University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

Alfred Betts Caldwell (1900-1980) was a 1924 graduate of The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania and an author of mystery novels. The Alfred Betts Caldwell papers are comprised primarily of Caldwell's writings, including typescripts and some of his published novels. Also there are assignments and projects undertaken 1963-1965 while completing correspondence courses with the Professional Writers School located in Westport, Connecticut, and a scrapbook kept by Caldwell from 1917 to 1936.

The bulk of the papers pertains to Fauset’s endeavors as a creative writer. Twenty-one boxes contain multiple drafts, some manuscript but most typescript, of unpublished novels, including one which is, in essence, an autobiography. Additional writings include addresses, essays, lectures; published and unpublished short stories; and multiple versions of his University of Pennsylvania dissertation, which was later published by the University Press under the title, Black Gods of the Metropolis. Correspondence derives mostly from the 1960s and 1970s and includes letters from Nellie R. Bright, his co-author on America: Red, White, Black, Yellow. Other items of note include seven letters either to or from Alain LeRoy Locke, as well as a photograph of him; a photograph of Jessie Redmon Fauset and an outline of Junior Reading Book on Negro-White Relationships written by her; and a ledger beginning in 1855 for the Union Building and Loan Association, Philadelphia, at the back of which are manuscript texts by Isaiah C. Wears. The papers also contain five scrapbooks: one concerns Marcus Garvey and the four others comprise clippings of Fauset’s column The People’s Cause and I Write As I See (1938-1943). The bulk of the papers pertains to Fauset's endeavors as a creative writer. Twenty-one boxes contain multiple drafts of unpublished novels, including one which is, in essence, an autobiography. Additional writings include addresses, essays, lectures; published and unpublished short stories; and multiple versions of his University of Pennsylvania dissertation, which was later published by the University Press under the title, Black Gods of the Metropolis. Correspondence derives mostly from the 1960s and 1970s and includes letters from Nellie R. Bright, his co-author on America: Red, White, Black, Yellow.

Howard Melvin Fast (1914-2003) was a best-selling and prolific American author of historical fiction, mysteries, and science fiction, known for his books on themes of patriotism, social justice, and the immigrant experience. He wrote nearly 100 books and more than 150 short stories, as well as numerous screenplays, stage plays, and newspaper columns. The Howard Fast papers include correspondence, journals, appointment books, address books, financials, writings, promotion and reviews, scrapbooks, biographies, profiles, chronologies, bibliographies, interviews, governmental and political files, vital records, personal documents, awards, photographs, artwork, and audiovisual materials. The papers were deposited at the University of Pennsylvania over the course of 45 years and represent nearly all facets of the writer's life.

Martha Millet (1918-2004) was a poet and literary critic active in the Communist Party USA. Along with her second husband, noted pamphleteer and left-wing journalist Sender Garlin (1902-1999), she was a frequent contributor to Marxist, Communist, and left-leaning journals, and published several books of poetry. This collection includes 9 boxes of material related to her poetic and political writings. It contains most of her poetic and critical work in manuscript form; copies of journals and anthologies to which she contributed; scrapbooks assembled by Millet to commemorate her publications; documents from the Helsinki Peace Conference of 1955 which Millet attended; work by her husband, Sender Garlin, as well as a transcript of his FBI file; and works by others, including the transcripts of Ezra Pounds WWII era radio broadcasts, which Millet used to write a book attacking Pound’s political thought.

Paul Eldridge (1888-1982) was an American poet, novelist, essayist, short story writer, and teacher. Most prolific in the 1940s, Eldridge's writing focused on issues of World War II, the Israeli-Palestine conflict, and Zionist and Jewish issues more generally. This collection consists of manuscripts, typescripts, and reprographic copies of Eldridge's poems, stories, and essays; scrapbooks of clippings related to Eldridge's writing and other activities; dustjackets; photographs; issues of newspapers and periodicals in which his columns appeared; and correspondence related to Eldridge's writing and career.

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.

The Wyn Ritchie Evans papers include correspondence, writings, photographs, and personal papers that shed light on her connection to the arts scene and to Herman Sachs, her endeavors as a professional writer, and her life with Ray Evans.