Ernest Hemingway Collection 1901, 2014, and undated

Summary

Creator:
Hemingway, Ernest, 1899-1961.
Abstract:
This artificial collection includes articles by or about Hemingway, movie posters and photographs, manuscript letters, printed and miscellaneous materials about Ernest Hemingway and his books, diaries of Ernest's uncle, George R. Hemingway, and the organizational records of the Michigan Hemingway Society.
Extent:
6 cubic feet (in 7 boxes, 8 Oversized folders, 4 reels in 4 boxes, and 52 framed items)
Language:
The material is in English

Background

Scope and content:

Materials by and about Ernest Hemingway in the collection include numerous periodicals with Articles by or about Hemingway, his books, and movies based on his books; numerous Movie Posters; other Posters of Hemingway, his homes, books, or exhibits about him; Photographs (copies), mostly from movies based on his books and some from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library; the (Film) ‘Adventures of a Young Man’, undated (4 reels): Manuscript Correspondence, four Letters written by Hemingway, one to Jim Gamble written on April 18 and 27, 1919, one dated Oct. 28, 1919 to Ernest's father, Dr. Clarence Hemingway (framed), one dated Nov. 12, 1919 to his mother, Mrs. Grace H. Hemingway (framed), and one dated 2 Feb. 1960 to his son, J. H. N. Hemingway, as well as copies of two letters written by Hemingway to Owen Wister dated March 1 and 11, 1929 (the originals are in the Library of Congress). Brochures; Advertisements; Exhibit Brochures; Postcards; Auction Catalogs; Sheet Music; Miscellaneous materials. Biographical Information (copies) and ramed Items for exhibits, including posters, photographs, and other materials.

Of particular interest is the first letter (original six p., and a copy) written by Hemingway on April 18 and 27, 1919 to his friend Jim Gamble, the Proctor and Gamble heir, detailing his desire to write even though submissions for publication were rejected, his dashed hopes for marriage, his hunger for recognition, his love of northern Michigan and trout fishing, and notes about people whose company he enjoyed while staying at Windemere Cottage, near Petoskey, Michigan. During this time, Hemingway was recovering from war wounds and a broken heart. The letter is typed with his signature. Included with the letter are copies of two Hemingway letters to Owen Wister, March 1 (6 p.) and 11 (5 p.), 1929, copied from the Library of Congress, and a letter to Henry M. Watts from Theodore Voorhees, December 11, 1979, concerning the copied letters. (Note: This letter is housed separately from the rest of the collection.)

The second manuscript letter is written by Ernest to “Dear Dad”, dated October 28. This letter is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity by Ernest Hemingway Mainland dated June 25, 2007. The letter is typed with a signature and handwritten P.S. There are notations on the bottom of the letter “Rec’d 10/31/[1]919 and ans.[wered] 11/1/[1]919 CH [Clarence Hemingway]. The letter is two pages on one sheet of paper, which is folded in half, p. 1 is on top and p. 2 is underneath and upside down compared to p. 1. In the letter, Ernest notes he had a hard trip up the Missouri to Petoskey, when he traveled to Boyne City to visit Wesley, and that with his “typer” he is leaving Thursday for Petoskey. Ernest also notes that he is working on the “Woppian Way” and has read several books. (Note: This letter is housed separately from the rest of the collection.)

The third letter (original two p. and envelope) written by Hemingway on November 11, 1919, mailed the following day, to his mother, Mrs. Grace H. Hemingway in Oak Park, Illinois, from Petoskey, Michigan. In this letter, Ernest notes how he has been very ill with a bad sore throat, notes Armistice Day, his prayers for the dead, complains of President Wilson robbing the “wops” and mentions Fiume. [Fiume was given to Yugoslavia from Italy.]He notes it is a lovely day, the linotypers are on strike so eastern magazines are not accepting articles, that he sent an article to the Post, that he is reading and working a lot, mentions the Bumps, and sends love to his family. (Note: This letter is housed separately from the rest of the collection.)

The fourth letter from Ernest at Finca Vigia, Cuba, is addressed to his son “Dear Bum,” J. H. N. Hemingway in San Francisco, dated 8 February 1960. It is the only handwritten letter and is accompanied by the envelope, which is also handwritten. In the letter Ernest thanks Bun for his letter, and asks him to check on Christmas gifts, which have not yet arrived, and several addresses. Ernest notes he is very busy working on a piece about bull fights and Death in the Afternoon. He also notes that Mary’s arm is improving with massage and therapy.

Diaries (12), 1938, 1951, of George R. Hemingway, Ernest’s uncle, are also included in the collection. George worked as a representative of the Charlevoix Country Nursery and lived, with his wife, Anna, in East Jordan, Michigan. (This information is from the collection.)

