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Natalie Clifford Barney letter to Gilbert Seldes

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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267

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Overview and metadata sections

Autograph letter from Natalie Clifford Barney to Gilbert Seldes, dated December 12, 1958. An interesting letter to the critic, Gilbert Sedes, recounting her reminiscences of Muriel Draper, the memoirist: "Your name is associated with many memories...But among them I can recall only having really met Muriel Draper once, when she invited me to her flat and offered me her presidential chair, which I refused....Romaine Brooks Goddard, who painted her portrait (of which I send you amongst others this picture) enjoyed Muriel's settings...and as paintings are often a desirable confessional, Muriel evoked her home-life where 'good manners...were placed over very little to eat,' and it seems to me that this tell-tale portrait conveys the rest!" In a postscript, Barney adds that someone (name illegible) "is editing this next spring a book of mine Souvenirs indiscrets, but in which M.D. does not figure."

The "presidential chair likely is in reference to the Congress of American Women which Draper co-founded, and of which she was president. Barney's relationship with Romaine Brooks Goddard (they met during World War I) lasted nearly fifty years. Barney's

Souvenirs indiscrets, a description of her literary acquaintances, was published in 1960.

Box 33, F0519: Shelved in SPEC MSS 0099 manuscript boxes.

Purchase, 1995.

Processed and encoded by George Apodaca, February 2016.

Publisher
University of Delaware Library Special Collections
Finding Aid Author
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
Finding Aid Date
2016 February 22
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The collection is open for research.

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Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/

Collection Inventory

Natalie Clifford Barney letter to Gilbert Seldes, 1958 December 12. 1 item.
Box 33 Folder F0519
Physical Description

1 item1 page

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