Molly P. Michael collection of Booth Tarkington material, 1896-1990

Summary

Creator:
Michael, Molly P. and Tarkington, Booth, 1869-1946
Date:
1896-1990
Extent:
3.25 Linear Feet (3 boxes)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Molly P. Michael collection of Booth Tarkington material, ms 3820, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection consists primarily of magazines from the early twentieth century featuring Tarkington's short stories, as well as musical scores and theatre programs from performances of his plays. The collection also includes a small portion of correspondence, clippings, movie posters, and printed ephemera relating to film adaptations of his work.

Biographical / historical:

Newton Booth Tarkington was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels, The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) and Alice Adams (1921). He was born to John S. Tarkington and Elizabeth Booth Tarkington in Indianapolis, Indiana on July 29, 1869. He attended Purdue and later Princeton University where he helped establish the Triangle Club, a musical theatre troupe in which he acted and co-wrote plays. Tarkington also edited the university's Nassau Literary Magazine. While Tarkington was very active on campus and popular among his peers, he never completed a degree from Princeton.

Tarkington received the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for The Magnificent Ambersons and Alice Adams, making him one of only four novelists to win the award more than once. A Publisher's Weekly poll in 1921 declared him the most significant contemporary American author. He won the O. Henry Memorial Award in 1931 for his short story "Cider of Normandy," and several of his works, including The Two Vanrevels and Mary's Neck, appeared on bestsellers lists. Many of Tarkington's novels were set in his home state of Indiana and reflected his midwestern background, including his family's financial struggles resulting from the Panic of 1873.

Tarkington was married to Laurel Fletcher from 1902 until their divorce in 1911. Their only child, Laurel, was born in 1906 and died in 1923. He married Susanah Keifer Robinson in 1912, but they had no children. Tarkington began losing his eyesight in the 1920s and was blind in his later years, but continued producing his works by dictating to a secretary. He spent much of his later life at his beloved home Seawood in Kennebunkport, Maine. Tarkington passed away in 1946.

Access and use restrictions

Preferred citation:

Molly P. Michael collection of Booth Tarkington material, ms 3820, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.