- unitid
-
{"value"=>"2022", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 2022", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1883/1936", "value"=>"1883-1936"}
- date_inclusive_start
-
1883
- date_inclusive_end
-
1936
- keydate
-
1883
- date_start
-
1883
- date_end
-
1936
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Langdon Elwyn Mitchell papers"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"5.25 linear feet (6 boxes)"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"> <span class=\"addressline\">Stephen A. Schwarzman Building</span> <span class=\"addressline\">Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788</span></div>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (1862-1935), American poet and playwright, used the pseudonym John Philip Varley. His best-known plays were Becky Sharp (1899) and The New York Idea (1906). He taught playwriting at the University of Pennsylvania from 1928 to 1930. His father was S. Weir Mitchell, neurologist and author. Collection consists primarily of manuscripts and typescripts of poems written by Mitchell from 1884 to 1915. Also, manuscript notes for his writings and some personal correspondence, 1888-1933."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"Materials in English"}
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"<p>Langdon Elwyn Mitchell papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library</p>"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Mitchell, Langdon Elwyn, 1862-1935", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Poet and playwright Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (1862 - 1935) was born in Philadelphia. Son of neurologist and author Silas Weir Mitchell, Langdon studied at the St. Paul's School in New Hampshire, in Dresden and in Paris. Mitchell later took courses at Harvard and Columbia Law Schools, and was admitted to the New York Bar in 1886. However, he never practiced law but instead turned to the writing of poems and plays. In 1892, he married Marian Lea. Also from Philadelphia, Lea was appearing on the London stage at the time, but retired soon after. The couple had two daughters and a son.</p> <p>Early in his career, Mitchell used the pen name \"John Philip Varley\". Among his books are Sylvian And Other Poems (1884), Poems (1894), Love In The Backwoods (1896), and Understanding America (1927). However, it was as a playwright that Mitchell gained his greatest success. His first play, In the Season, was produced at the St. James Theater in London in 1893. Becky Sharp a dramatization of Vanity Fair, followed in 1899. His greatest success, The New York Idea, dealing with the subject of divorce, was produced for the first time in 1906.</p> <p>Mitchell was elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in February 1908. In 1928, along with four other prominent playwrights, Mitchell gave a series of lectures at the University of Pennsylvania which were published by the University Press that year under the title The Art Of Playwriting. He then accepted an invitation to become Professor of Playwriting in the University's English Department, a position established by a gift from the Mask and Wig Club, a University dramatic group. He retired in 1930.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The papers consist primarily of manuscripts and typescripts of poems written by Mitchell from 1884 to 1915. The material is in rough chronological order. A group of poems written earlier and put in typed form in 1935 have been removed from binders. A portion of this typed material comprises copies of poems arranged alphabetically by first word.</p> <p>Also in the collection are many manuscript notes \"reflecting Mitchell's ideas for his writings.</p> <p>The collection also contains a very small amount of personal correspondence covering the period from 1888 to 1933. Among the correspondents are: his long-time friend Owen Wister, Herman Keyserling, Paul J. Patrick, Talcott Williams, and one incoming letter from Theodore Roosevelt dated 1916.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>September 1975; 1977; 1980, Received from Eleanor F. Johnson; David Price via Theater Division</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"type"=>"processing", "value"=>"<p>Accessioned by LB, Oct. 14, 1987</p>"}
- extent_statement
-
5.25 linear feet (6 boxes)