Summary Information
Elizabeth F. Corbett Papers 1883-1981
- Corbett, Elizabeth Frances, 1887-1981
Local History Manuscript Collection 8
7 cubic ft. (20 boxes)
Milwaukee Public Library (Map)
Elizabeth F. Corbett was an author, poet, suffragist
and speaker who grew up on the grounds of the National Soldiers’ Home in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin where her father worked. The collection consists of correspondence,
business papers, draft manuscripts and poetry, clippings, ephemera, scrapbooks and
photographs.
To request materials from this collection, create/login to your Special Collections Account.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.mwpl-lhmc0008 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Elizabeth Frances Corbett (EFC), daughter of Major Richard W. and Isabelle Adkins
Corbett, was born on Sept. 30, 1887, in Aurora, Illinois, where Major Corbett edited
the Aurora Daily News. The family moved to the
Milwaukee area in 1888 when the latter accepted the position of Chief Clerk of the
Northwestern Branch of the National Soldiers’ Home, at the site of the present
Veterans Administration Facilities. Elizabeth’s brother, Richard, and sister,
Gertrude (“Gay”) were born in the Chief Clerk’s quarters on the Home grounds where
the family lived for 25 yrs. Here she played on the spacious, garden-like grounds
and talked to the old soldiers, later claiming she was brought up by Union
veterans.
The Corbett children were driven by veterans in a horse-drawn buggy to the Model
Department of the Milwaukee State Normal School and later to West Division High
School. When she attended the State University in Madison, she was the Assistant
Editor of the Wisconsin Literary Magazine and
contributed stories and articles to various other university publications. During
her junior year at the University, she was the only girl to receive a prize in the
annual Badger contest, winning the fifth of six available literary prizes. In her
senior year she was elected to the local Phi Beta Kappa chapter.
A member of the Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority, she headed that social society’s
Committee on Professional Opportunities for Women, 1909-1910, urging that women
should prepare for careers of real interest to them, rather than automatically
choose teaching. From 1913-1917, she served as Editor-In-Chief of the Alpha Gamma Delta Quarterly.
Back in Milwaukee, Elizabeth lectured for the Vocational Opportunities Committee of
the Milwaukee Association of Collegiate Alumnae and for ten years worked actively
for Women’s Suffrage, serving as Press Chairman of the Milwaukee County Association.
She urged political party membership for women as well as men. In 1919, at the
request of women in her neighborhood, she conducted a citizenship class focusing on
civics, current events and politics. At the same time, she was developing ideas for
books and contributed articles and short stories to magazines. By 1920, she
successfully published three novels. Her parents had strongly encouraged her
writing, providing financial and moral support. When her father died in 1925,
Elizabeth moved to New York City to be in closer contact with publishers.
From 1927-1956, she had many plays, novels and series published. One of her most
successful was The Young Mrs. Meigs. Published in
1931, the work established her as a successful novelist. Set in Milwaukee, the story
of an independent woman of great warmth and charm, who at the age of eighty-three,
insisted on enjoying life and would not be dominated by her children, was an widely
reviewed success. Elizabeth, in response to the demand, brought out other novels
centered on this delightful lady. In 1941, Out at the
Soldiers’ Home, a nostalgic book of memoirs of her childhood with the
disabled Civil War veterans elicited memory-laden correspondence from many, who
retained memories of the times, people, and places she described.
From the mid-thirties to the late 1950s, she was much sought after to appear with
major publishers’ book fairs and on radio and, later, television talk shows, to talk
about herself and her books. Although the market for her writing declined after the
late 1950s, her last published novel was Sunday at
Six (1971). She lived until the age of ninety-three in the Greenwich
Village apartment that she occupied since the 1930s. Elizabeth Frances Corbett died
January 24, 1981 at home in New York City, NY.
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of correspondence, business papers, manuscripts and drafts,
newspaper clippings, photographs and books. It is arranged into three series
Correspondence, Personal, and Writings.
Scope and content notes of each series are provided in the contents list.
Arrangement of the Materials
The collection is arranged into the following series: - Correspondence,
1898-1979
- Personal,
1883-1981
- Writings,
1902-1980
The series are arranged alphabetically. Within each series, folders are arranged
alphabetically and then chronologically within each folder.
