Preliminary
Inventory of the Newman Ivey White papers,
1915 -
1948
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Descriptive Summary
Title
Newman
Ivey White papers,
1915 - 1948.
Creator
White, Newman Ivey,
1892-1948.
Extent
7.9 Linear Feet,
5,500
Items
Repository
University Archives, Duke
University
Abstract
Newman Ivey White was an educator and
Percy Bysshe Shelley scholar. He served as Professor of
English at Trinity College and Duke University from 1919 to
1948. The papers include correspondence, lectures, research
materials, including notecards, copies of letters,
manuscripts, and photographs along with printed matter,
miscellaneous writings, and other papers, with bulk dates
of 1936-1948. Most of the material reflects his work on
Shelley and the English Romantic poets; a small amount of
reprints and lectures concerns folklore. Much of the
correspondence is between White and other scholars of the
English poets; correspondents include T. J. Wise, Frederick
L. Jones, and George L. Kittredge. H.L. Mencken and George
Bernard Shaw wrote to congratulate White on his
publications. Several folders of correspondence with
members of the publishing firm of Alfred A. Knopf regard
the publication of
Shelley in 1940. A
letter from Duke faculty member Calvin B. Hoover describes
Nazi Germany in 1932, and several of White's European
correspondents comment on conditions in Europe during World
War II.
Language
English.
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Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
Patrons must sign the Acknowledgement of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Portions of these materials are restricted by
donor request.
Unprocessed materials are closed pending
processing.
In off-site storage; 24 hours advance notice is
required for use.
Restrictions on the use of
"The Book of Shelley and
Mary"
(Box 5) are explained at length in the folder
containing Volume 1.
Use Restrictions
Copyright for Official University records is
held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by
the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants,
as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Newman Ivey White
papers, University Archives, Duke University.
Provenance
The Newman Ivey White papers was received by the
University Archives as a gift in 1949, 1980, 1989.
Processing Information
Processed by University Archives staff,
completed June 2, 1989. Correspondence and research notes
were refoldered; however, original acidic paper folders
have been retained, as notes on them make up an index to
the correspondence. These are stored in Box 6. Deteriorated
photo negatives were removed, as prints of the images exist
within the papers.
Encoded by Jill Katte, June 5, 2003
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
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Biographical Note
Educator, Shelley biographer. Professor of
English, Trinity College and Duke University, 1919-1948.
Author,
Shelley (1940) and
Portrait of Shelley
(1945), and other works. B.A., M.A. Trinity College,
Durham, NC, 1913, 1914. M.A., Ph.D., Harvard, 1915, 1918.
Married, 1922, Marie Anne Updike. Died Cambridge, MA,
December 6, 1948.
Known in his time as an eminent Shelley scholar,
Newman Ivey White was born in Statesville, North Carolina
on February 3, 1892. He grew up in Greensboro, where his
father, James Houston White, died in 1912. White entered
Trinity College in Durham in 1909, graduating magna cum
laude in 1913. During his student days, he was a member of
the varsity tennis team for three years; he later coached
the school's teams. White entered the graduate program at
Trinity, obtaining his M.A. in 1914. He then went to
Harvard, where he acquired another M.A. (1915) and the
Ph.D. (1918). His dissertation was on Percy Shelley's
dramatic poems. While at Trinity he had served as an
assistant in English and Latin; he later he filled an
instructorship at Alabama Polytechnic institute
(1915-1916), and taught English at Washington University in
St. Louis. He returned to Trinity in 1919 as a member of
the English Department. In 1922 he married Marie Anne
Updike, a fellow member of the department from 1927 to 1955
who taught modern literature and drama.
Mr. and Mrs. White shared an interest in
folksong, and as a scholar, Dr. White authored
An Anthology of Verse by
American Negroes (1924, with W.C. Jackson) and
American Negro Folk
Songs (1928). In 1943, he became the general editor
of the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina
Folklore. It was as a Shelley scholar that Dr. White was
best known, however. Leaving aside scholarly articles, his
first published work on the poet was an anthology,
The Best of Shelley
(1932). This was followed by
The Unextinguished Heart:
Shelley and his Contemporary Critics (1938), in
which White argued that the poet was not neglected in his
own time. Finally, he completed in 1940 his two-volume
biography,
Shelley, and followed
this with a shorter popular biography, the 1945
Portrait of
Shelley.
Aside from scholarship, Newman and Marie White
were known for their interest in progressive causes.
Professor White took an interest in election reform, and in
child care facilities for working mothers. He was
associated with the West Durham Nursery School (1934-1936),
and later the Child Care Association, of which he was
chairman and member of the board of directors (1944-1946).
He was also a moving force behind the establishment of the
Durham Labor and Materials Exchange (1933), a clearinghouse
for information about jobs, goods and services available to
Durham's unemployed. During World War II, Dr. White served
on the Duke University Defense Council, and arranged for
publication of articles promoting national unity in the
crisis.
White was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American
Association of University Professors, the American Folklore
Society, the Modern Language Association and other
scholarly associations, both in the United States and in
England. His service to Duke University included membership
on the University Research Council and on the Executive
Committee of the Friends of Duke University Library.
During the last year of his life, Newman White
was engaged in doing research for a biography of William
Godwin. He was at Harvard when he died suddenly on December
6, 1948. Mrs. White died in 1975, and is buried in
Statesville with her husband.
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Collection Overview
Correspondence, lectures, research materials,
including photostatic copies of letters, manuscripts, and
graphics, along with printed matter, miscellaneous
writings, and other papers, with bulk dates of 1936-1948.
