed through the South with Jean Toomer. On a second tour of the South in November with Margaret Naumburg Frank was in New Orleans and Alabama. The Dark Mother was published in December.

1921 Frank toured France and Spain and returned in late October.

1922 Thomas Frank was born in May. Rehab was published. City Block was published independently by Frank. In August Frank traveled to South Carolina.

1923 In November to early 1924, Frank traveled to Algeria and Spain, where he met Alfonso Reyes and other Spanish literati. Holiday was published.

1924 In March Salvos, a collection of essays was published. Margaret Naumburg living in Reno, Nevada from February to September. Frank met Alma Magoon. Chalk Face was published in October.

1925 Began to write a series of profiles for the New Yorker under the pseudonym Search-light. In November Frank was named as a contributing editor to the New Republic.

1926 Frank is divorced from Margaret Naumburg. In March Virgin Spain is published. Frank was named a contributing editor to New Masses. Hart Crane and Waldo Frank traveled to Isle of Pines in Cuba. Journeyed to Eastern Europe and Palestine with Adolph S. Oko.

1927 In Paris, Frank married Alma Magoon in March. Frank lectured on modern art at the New School for Social Research in New York. From December to September 1928, "Re-discovery of America" is serialized in the New Republic.

1928 Frank went to Hollywood, California and visited Charlie Chaplain.

1929 In March Frank's play New Year's Eve and Re-discovery of America are published. In late June Frank went on a lecture tour of the following Latin American countries, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, Chile, Colombia, Brazil and Uruguay. In December Frank was awarded an honorary degree by Universidad Nacional de San Marco, Lima.

1930 Frank's Latin American lectures entitled Primer mensaje a la América Hispana are published in Madrid. In May Waldo and Alma's daughter Michal is born.

1931 In May Waldo's father Julius J. Frank died. In September Frank's daughter Deborah is born. From August to November Frank toured Scandinavia and the U.S.S.R. and was a speaker at a meeting of Friends of the Soviet Union.

1932 In February Frank as head of committee of writers aided striking miners in Tennessee and Kentucky. On February 10 Frank, while taking supplies to striking miners, was assaulted and expelled from Harlan County, Kentucky. Frank headed a delegation of writers from the National Committee for the Defense of Political Prisoners to protest the treatment of bonus marchers in Washington. Dawn of Russia was published.

1933 Frank buys a home and property in Truro, Massachusetts.

1934 Frank traveled to Chile, Brazil, and Argentina and visited Victoria Ocampo. The Death and Birth of David Markand was published. Frank lectured on the East Coast. Frank was co-editor and contributor to America and Alfred Stieglitz.

1935 In June Frank address the American Writers' Congress and was elected first chairman of the organization, League of American Writers. He traveled to Paris where his was a delegate at the meeting of the International Congress of Writers in Defense of Culture.

1936 Frank resigned as chairman of the League of American writers. He joined a committee of writers, supported and traveled with Communist Party presidential candidate Earl Browder. In September Frank was arrested with Browder in Terre Haute, Indiana.

1937 Traveled to Mexico where he was a delegate and speaker for the Congress of Revolutionary Writers and Artists of Mexico in Mexico City. While in Mexico Frank went on a lecture tour and met with Leon Trotsky. In the American Jungle was published. Left the United States and lived in Europe.

1938 Lived in London and developed a friendship with Richard Rees. Traveled Europe and Spain. The Bridegroom Cometh was published.

1939 Frank was a invited guest by the Mexcian government from May to June. He toured southern Mexico with president Lázaro Cárdenas.

1940 Frank resigned as contributing editor of the New Republic along with Lewis Mumford. Chart for Rough Water is published.

1941 Summer Never Ends is published. Lectures in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Frank's mother Helene Rosenberg Frank died.

1942 Revised edition of Virgin Spain published in April. From April to September Frank is in Latin America for a lecture tour. On August 1 Frank is declared persona non grata by the Argentine government. He is assaulted by fascists in Buenos Aires on August 2 and hospitalized. In the Fall of 1942 Frank corresponds to Jean Klempner and writing South American Journey.

1943 South American Journey is published in May. Frank and Alma Magoon Frank are divorced in and Frank married Jean Klempner in Reno.

1944 The Jew in Our Day is published.

1946 Island in the Atlantic is published.

1947 Jonathan is born to Waldo and Jean Klempner Frank. Waldo Frank goes on a lecture tour across the United States.

1948-1949 The Invaders is published. Frank traveled to Puerto Rico and South America. The Venezuelan government commissioned Frank to perform research for a biography of Símon Bólivar. The government was overthrown before the research was completed. In 1949 Frank was named an honorary professor by Central University of Ecuador.