The organizational records, 1990-present, of the Michigan Hemingway Society, including Articles of Incorporations, By-laws, goals and objectives, celebration and conference materials, meeting minutes, financial statements, and other related materials, complete the collection.

While the majority of the collection is in English, some of the movie posters are in French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Polish, and other languages. The collection is ongoing.

A later addition (Acc# 73683) is three folders donated by Pat Davis. These include 2012 copies of six photographs or postcards of Horton Bay, mainly buildings and scenic views, Correspondence to Wesley about Ernest and Marcelline being in school, 1905, and to Mrs. Dilworth, announcing Ernest’s engagement, 1921, and sheet music, Song of Welcome, by Grace Hall-Hemingway, 1905. Also included is an announcement card that Dr. Clarence E. Hemingway moved his office to 221 Grove Avenue, 1905.The last folder includes newspaper clippings (copies) of Pat Davis, Dilworth House, and how life when Hemingway was there.

User Note: The collection has a decidedly musty to lightly moldy smell and patrons with allergies or breathing problems should use the collection with care.

Processing Note: Most of the numerous books that came to the Clarke with the collection have been cataloged. Those few books for which no catalog record could be found have been added to this manuscript collection. Later Oversized additions will be added at the end of the collection.

Biographical / historical:

Biography:

Ernest Hemingway was born July 21, 1899 in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Clarence E. Hemingway, a doctor, and Grace Hall-Hemingway, a musician and voice teacher. He had four sisters and a brother. Every summer, the family summered at the family cottage, named Windemere, on Walloon Lake near Petoskey, Michigan.

After Ernest graduated from high school in June 1917, he joined the Missouri Home Guard. Before it was called to active duty, he served as a volunteer ambulance driver for the American Red Cross. On July 8, 1918 Hemingway was wounded by an Austrian trench mortar. He spent the subsequent summer and fall recovering from his leg wounds in the Milan Red Cross hospital. In Europe, Hemingway met nurse Agnes Von Kurowsky. He thought they were engaged when he returned to the U.S. on January 21, 1919, but she broke off whatever relationship they had had in March 1919.

In January 1920, the city editor of the Toronto Star agreed to buy Hemingway’s stories on a piece by piece basis as they suited the paper. The paper regularly printed his features on dental schools, prizefights, free shaves, trout fishing, rum-running and, later, on Chicago gangsters. He returned to Chicago in May 1920.

In September 1921, Hemingway married Hadley Richardson at Horton Bay, Michigan. They had planned to live in Italy, but were advised by Sherwood Anderson that a would-be-writer should live in Paris. In January 1922, the couple moved into an apartment in Paris’ Latin Quarter.

The Hemingways later returned to Toronto, where Ernest found that the new editor of the Star did not like him. His first assignment upon his return was to cover a prison escape. He used one prisoner as the basis for his male, loner, anti-social characters, which later appeared in a number of his stories.

Hemingway’s first son, John Hadley Nicanor, was born in Toronto in October 1923.

Furious with his editor, Hemingway returned to Paris in January 1924, living near Ezra Pound. His mentors and friends in Paris included Pound, Sylvia Beach, and Gertrude Stein. Through these three writers, he got to know every expatriate American writer and new artists in Paris. Hemingway developed an appreciation for the insider, the man who knew the language, food and customs of foreign countries.

Between 1924 and 1929, Hemingway rose from obscurity to being one of the best-known American writers of his generation. His publications in those years included In our time (1925), his breakthrough novel, (The) Sun also rises (1926), Men without women (1927), and (A) Farewell to arms (1929). He spent his summers in Spain following bullfights and his winters skiing in Switzerland, with Paris as his base.

Hadley divorced Ernest in April 1927. She received lifelong rights to the income from (The) Sun also rises. Hemingway then married Pauline Pfeiffer, with whom he had had an affair for over a year, in May 1927.

Ernest and Pauline returned to the U.S. for the cesarean birth of their son, Patrick, who was born in 1928. Also in 1928, Ernest’s father, Clarence Hemingway, committed suicide.

Pauline and Ernest enjoyed Key West fishing and Wyoming dude ranches. After a year of living in and out of Paris, they moved back to Key West in 1930.

In 1930, the sale of the film rights to (A) Farewell to arms brought Hemingway $24,000. Besides that, they lived on Pauline’s trust fund and Ernest’s income from writing. Her wealthy uncle, Augustus Pfeiffer, paid for their home in Key West and their African safari. Pauline and Ernest’s second son, Gregory, was born in 1931. Hemingway also was paid for his book, Death in the afternoon (1932).

During the 1930s, Hemingway wrote Winner takes nothing (1933), Green hills of Africa (1935), several short stories, and a series of personal essays called “Letters” for Esquire magazine. In September 1937 he reported on the Spanish Civil War in Madrid. In October 1937, Hemingway was featured on the cover of Time magazine and wrote To have and have not. Hemingway also wrote a narrative to the film (The) Spanish earth and wrote his only play, (The) Fifth column (1938).

By February 1939, his marriage to Pauline was essentially over. He had an affair with Martha Gellhorn since 1937. Hemingway moved to Havana and began For whom the bell tolls. On December 24, 1939, Ernest and Martha moved to La Finca Vigia, a house with property outside of Havana. There, he finished For whom the bell tolls, which was released to ecstatic reviews on October 21, 1940. Four days later Paramount Pictures offered Hemingway $100,000 for the film rights. In early November 1940, Pauline’s divorce suit against Ernest on the grounds of desertion was granted. He married Martha Gellhorn a few weeks later.

During World War II, Hemingway suffered with the beginning of severe depression and had a long block in his writing ability. Except for writing an introduction of Men at war (1942) he wrote nothing until 1944. In April 1944 he began work as a war correspondent for Collier’s, displacing Martha. By late May 1944 Hemingway’s marriage to Martha was basically over and he met Mary Welsh Monks, soon to be his fourth wife.

Between June and December 1944, Hemingway deliberately put himself in dangerous positions. He went aboard a landing craft on D-Day, June 6. He twice flew on Royal Air Force missions intercepting German rockets and led a group of French irregulars and unattached GIs towards the liberation of Paris and the Ritz Bar. Two of his essays were published in Collier’s.

In 1945 Hemingway returned to New York and Cuba. Mary joined him in May. In September he sued Martha for divorce on the grounds of desertion. In November the sale of two of his stories for movie rights brought him $112,000.

Hemingway married Mary Welsh Monks in Havana in March 1946. In 1947, he was diagnosed with high blood pressure. From that time forward, Hemingway fought hypertension, diabetes, depression, paranoia, and perhaps hemochromatosis. He also began work on a trilogy, Islands, Garden of Eden, and (A) Moveable feast.

From September 1948 through April 1949, the Hemingways lived in northern Italy. There, he became infatuated with an eighteen-year-old beauty, Adriana Ivancich. Mary tolerated it. In late April the Hemingways returned to Cuba. He wrote Across the river and into the trees (1950), about a dying American colonel and a teenage Venetian beauty. It received overwhelmingly negative reviews. By late 1950 Ivancich and her mother were visiting Finca. Mary wanted out of the marriage, but stayed in it.

In 1951 Hemingway complete the first draft of (The) Old man and the sea and the Islands manuscript.

Grace Hall-Hemingway died in June 1951 and Pauline Hemingway in October 1951. The combination of these deaths was difficult for Hemingway to handle.

Life paid him $40,000 for serial rights and sold five million copies of its September 1, 1952 issue containing (The) Old man and the sea. Scribners sold out 40,000 first run copies of the novella. In April 1953, a film crew arrived in Havana to film the epic. In May, Hemingway was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction for the book.

In June, Ernest and Mary left Havana for Europe and Africa. After surviving a nearly fatal plane crash, the Hemingways recuperated in Venice. In June 1954, they returned to Havana. In October, Hemingway learned that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, but due to ill health, he could not travel to Stockholm.

From 1955 to 1961 Hemingway suffered increasing bad health, and paranoia-ridden depression. He wrote steadily on his trilogy. In January 1959, the Batista government fell to the Castro revolution. The Hemingways, on vacation in the U.S., bought a house in Ketchum, Idaho, from which he could watch the revolution on television.

In 1959, Ernest returned to Spain to cover the bullfights. His mood shifts frightened his wife and bewildered his friends. His health worsened. In November 1960 Hemingway entered Mayo Clinic to be treated for hypertension, an enlarged liver, paranoia, and severe depression. He received shock treatments. By late April 1961 Hemingway had twice attempted suicide.

On July 2, 1961 he blew his head off. Hemingway was survived by his wife, two of his ex-wives, and his three sons. (This information is from American National Biography Online).

Acquisition information:
Acc# many
Arrangement:

The collection is divided into three series: materials by and about Ernest Hemingway, the diaries of his uncle, George R. Hemingway, and the organizational records of the Michigan Hemingway Society.

Access and use

Location of this collection:
Park Library
250 East Preston Street
Mount Pleasant, MI 48859 USA
Contact:
clarke@cmich.edu