Estate of Sinclair Lewis records
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of correspondence, legal papers, financial papers, and personal papers relating to Sinclair Lewis, his wives Grace Hegger and Dorothy Thompson, and the Lewis family. Included are divorce decrees, custody and alimony agreements, wills, tax and real estate records, powers of attorney, and contracts pertaining to Lewis's novels Ann Vickers, Dodsworth, and Elmer Gantry. The collection also contains a few objects, such as metal keys and a visor, and a certificate of vaccinations against typhoid fever and smallpox for Sinclair, Grace, and Wells Lewis.
Dates
- 1841-1949
Creator
- Lewis, Sinclair, 1885-1951 (Author)
Language of Materials
In English, with a small amount of material in German.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Estate of Sinclair Lewis Records is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, Inc. on the Sinclair Lewis Fund, 2011.
Arrangement
Organized into ten series: I. Agreements, 1914-1941. II. Ann Vickers, circa 1930-1933. III. Correspondence, 1916-1948. IV. Divorce, 1928-1946. V. Financial Papers, 1880-1942. VI. Personal Papers, 1921-1929. VII. Powers of Attorney, 1928-1937. VIII. Real Estate, 1841-1949. IX. Taxes, 1917-1932. X. Wills, 1924-1941.
Extent
1.67 Linear Feet (4 boxes)
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The collection consists of correspondence, legal papers, financial papers, and personal papers relating to Sinclair Lewis, his wives Grace Hegger and Dorothy Thompson, and the Lewis family. Included are divorce decrees, custody and alimony agreements, wills, tax and real estate records, powers of attorney, and contracts pertaining to Lewis's novels Ann Vickers, Dodsworth, and Elmer Gantry. The collection also contains a few objects, such as metal keys and a visor, and a certificate of vaccinations against typhoid fever and smallpox for Sinclair, Grace, and Wells Lewis.
Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951)
Sinclair Lewis is best known as a novelist and social critic, who also wrote plays, poetry, and short fiction. Lewis was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1926 and, in 1930, he was the first American author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and minimal organization.
Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- American literature -- 20th century
- Authors -- United States -- 20th century
- Authors, American -- 20th Century
- Contracts
- Deeds
- Divorce mediation
- Executors and administrators -- New York (State) -- New York
- Financial records
- Keys (hardware)
- Lewis, Grace Hegger
- Lewis, Sinclair, 1885-1951
- Powers of attorney
- Smallpox -- Vaccination
- Tax records
- Thompson, Dorothy, 1893-1961
- Typhoid fever -- Vaccination
- Visors (costume components)
- Wills
- Title
- Guide to the Estate of Sinclair Lewis Records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- by Beinecke staff, Brooke McManus
- Date
- May 2015, January 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.