Main content

Richard Harding Davis collection

Notifications

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

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Richard Harding Davis, American writer, journalist, and war correspondent, was born April 18, 1864, in Philadelphia and died April 11, 1916. He was the son of newspaper editor Lemuel Clarke and Rebecca Harding Davis, a novelist.

Davis began his writing career as a journalist and is perhaps best known for his work as a war correspondent, reporting on the War of 1898 in Cuba, the Boer War in South Africa, and World War I. Davis's articles appeared among the pages of many newspapers, including the

Philadelphia Record , the Philadelphia Press , and the New York Evening Sun .

Many of Davis's works enjoyed mass circulation through popular periodicals such as

Stage , Scribner's Magazine , Harper's Weekly , Harper's New Monthly Magazine , Collier's Weekly , Outing , Metropolitan Magazine , and the New York Times Magazine . Though Davis had aspirations for a literary career, producing both plays and novels, his works were not always received with fanfare.

"Richard Harding Davis." Contemporary Authors Online (reproduced in Biography Resource Center). http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC (accessed October 2008).

The Richard Harding Davis collection is a small association collection containing six autographed letters signed by the author; four newspapers clippings; several photographs of Davis and his estate, Crossroads Farm in Mt. Kisco, New York; and a line print of an engraving by Charles Dana Gibson entitled "No. V. The Opera Box. Copyright, 1892. The Century Co."

The collection is a gift of a descendant of the Smidt family who purchased the Crossroads Farm estate.

The materials are arranged chronologically by date.

  1. Box 1: Shelved in SPEC MSS oversize boxes (18 inches)

Gift of Britton Goodling, 2005.

Processed and encoded by Christopher La Casse, October 2009.

Publisher
University of Delaware Library Special Collections
Finding Aid Author
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
Finding Aid Date
2009 October 5
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

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 isrequired from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec

Collection Inventory

Letters, 1891-1962.
Box 1 Folder F1
Scope and Contents

Letters range from the provenance of the collection's materials to letters written by Richard Harding Davis concerning financial matters.

Physical Description

12 items

Photographs, undated.
Box 1 Folder F2
Scope and Contents

Includes several photographs of Davis and his estate, Crossroads Farm in Mt. Kisco, New York.

Physical Description

54 items

Clippings, 1930-1962.
Box 1 Folder F3
Scope and Contents

Clippings include articles looking back at Richard Harding Davis's life.

Physical Description

4 items

Charles Dana Gibson illustration, 1892.
Box 1 Folder F4
Scope and Contents

A line print of an engraving by Charles Dana Gibson entitled "No. V. The Opera Box. Copyright, 1892. The Century Co."

Physical Description

1 item

Print, Suggest