1951 Birth of a World: Bolivar in Terms of his Peoples was published.

1952 Frank was elected to membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

1953 In May Timothy was born to Jean Klempner and Waldo Frank, and Not Heaven was published. Gabriela Mistral visited Waldo Frank.

1954 Waldo Frank began a syndicated series of essays for Latin American periodicals entitled Voz de America.

1956 Waldo Frank journeyed to Jerusalem, Israel.

1957 From March to April Frank traveled to Mexico, Central America and Bogatá. Bridgehead: The Drama of Israel was published in June.

1958 Rediscovery of Man is published. Frank began writing his autobiography.

1959 Frank traveled to Europe, Mexico, and Cuba. In Cuba Frank met with artists, saw the community and met with Fidel Castro.

1960 Resigned as contributor to Voz de America because of his pro-Castro poistion.

1961 Cuba: Prophetic Island is published.

1962-1967 Waldo Frank continues writing his autobiography and other works. On January 9, 1967 Waldo Frank died in White Plains, New York.

The Waldo Frank Papers span the years from 1879 to 1977, comprising the documents of a prolific twentieth-century American novelist and writer who has largely faded into obscurity. This collection reveals the professional and personal life of Waldo Frank through a variety of materials. Frank was a critic of society and culture, writing of the psychological and social themes of man and his environment, while analyzing the self and searching for a cosmic unity. Frank described himself "as an outsider--yearning, struggling to get in. Into my home, into my own home, into N.Y. of the people, into France (later Spain), into literary America, into the Revolution (the People). I've never succeeded--whence the growing stress and importance of "into the Cosmos." Waldo Frank's papers contain 132 boxes and 3565 folders housing correspondence, writings, publicity, writings by others, memorabilia, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings. The primary language in the collection is English, however there is a large amount of correspondence and writings in Spanish, particularly Spanish translations of Frank's works. There is correspondence in French and some material in Portuguese, German, Czechoslovakian, and Russian.

Some early aspects of Waldo Frank's life are well-documented. For example, there is early family correspondence and writings dating from 1898. There are early writings by Waldo Frank and essays he wrote while at Yale University. His first notebook dating from 1901 was given to Waldo Frank as a gift from his grandmother in 1900. Also through correspondence and notebooks we learn of his early travels and his time in France in 1913. Additionally, there is correspondence between his parents Julius J. and Helene Rosenberg Frank beginning in 1879, that includes courtship letters and later correspondence. A familial history of the Rosenberg's was written by Helene Rosenberg Frank, translated from German by her cousin and later transcribed. Furthermore, there is some early correspondence from Waldo Frank's siblings.

The largest series in the collection is correspondence containing approximately 1500 correspondents. These letters reveal Waldo Frank's professional life, family life, and friendships. Early letters with writers dating from 1915 to 1917 document the creation of Seven Arts literary magazine. Frank's friendship with other writers, like Sherwood Anderson, record discussions of germinating novels. Readers can experience Frank's life-long friendships with Alfred Stieglitz, Lewis Mumford, and Van Wyck Brooks that include congenial collaborations, sharing of ideas, and disagreements. The letters in the papers also record his friendships with Hart Crane, Adolf S. Oko, and Jean Toomer, among others. Some of the letters from writers or aspiring writers contain original poetry, such as the letters from Hart Crane. Also, early friendships with women are disclosed through letters, such as those with Kathryn Snider Cornell dating from 1909 to 1917.

His passion for the culture and study of Spain, Latin America, and Mexico is evidenced in correspondence with prominent writers and politicians. The correspondence also records his travels through North America, Europe, and South America. One learns of his support of Communism in the 1930s during the revolution in Spain. There is extensive correspondence with founder of SUR magazine Victoria Ocampo. Letters with domestic and foreign publishers document Frank's professional life. There are letters with Alfonso Reyes, Leon-Felipe, Gabriela Mistral, and numerous other Latin American writers, scholars and some politicians. When Frank visited Mexico in 1937 he toured some of the country with President Lázaro Cárdenas and there is some correspondence and a photograph with Cardenas. There is a third section of correspondence that gathers responses to the early August attack on Waldo Frank by a Fascist sect in Argentina.

The section of family correspondence discloses his relationships with his wives Margaret Naumburg, Alma Magoon Frank, and Jean Klempner Frank. The letters reveal not only the relationships between Frank and his wives, but provide a record of his travels and domestic affairs. There is also correspondence with his parents, siblings (including his sister Edna who died in 1908), and his children, most extensively with eldest child Thomas Frank.