Preferred Citation
Corbett, Elizabeth F., Papers, 1883-1981, Collection 8. Local History Manuscript
Collections, Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Related Material in the Milwaukee Public Library
Charley Manning
The Head of Apollo
Our Mrs. Meigs : a novel
Out at the Soldiers' home : a memory book
Out at the Soldiers' home : a memory book (Expanded ed.)
Walt; the Good Gray Poet Speaks for Himself
Administrative/Restriction Information
There are no access restrictions on the materials. The collection is open to all
in accordance with state law. The public may view Local History Manuscript
Collections by appointment at the Central Library. To request an in-person
appointment, create/login to your Special Collections Account. If you have any questions, please
contact the Archives and Special Collections Department at mplarchives@milwaukee.gov.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel,
privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection
(Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).
Records indicate some materials were donated by Elizabeth Corbett herself prior
to her death. The bulk was donated in 1981 and in 1984 by Tom Corbett, her
great-nephew. Additional materials were located and reunited with the collection
in 2017. Materials are accessioned as Local History Manuscripts.
Processed by Wilma Pfeifer, 1980. Additional materials processed by Helen Vaeth,
1989. Final processing by Casey Lapworth, 2019.
Contents List
|
Series: 1: Correspondence , 1898-1979 : The Correspondence series, 1898-1979, contains both personal and business
correspondence of Elizabeth F. Corbett’s (EFC). Included are letters from
her father, Major R. W. Corbett, letters to and from her publishers and
agents on a variety of subjects regarding her writings including inquiries
concerning film and television serialization and letters from and to readers
of her autobiographical work, Out at the Soldier’s
Home. There is correspondence with Laurence J. Corbett of
Berkeley, California, and with Mr. Wilmer Baatz from Milwaukee Public
Library. There are also a number of letters, some accompanied by poems which
she wrote as morale boosters to service men in the Korean conflict. The
correspondence ranges from 1898-1979.
|
|
Box
1
Folder
1-21
|
1898-1933
|
|
Box
2
Folder
1-9
|
1934-1938
|
|
Box
3
Folder
1-13
|
1938-1949
|
|
Box
4
Folder
1-8
|
1950-1976
|
|
|
Series: 2: Personal , 1883-1981 : The Personal series contains journals, photographs, family history
information and memorabilia and ephemera. There are several types of
journals. They are titled book registers, common place books and menus and
memorabilia. The book registers are a record of books she read, the common
place books are filled with quotes or phrases she wanted to remember and the
menus and memorabilia volumes include a variety of notes on meals she ate
and cooked. Photographs mainly seem related to family however many are not
identified or dated. Embosser is a hand held device that imprints Elizabeth
Corbett.
|
|
|
“Book registers”
|
|
Box
4
Folder
9-10
|
1903-1945
|
|
Box
5
Folder
1-2
|
1945-1979
|
|
|
Clippings
|
|
Box
5
Folder
3-20
|
1909-1946
|
|
Box
6
Folder
1-4
|
1948-1980
|
|
Box
6
Folder
5
|
“Common place books” , undated
|
|
Box
18
|
Embosser, Undated
|
|
Box
6
Folder
6
|
Family history, 1981, undated
|
|
Box
6
Folder
7-8
|
Memorabilia, 1898-1937
|
|
Box
6
Folder
9-10
|
“Menus and Memorabilia”,
1937-1978
|
|
Box
7
Folder
1
|
A Nice Long Evening with Note to
Kathleen Wright, 1933
|
|
|
Photographs
|
|
Box
19
Folder
1
|
EFC, 1932, 1934
|
|
Box
7
Folder
2
|
EFC, 1914, undated
|
|
Box
7
Folder
3
|
EFC – University of Wisconsin-Madison,
1910
|
|
Box
7
Folder
4
|
Family, 1924-1950, undated
|
|
Box
7
Folder
5-7
|
Framed, undated
|
|
Box
8
Folder
1
|
Miscellaneous, 1903, undated
|
|
Box
8
Folder
2
|
Mrs. E. Purdon Wright, 1938,
undated
|
|
Box
8
Folder
3
|
Soldiers Home, 1890-1900,
undated
|
|
Box
8
Folder
4
|
Walt Whitman, 1914-1931,
undated
|
|
|
Scrapbooks
|
|
Box
19
Folder
1 vol
|
1910-1957
|
|
Box
20
Folder
1 vol
|
1957
|
|
Box
8
Folder
5
|
“Aunt Mamie’s”, Mary Frances Corbett,
1883-1914
|
|
|
Series: 3: Writings , 1902-1980 : The Writing series contains materials related to the EFC’s writings. It
mainly consists of drafts of her manuscripts and poems. There are newspaper
and magazine clippings and typewritten drafts of articles she authored, her
Bachelor’s thesis, early writings, draft plot ideas and revision notes on
her works. Also included are miscellaneous items such as publisher and
promotional related materials for her books, a scrapbook of ephemera related
to The Young Mrs. Meigs and then essays
titled “book notes” on materials she read.
