Summary Information

Title: John Saxton Sumner Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1904-1961

Creator:

• Sumner, John Saxton, 1876-circa 1962

Call Number: Mss 146

Quantity: 1.6 c.f. (4 archives boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of John Saxton Sumner, executive secretary for the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice, renamed in 1946 the Society to Maintain Public Decency; including fragmentary correspondence, monthly summary reports, a diary, writings, memorabilia, an unpublished autobiography, clippings, and other records and reference files. Sumner's efforts were directed primarily against publications and theater performances of obscene and pornographic works. Correspondents include Anthony Comstock and Cleveland F. Pratt of the Society. Though most of Sumner's activity centered on the suppression of underground literature, there are reports about cases against Theodore Dreiser's The Genius, Louis Minsky and his burlesque performances, and Mae West. In Sumner's autobiographical manuscript and in letters to him are detailed descriptions of the influenza epidemic of 1918.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00146

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