Abernethy, J. W. (Julian Willis)

Scope and Contents From the Collection: Seven archival boxes of materials pertaining to the poet and novelist. The bulk of the papers date from the 1890s and early 1900s. Mrs. Dorr’s correspondence includes a wide selection of esteemed literary figures of the late 19th century, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, who states that, “You Vermonters should have rare inspirations: Nature, our travelers tell me, has made no fairer land”; Ivy Compton Burnett; William Dean Howells; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow; and Oliver Wendell Holmes, who...

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Materials in the collection include works generated by Julian Willis Abernethy including manuscripts of creative and critical works, holograph notes, newspaper clippings, announcements, articles, tributes, reviews and letters. Some materials are in bound volumes. Note that few documents in the collection are dated. For detailed item listing, see "Other Finding Aids" note.

Scope and Contents

One typescript letter written by George Washington Cable to Julian Willis Abernethy, dated December 27, 1913. The letter reads, "Your congratulations on my successful operation for the removal of cataract touches me tenderly and I know not how to respond adequately but can only promise to try, as the author of the works you so flatteringly mentioned, to live up to my new opportunities -- and the esteem of kind readers."

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One holograph letter written by William Wheeler Gay to Julian Willis Abernethy, undated. The letter discusses another letter written by Henry David Thoreau.

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Holograph signed letter from William Sloane Kennedy to Julian Willis Abernethy, dated April 25, 1919. The letter refers to an accompanying holograph signed poem by Kennedy, "At Thoreau's Grave," dated 1879.

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Two typescript signed letters written by Oscar Wegelin to Julian Willis Abernethy, dated June 11, 1918, and November 23, 1921, respectively.

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Three holograph signed letters from Edward Eggleston to Julian Willis Abernethy, dated July 23, 1900, August 4, 1900, and August 14, 1901. The letters primarily discuss Eggleston's granddaughter Allegra. In the first letter, Eggleston describes Allegra's qualifications for a teaching position. In the second, he writes of going to Bread Loaf with Allegra to meet Abernethy, and in the third, he writes of the death of a young girl (possibly Allegra?).