|
|
|
Articles
|
|
Box
8
Folder
6
|
Clippings, 1927-1931,
undated
|
|
Box
9
Folder
1
|
Clippings, 1931-1962
|
|
Box
9
Folder
2
|
Clippings – Alpha Gamma Delta, 1909-1942,
undated
|
|
Box
9
Folder
3
|
Typewritten, 1927-1957
|
|
|
Manuscripts
|
|
Box
9
Folder
4
|
Bachelors Thesis, UW-Madison,
1910
|
|
Box
9
Folder
5-6
|
Early writings, 1908-1931,
undated
|
|
Box
9
Folder
7-8
|
Plot ideas / synopsis’, 1930-1980,
undated
|
|
Box
9
Folder
9
|
Reviews and Revisions, 1916-1935,
undated
|
|
|
Drafts
|
|
Box
10
Folder
1-4
|
Anniversary,
1964
|
|
Box
9
Folder
10
|
My Autobiography,
Circa 1940
|
|
Box
9
Folder
11
|
Charley Manning (working
script by J.E. Kirkham), play,
undated
|
|
Box
11
Folder
1
|
The Head of Apollo,
1956
|
|
Box
11
Folder
2-3
|
Immortal Helen,
1947
|
|
Box
11
Folder
4
|
Miscellaneous story scripts,
1969-1974
|
|
Box
11
Folder
5-7
|
In Miss Armstrong’s Room,
1953
|
|
Box
10
Folder
5
|
Out at the Soldiers Home,
1941
|
|
Box
12
Folder
1
|
Portrait of Isabelle,
1951
|
|
Box
12
Folder
2-3
|
The Richer Harvest,
1952
|
|
Box
12
Folder
4
|
Robert E. Lee,
undated
|
|
Box
12
Folder
5
|
Short stories, 1971-1972
|
|
Box
12
Folder
6
|
Spider Mother,
1970-1971
|
|
Box
13
Folder
1
|
Spider Mother,
1970-1971
|
|
Box
13
Folder
2-3
|
A Token Of Friendship,
1945
|
|
Box
13
Folder
4
|
The Verdict of Posterity,
undated
|
|
Box
13
Folder
5
|
The Young Mrs. Meigs, A Play In
Three Acts, 1933
|
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
|
Box
13
Folder
6
|
Book notes – Euclid and Then
Some, undated
|
|
Box
13
Folder
7
|
Book notes – Morals and
Literature, undated
|
|
Box
13
Folder
8
|
Book notes - Of Titles and
Titling, undated
|
|
Box
13
Folder
9
|
Printer sample pages, 1902-1939,
undated
|
|
Box
13
Folder
10
|
Promotional materials,
1918-1953
|
|
Box
13
Folder
11-12
|
Publishers catalogs and lists,
1916-19343
|
|
Box
14
Folder
1
|
Scrapbook - The Young Mrs.
Meigs, 1933
|
|
Box
14
Folder
2
|
Speeches and interviews, 1930-1956,
undated
|
|
Box
14
Folder
3
|
Theater programs – The Young Mrs.
Meigs, 1933
|
|
|
Poems
|
|
Box
14
Folder
4-7
|
1919-1962
|
|
Box
15
Folder
1-7
|
1963-1973
|
|
Box
16
Folder
1-3
|
1974-1975
|
|
|
Drafts
|
|
Box
16
Folder
4-8
|
1970-1976
|
|
Box
17
Folder
1-4
|
1976-1980
|
|
|