The writings series comprises the second series of the papers. Waldo Frank's notebooks span from 1900 to 1966 and disclose his thoughts, ideas, travels, notes, studies, etc. The major works section is arranged alphabetically. However, there is not a manuscript for every work Frank has written. The manuscript of his autobiography which he began in 1958 is unfinished. One galley proof with amendments from Rediscovery of America the has been preserved. There are many articles and essays, chiefly political or philosophical in theme. They are in handwritten, typescript, and/or manuscript form. Early articles from the 1920s were chiefly in The New Yorker, written under the pseudonym Search-light, and in McCall's magazine, where Frank wrote articles for the arts section. Articles regularly appeared in The Nation and The New Republic. A serialized version of "Rediscovery of America" appeared in the The New Republic in 1927. Frank wrote articles and essays for a syndicated series entitled Voz de America from 1954 to 1960. The articles for the series were written in English and then translated to Spanish. Some of the articles in the collection are lacking in one or the other language.

Waldo Frank's early writings of short stories and poems are part of the papers and range in date from 1898 to 1913. Other sections of Frank's writings include plays and poems. Early writings are arranged chiefly in chronological order while the plays are arranged by title.

The publicity series encompasses reviews of Frank's works arranged by the book's title. There are flyers, brochures, and other promotional materials for books and lectures arranged by date. There are some contracts for lectures in this section. There are a few contracts for Frank's books that follow letters from Frank's publishers in the general correspondence section.

A small section of material, entitled Writings By Others, contains chiefly articles written about Frank.

The memorabilia series in the Waldo Frank papers has items by Helene Rosenberg Frank including her familial history. His tributes to his parents include a printed essay on the occasion of Julius J. Frank's 70th birthday and his mother's eulogy. There are also postcards, dinner menus, and travel documents saved by Waldo Frank. This section is small in size. Although he received awards, certificates, and honorary degrees there are very few in the collection.

Photographs are mainly family snapshots and publicity photographs of Waldo Frank. There are a few early images of Frank taken by Alfred Stieglitz at Lake George, New York in circa 1921. Some childhood photographs of Waldo Frank are in the collection. There are family photographs, but curiously there are no images of his weddings. Some of Waldo Frank's trips are documented through images. In 1911 Frank spent the summer in Wyoming and Montana and he created an album of the journey with handwritten captions. There are small snapshots of Waldo Frank and Hart Crane at Isle of Pines, Cuba in 1926. There are some photographs of his journeys to South America with images of Victoria Ocampo and Eduard Mallea in the 1930s and 1940s. Research photographs for Franks' works include archaeological sites in South America and Mexico. Late images from 1959 include Frank's trip to Cuba and his meeting with Fidel Castro.

Early scrapbooks contain clippings of Frank's early writings and were created by Waldo Frank. There are five scrapbooks made by Frank documenting his early published articles from 1911, early reviews of his works, and a two-volume scrapbook titled "Hispano-American Adventure" from Frank's trip to Mexico in 1929. Some scrapbooks were made by others as keepsakes of travels and events. For example, there is a scrapbook created by Alfonso Reyes with a note to Frank on the cover. Some of the scrapbooks are extremely fragile and cannot be used by the public. These items have a note in the finding aid.

The last series in the papers are newspaper and magazine clippings. They span the active life of Waldo Frank, dating from 1911 through 1967. The clippings are of Frank's travels, lecture tours, and major events. For instance, one event well documented in the clippings is Waldo Frank's involvement with striking miners in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1932.

The materials in this collection divulge not only the writings of Waldo Frank, but the struggles of the writer and his encounters with himself and society as he seeks his vision of truth in the world. One learns of Frank's curiosity of Hispanic cultures, from his research and writings about Spain and Latin America. He was courageous in the face of his critics and his political enemies even when experiencing both written and physical attacks. Even though Frank claimed he was an outsider he was embraced by the people and cultures he championed and studied. Although largely forgotten by the end of his lifetime, his correspondence, writings, and ideas remain, lending insight into literary circles, political ideas, and historical events in the United States and Latin America during several decades of the twentieth century.

Works Consulted

Waldo Frank Papers, Kislak Center for Speical Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania.

Frank, Waldo David Memiors of Waldo Frank. ed. by Alan Trachtenberg, Amherst: Mass., University of Massachusetts Press, 1973.

Carter, Paul J., Waldo Frank.New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1967.

Ogorzaly, Michael A., Waldo Frank: Prophet of Hispanic Regeneration. Lewisberg, Penn.: Bucknell University Press, 1994.