Collections in Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature

John Quinn (1870-1924) was a corporation lawyer in New York City who amassed an important private collection of paintings, drawings and sculpture as well as books and manuscripts of contemporary authors. The collection consists of seven condolence letters on the death of John Quinn from prominent friends; six are addressed to Quinn's sister Mrs. William V. Anderson (Julia Quinn Anderson); one letter is addressed to lawyer Thomas J. Curtin, John Quinn's assistant. Items comprise: an autograph letter signed "A. Gregory," from Irish patron of the arts Augusta, Lady Gregory, on Coole Park letterhead, to "Dear Sister of John Quinn," dated [1924] July 29 (2 pages), with typescript copy; a typed letter signed from lawyer Richard Campbell on 14 Wall Street letterhead, dated 1924 August 26 (2 pages); an autograph letter signed (1 page) from New York Times editor John H. Finley, with a separate autograph manuscript poem "In Memory of John Quinn" signed "John Quill" with ink drawing of a quill (1 page), both dated 1924 July 29, with typescript copy of the poem; an autograph letter signed from lawyer and author Richard Walden Hale on Schooner Head, Bar Harbor, Maine letterhead, dated 1924 August 26 (1 page), with envelope; an autograph letter signed from artist Walt Kahn, on Ogunquit, Maine letterhead, dated 1924 July 30 (1 page); an autograph letter signed from poet and editor Michael Monahan on New Canaan, Connecticut letterhead to "My dear Mr. Curtin," dated 1924 July 31 (1 page); and a typed letter signed from artist John Sloan as president of The Society of Independent Artists, dated 1924 December 5 (1 page). Lady Gregory, apologizing for having forgotten Anderson's name, writes of her shock and grief after receiving the news by cable, and by a telegram from W. B. Yeats less

The item is a printed power of attorney form issued by The Dramatists' Guild of The Authors' League of America, Inc., signed by Harlem Renaissance poet and playwright Langston Hughes and Martin Jones for Marjones Productions, Inc., on September 2, 1935. Martin Jones (Martin B. Jones, 1902-1983) was a theatrical producer. The document appoints Joseph P. Bickerton Jr., Arbiter, as attorney-in-fact to carry out the terms of the Minimum Basic Agreement between The Dramatists' Guild, and producing managers Langston Hughes (Author) and Marjones Productions, Inc. (Manager), for the negotiation of motion picture rights. The play's title is left blank, but extant documents signed by the parties that day identify Langston Hughes's play Mulatto, which opened on Broadway in 1935 less

Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) was an English writer, poet, and the sister of Patrick Branwell, Emily, and Anne Brontë. Her papers, dating from 1829 to the 1990s, consist of holograph letters, poems, stories, and writing exercises; a painting; a travel writing desk; writing instruments, objects, and ephemera found in the desk; and artifacts associated with Brontë and her family. less

Patrick Branwell Brontë (1817-1848) was an English painter, poet, and writer and the only brother of the English writers Emily, Charlotte, and Anne Brontë. His papers, dating from approximately the 1830s to 1845, are composed of holograph poems, short stories, and an unfinished novel. The collection also contains supplementary materials dating from the 1910s to the 1990s that describe the holographs' histories. less