Collection inventory

Special Collections home page
printer friendly version

Samuel Hopkins Adams Collection

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 1871-1958.
Title: Samuel Hopkins Adams Collection
Inclusive Dates: 1921-1958
Quantity: 5.0 linear ft.
Abstract: Papers of the American author, journalist. Collection is predominantly incoming and outgoing business correspondence with agents and editors concerning Adams' literary works; typescripts of articles, stories, and novels; and photographs. Correspondents includes Brandt & Brandt; Horace B. Liveright of Boni and Liveright; Bennett Cerf and Saxe Commins of Random House; Thomas B. Costain of Doubleday, Doran & Company; Houghton Mifflin Company; Frank G. Slaughter; Merle Thorpe; Irita Van Doran; and Stewart Edward White.
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

Biographical History

Samuel Hopkins Adams (1871-1958) was an American author. He was born on January 26, 1871, the son of Myron and Hester Rose Hopkins Adams. After receiving his A.B. from Hamilton College in 1891, Samuel Hopkins Adams joined the staff of the New York Sun, moving in 1900 to McClure's magazine, where he became in succession, managing editor, advertising manager, and staff member in the heyday of Lincoln Steffens and Ida M. Tarbell. Eventually, Adams turned to freelance writing and became a highly successful and versatile writer of short stories (many appeared in the New Yorker), biography, and novels dealing with Americana. His most famous books are: Revelry, a story of the Harding administration which was banned in Washington and sold over 100,000 copies, 1926; A. Woollcott: His Life and His World, 1946; Banner by the Wayside, 1947; Plunder, 1948; Sunrise to Sunset, 1950; The Pony Express, 1950; The Santa Fe Trail, 1952; Canal Town, 1953; Grandfather Stories, 1955.

In 1926, Hamilton College awarded Adams an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters. He died at the age of eighty-seven in Beaufort, South Carolina on November 15, 1958.

Return to top

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Samuel Hopkins Adams Collection consists of manuscripts and correspondence. Correspondence is predominantly incoming and outgoing business correspondence with agents and editors concerning Adams' literary works. Correspondents includes Brandt & Brandt; Horace B. Liveright of Boni and Liveright; Bennett Cerf and Saxe Commins of Random House; Thomas B. Costain of Doubleday, Doran & Company; Houghton Mifflin Company; Frank G. Slaughter; Merle Thorpe; Irita Van Doran; and Stewart Edward White.

Return to top

Arrangement of the Collection

Writings are alphbetical by type and then by title. Correspondence is chronological.

Return to top

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Return to top

Subject Headings

Persons

Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 1871-1958.
Cerf, Bennett, 1898-1971.
Commins, Saxe.
Costain, Thomas B. (Thomas Bertram), 1885-1965.
Liveright, Horace Brisbin, 1886-1933.
Slaughter, Frank G. (Frank Gill), 1908-2001.
Thorpe, M. H. (Merle Harold), 1879-1955.
Van Doren, Irita Bradford.
White, Stewart Edward, 1873-1946.

Corporate Bodies

Boni & Liveright.
Brandt & Brandt.
Doubleday, Doran & Company.
Houghton Mifflin Company.
Random House (Firm)

Subjects

Authors and publishers.
Authors, American.
Journalists -- United States.
Novelists, American.

Genres and Forms

Articles.
Correspondence.
Manuscripts for publication.
Photographs.

Occupations

Authors.
Journalists.
Novelists.

Return to top

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Samuel Hopkins Adams Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Photographs gift of Beatrice Champany, 1999.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: ---
Date: Jul 1967
Revision history: 13 Oct 2008 - converted to EAD (MRC); 25 Nov 2008 - additions, corrections (MRC); 9 Aug 2012 - box number revision (MBD)

Return to top

Inventory

Manuscripts
Short stories
Box 11 Banner by the Wayside (2 folders)
Box 1 Blackout (2 folders)
Box 1 Chamberlain, Edmund G. - article
Box 1 Chance
Box 1 A coat of paint
Damage suit industry - outline of series
Box 1 Deadpan (2 folders)
Box 1 Emperor Nick of the U.S. Bank
Box 1 Has your car has a soul?
Box 1 Here comes a lady
Box 1 Honor 1/11/39
Box 1 Motor vehicle statistics in New Jersey (report) 1923
Box 1 My venture in anti-witchcraft 11/15/57
Box 1 The parson and the factory girl
Box 1 Perfect specimen 12/1935
Box 1 Plan for mystery symposium 10/11/46 - script
Box 1 Severus and the oil can - script
Box 1 Short subject
Box 1 Slide, Kellius, Slide
Box 1 Soulcrafter
Box 1 A Third Ward New Year
Box 1 The Timely Death of President Harding
Box 1 Tourists
Box 1 Two Deserters - script
Box 1 Twin towers
Box 1 Westward bound
Box 1 Untitled (2 folders)
Typescripts
Box 2 Miscellaneous
Correspondence
Correspondence with Random House
Box 3 1942-1943 (2 folders)
Box 3 1945-1958 (14 folders)
Box 3 regarding Harvey Gibbs 1941-1948 - 53 incoming letters, 8 outgoing letters
Box 3 regarding Banner By the Wayside 1946-1947 - 10 incoming letters
Box 3 regarding Sunrise to Sunset - 10 memorandums regarding printing instructions; 8 binding and printing instructions sheets
Box 3 regarding Canal Town 1943-1944 - 15 incoming letters; 11 printing instruction sheets
Book correspondence
Box 4 1925-1939 (7 folders)
Box 5 1940-1944 (5 folders)
Box 6 1949-1957 (7 folders)
Serial correspondence
Box 7 1921, 1944-1945 (2 folders)
Box 8 1946-1950 (5 folders)
Box 9 1951-1958 (8 folders)
Miscellaneous
Box 10 Master's thesis, "The political and personal factors in the nomination of Warrren G. Harding" / Alder, H. F., for School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University 1926
Oversize 1 Photographs of Samuel Hopkins Adams and Jane Adams circa 1943

Return to top