There is little in the collection that relates to Prof.
White's early career. Most of the material appears to have
been collected in the course of his work on the English
Romantic poets; a small amount of material, comprising
reprints and lectures, concerns folklore. Much of the
correspondence is between White and other students of the
English poets; subjects of the letters include differing
opinions and disputes over the interpretation of events in
Shelley's life. Other correspondents, among them H.L.
Mencken and George Bernard Shaw, congratulate White on his
publications. Several folders of correspondence with
members of the publishing firm of Alfred A. Knopf concern
the publication of
Shelley in 1940. A
letter from Duke faculty member Calvin B. Hoover describes
Nazi Germany in 1932, and several of White's European
correspondents make comments about conditions in Europe
during World War II.
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Subject Headings
These and related materials may be accessed under
the following subject headings in the Duke University
Libraries online catalog.
-
Alfred A. Knopf,
Inc.
-
Duke University--Faculty.
-
Duke University.
Dept. of English.
-
English literature--19th century--History and criticism.
-
Folklore--United
States.
-
Germany--History--1918-1933.
-
Hoover, Calvin B.
(Calvin Bryce), 1897-
-
Jones, Frederick
L. (Frederick Lafayette), 1901-
-
Kittredge, George
Lyman, 1860-1941.
-
Nazis--Germany.
-
Photographs.
-
Shelley, Percy
Bysshe, 1792-1822.
-
Shelley, Percy
Bysshe, 1792-1822--Criticism and
interpretation.
-
Trinity College
(Durham, N.C.)--Faculty.
-
White, Newman
Ivey, 1892-1948.
-
Wise, Thomas
James, 1859-1937.
-
Wise, Thomas
James, 1859-1937. Ashley Library.
-
World War,
1939-1945--Correspondence.
-
World War,
1939-1945--Europe.
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Preliminary Description of the
Collection
Correspondence,
1915-1948, bulk dates
1936-1948.
2 linear
feet
With a sub-series, letters received after the
publication of his biography of Shelley, 1940. Arranged
alphabetically by correspondent. One folder of
miscellaneous correspondence is filed under White, N.I. The
major correspondents include Frederick L. Jones, editor of
Mary Shelley's letters, Lord Abinger, the Marchesa Enrica
Della Robbia, Payson G. Gates, Ellsworth Barnard, artist
Mrs. W. Murray Crane, Thomas J. Wise, and members of Keats
and Shelley societies. There are several folders of
correspondence with people at Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
concerning publications; among these correspondents are
Blanche Knopf and Sidney R. Jacobs. The publication
contract is also in this file. Other correspondents include
George Bernard Shaw, George L. Kittredge, Percy Long, of
the Modern Language Association, H.L. Mencken, Sir John C.
Shelley- Rolls, John H. Smith, and L.C. Thompson. The
letters concern book reviews, and interpretations of the
Romantic poets, research requests to libraries, archives,
and booksellers, and include correspondence from other
students of literature at institutions in the United States
and in Europe. Indexes to the correspondence can be found
in Box 6 and in the University Archives collection
file.
Box 1
Correspondence, A-M
Box 2
Correspondence, N-Z
Correspondence received on the
publication of
Shelley
Miscellaneous writings,
1918-1944, n.d.
0.6 linear
feet
Poetry, limericks, lectures, and reviews.
White's Ph.D. dissertation (1 vol., bound,
Shelley's Dramatic
Poems. Harvard, 1918). "Adventures of a
Biographer," "War Relief" (1944), "Dr. Frank C. Brown and
his Collection of Folklore" (1943), "Legend and Fact in
Biography" (1943), Duke limericks, book reviews, and other
writings.
Box 2
Miscellaneous writings
Printed matter, n.d.
1.3 linear
feet
Periodicals and reprints, including issues of
the
South Atlantic
Quarterly,
Min Y Traeth,
The Lion (1829),
English Studies,
Studies in
Philology. Reprints of articles by White and by
other writers. A list of printed materials within this
series can be found in the University Archives collection
file.
Box 3
Printed matter (periodicals and
reprints)
Manuscripts and research materials,
n.d.
2.6 linear
feet
Photostatic copies of letters, paintings,
illustrations, etc. pertaining to Shelley and to William
Godwin; bibliographies on the Romantic poets; typed copies
of diaries of Claire Clairmont and Jane Clairmont, Maria
and John Gibson, ca. 1814-1825; page proofs and index for
the
Portrait of
Shelley; clippings. Also in this series are four
folders containing paper copies of a photostatic copy of
"The Book of Shelley and
Mary"
, a four volume, unpublished work described by
Dr. White as "the most important single source for the
biography of Shelley." Use of this material is restricted.
Box 4
Photostats
Notebooks
Clippings
Diaries
Box 5
Diaries
Bibliographies
Portrait of
Shelley materials
"The Book of Shelley
and Mary"
This copy of
"The Book of Shelley
and Mary"
is a reproduction of the copy in T. J.
Wise's Ashley Library used and annotated by Edward Dowden.
Permissions to publish material from this copy must be
sought from the Bodleian Library. For further information,
see the "Statement Relative to Restrictions on the
Publication of Material from the 'Book of Shelley and
Mary'" in the collection.
Correspondence Index
This correspondence index provides a record of
all incoming and outgoing correspondence within the
collection. Additional indexes to White's correspondence
can be found in the University Archives collection
file.
Box 6
Correspondence index
Oversize
MC
8
Resolutions relative to subscription towards the Tremandoc Embankment,
May 1812
