James Sibley Watson/The Dial Papers

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Collection Data

Description
While the letters and documents in this collection range from 1920 to 1972, the bulk of the material was written between 1920 and 1929. It includes 6 manuscript boxes of incoming correspondence, predominantly Dial-related or addressed to Hildegarde Watson. The most common form of the remaining 24 boxes is carbon typescript. About a quarter of the collection consists of letters and papers of Marianne Moore. The collection also includes considerable work by Kenneth Burke in the form of letters and typescripts. In addition, one box holds letters from artist Gaston Lachaise and photographs of him and his work. Another contains the correspondence of Norman Charles to Hildegarde Watson, many regarding his efforts to assist her in getting her memoir of poets and artists published.
Names
Watson, James S. (James Sibley), 1894-1982 (Creator)
Burke, Kenneth, 1897-1993 (Contributor)
Charles, Norman (Contributor)
Lachaise, Gaston, 1882-1935 (Contributor)
Moore, Marianne, 1887-1972 (Contributor)
Watson, Hildegarde Lasell, -1976 (Contributor)
Dates / Origin
Date Created: 1920 - 1972
Library locations
Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
Shelf locator: Berg Coll MSS Watson Dial
Topics
Modernist (Literature) -- United States
Publishers and publishing
The Dial
Genres
Correspondence
Manuscripts
Photographs
Notes
Biographical/historical: In 1919, Scofield Thayer (1890?-1982) and James Sibley Watson, Jr. (1894-1982) bought The Dial, an incarnation of the magazine founded by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller in 1840. An advocate of modernist writers, The Dial proved to be one of the most influential journals of the 20th century. Between 1920 and 1929, it published work by writers such as Gertrude Stein, Paul Valéry, Thomas Mann and Marcel Proust. Its famous November 1922 issue featured T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land," William Butler Yeats' "The Player Queen," drawings by Pablo Picasso, "Many Marriages" by Sherwood Anderson, and a "Paris Letter" by Ezra Pound. Scofield Thayer served as editor until 1925 when he left the magazine for health reasons. At that time, Marianne Moore (1887-1972), the 1924 recipient of The Dial Award, took over editorial control with J. S. Watson as publisher. Kenneth Burke (1897-1993) served as an editorial assistant at The Dial, and then as Music Critic from 1927-29. The magazine discontinued publication in 1929 due to financial reasons.
Content: While the letters and documents in this collection range from 1920 to 1972, the bulk of the material was written between 1920 and 1929. It includes 6 manuscript boxes of incoming correspondence, predominantly Dial-related or addressed to Hildegarde Watson. The most common form of the remaining 24 boxes is carbon typescript. About a quarter of the collection consists of letters and papers of Marianne Moore. The collection also includes considerable work by Kenneth Burke in the form of letters and typescripts. In addition, one box holds letters from artist Gaston Lachaise and photographs of him and his work. Another contains the correspondence of Norman Charles to Hildegarde Watson, many regarding his efforts to assist her in getting her memoir of poets and artists published.
Physical Description
Extent: 31 manuscript boxes
Type of Resource
Text
Still image
Identifiers
NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b15520478
MSS Unit ID: 19099
Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 10072a90-b1ea-0135-33d2-2388615f464a
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