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Creator: | Wharton, Edith, 1862-1937. |
Title: | Edith Wharton Letter |
Inclusive Dates: | 15 Jan 1915 |
Quantity: | 1 folder (SC) |
Abstract: | Letter written by American novelist, Edith Wharton |
Language: | English |
Repository: |
Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center |
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was an American novelist, designer, and the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature in 1921.
Wharton was born in New York to a wealthy family. She travelled a lot in Europe, developing her language skills, and had a private governess who provided a good education. At age 16 she published her first work, Verses, a volume of poetry. She married Edward Robbins (Teddy) Wharton in 1885. The two lived in Newport where she honed her design skills and writing, publishing non-fiction books on design and architecture. In 1901 Wharton bought a large property in Lenox and designed and built her home, The Mount. In 1911 Edith and Teddy divorced due to Teddy's mental instability and Edith moved to France. When World War I broke out, Wharton created a network of support with charitable and humanitarian organizations. After the war she lived the rest of her life at the Chateau Ste.-Claire, writing with great success and receiving numerous honors, including an Honorary Doctorate from Yale University. She died in France on August 11, 1937.
Adele Kneeland (1856-1937) was a distant relative of Ogden Codman, the American architect and interior decorator with whom Wharton co-authored her first design book, The Decoration of Houses. According to Edith Wharton's Lenox, by Cornelia Brooke Gilder (2017), Wharton and Kneeland became friends when Codman, who worked with Wharton, was commissioned to design a new reception room at Kneeland's grandfather's house.
The Edith Wharton Letter is a single page letter written by Wharton to Adele Kneeland.
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Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Edith Wharton Letter
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Unknown
Created by: KD
Date: 16 Jan 2019
Revision history: