Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst papers from Dartington Hall, 1890-1976,-1920-1958 (bulk)
Collection Number: 3782

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library

DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY

Title:

Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst papers from Dartington Hall, 1890-1976,-1920-1958 (bulk)

Repository:

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections

Collection Number:

3782

Abstract:

Includes photocopies of correspondence with Margaret Isherwood, Eloise Elmhirst Sharman, Ellen Van Volkenberg Browne and correspondence concerning Willard Straight Hall; lecture notes, notebooks, diaries and travel journals; an inventory for the records room at Dartington Hall and a diary describing World War I by an unknown author. Also, microfilmed correspondence between Leonard K. Elmhirst and Dorothy Whitney Straight; her diaries, clippings, social appointments, notes and addresses.

Creator:

Elmhirst, Dorothy Payne Whitney Straight.

Quanitities:

4 cubic feet.

Language:

Collection material in English

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Philanthropist, educator, publisher, patron of the arts and social activist.

Dorothy Payne Whitney, daughter of William C. Whitney, a financier and Secretary of the Navy under President Grover Cleveland, married Willard Dickerman Straight in 19ll. Straight died in 1918, and she married Leonard Knight Elmhirst in 1925. Dorothy and Elmhirst purchased Dartington Hall, Devon, England, reconstructed the 14th century manor and founded a school on the property. Dartington Hall became a center for the arts and a leading coeducational progressive school. The New School for Social Research in New York was begun with the backing of the Whitney Estate in 1919. Dorothy was involved with the New York State Food Commission, the Women's Liberty Loan Committee, the Social Unit Plan, the Junior League, the War Camp Service Committee, the Women's Emergency Committee of the European Relief Council, the New School for Social Research, the Tuberculosis Preventorium for Children, the Pueblos Defense Committee, and the Mayor's Committee of Women on National Defense. She supported individual students at Bordentown Military Academy and Hobart College, and helped to found THE NEW REPUBLIC.

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

Includes photocopies of correspondence with Margaret Isherwood, Eloise Elmhirst Sharman, Ellen Van Volkenberg Browne and correspondence concerning Willard Straight Hall (1920-1967); also lecture notes, notes about lectures taught at Dartington Hall, notebooks, diaries and travel journals; contains originals of letters by Ruth Morgan (1926-1933), Margaret and Helen Isherwood (1932-1968), Susan Sedgwick Hammond (1940-1968), Louise E. Croly (1926-1940) and letters by Dorothy and Leonard to Margaret and Helen Isherwood, Nancy Green, Ellen Van Volkenberg Browne, and Gilbert Harrison; also included are notes by E.A. Stettner, the transcriber of the Croly correspondence, an inventory for the records room at Dartington Hall and a diary (n.d.) describing World War I by an unknown author. Also, microfilmed correspondence between Leonard K. Elmhirst and Dorothy Whitney Straight (1920-1925) discussing travels, love and their subsequent marriage; correspondence (1932-1935) discussing psychology, sociology, Dartington Hall, education, religion and literature between Henry F. Heard, Gerald Heard, Margaret Isherwood and Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst; her diaries (1927-1928), clippings, social appointments, notes and addresses. Also, clippings concerning events at Dartington Hall (ca.1926-1949), and photographs of Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst's penthouse on Park Avenue (ca.1928). Also an inventory catalog of the Dartington Hall Archives.

NOTES

Related collection:Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst. Papers, #3725.

Related collection:Willard Dickerman Straight. Papers, #1260.

INFORMATION FOR USERS

Cite As:

Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst papers from Dartington Hall, #3782. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.

SUBJECTS

Names:

Elmhirst, L. K. (Leonard Knight), 1893-1974.

Isherwood, Margaret.

Sharman, Eloise Elmhirst.

Browne, Ellen Van Volkenberg.

Morgan, Ruth.

Isherwood, Helen.

Hammond, Susan Sedgwick.

Croly, Louise E.

Green, Nancy.

Stettner, E.A.

Heard, Gerald, 1889-1971.

Harrison, Gilbert.

Cornell University -- : Willard Straight Hall.

Dartington Hall -- : Totnes -- : Devon -- : England.

Subjects:

Whitney, Dorothy Payne, -- 1887-1968.

Straight, Dorothy Whitney, -- 1887-1968.

Heard, Henry FitzGerald.

Women social reformers.

Social reformers.

Women -- Diaries.

Education.

World War, 1914-1918.

Form and Genre Terms:

Diaries.

CONTAINER LIST

Container		Description	Date
		Link to a copy of the printed finding aid
		Series I. Photocopies
Box 1	Folder 1	Cornell: Willard Straight Hall	1931-1936
Box 1	Folder 2	Cornell: Willard Straight Hall	1935-1958
Box 1	Folder 3	Cornell: Willard Straight Hall	1961-1967
Box 1	Folder 4	Cornell: Willard Straight Hall	1920-1921
Box 1	Folder 5	Cornell: Willard Straight Hall	1920-1926
Box 1	Folder 6	Cornell: Willard Straight Hall	1925-1928
Box 1	Folder 7	Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst notes on religion	Undated
Box 1	Folder 8	DWSE General Notes	Undated
Box 1	Folder 9	Orders to Booksellers	1960-1968
		Scope and Contents Part 1
Box 1	Folder 10	Orders to Booksellers	1960-1968
		Scope and Contents Part 2
Box 1	Folder 11	DWSE Miscellaneous Notes	Undated
Box 1	Folder 12	Tribute to Alexander Meiklejohn	Undated
Box 1	Folder 13	Berkeley Divinity School Correspondence	1966-1967
Box 1	Folder 14	DWSE Autobiographical notes	1949-1973
		Scope and Contents Also dates from 1959 to 1968 and undated notes.
Box 1	Folder 15	Article: "Dorothy Elmhirst and Michael Chekov"	1969
Box 1	Folder 16	DWSE Correspondence with Margaret Isherwood	1946-1951
Box 1	Folder 17	DWSE Correspondence with Margaret Isherwood	1952-1965
Box 1	Folder 18	Eloise Elmhirst Sharman correspondence	1940-1959
		Scope and Contents Part 1
Box 1	Folder 19	Eloise Elmhirst Sharman correspondence	1940-1959
		Scope and Contents Part 2
Box 1	Folder 20	DWSE to Ruth Morgan	1928-1929
		Scope and Contents Notebook
Box 1	Folder 20	DWSE to Ruth Morgan	1934
		Scope and Contents Clippings: Ruth Morgan's Obituary
Box 1	Folder 21	Diary	Undated
Box 1	Folder 22	Notebook	1931
		Scope and Contents Article on Dirac Theory.
Box 1	Folder 23	Correspondence	1929
		Scope and Contents Regarding Gerald Heard and Margaret Isherwood along with clippings regarding religion, some of which is undated.
Box 1	Folder 24	Notebook	1934
Box 1	Folder 25	Notebook	1935-1936
Box 1	Folder 26	Notes	1938-1939
		Scope and Contents Notes on "The Possessed" and articles of interest.
Box 1	Folder 27	Notebook	1935-1939
Box 1	Folder 27	Notes on Steiner	1937
Box 1	Folder 28	Notes on Teaching Opera Students	1939
Box 1	Folder 29	Notes on Blake's Eternity, et al.	1939
Box 1	Folder 29	Notebook	1938
Box 1	Folder 30	Notebook	1942
Box 1	Folder 31	Notes on Drama Classes	1940
Box 1	Folder 32	Notebook	1942
Box 1	Folder 33	Six Lectures on U.S.A.	1943
Box 1	Folder 34	Travel Diary, Europe	1949
Box 1	Folder 35	Notes	1950-1959
		Scope and Contents Notes on architecture and Shakespeare's "Othello."
Box 1	Folder 36	Notes	1950-1959
		Scope and Contents Notes on "Ring Around the Moon," "Hamlet" and English furniture.
Box 1	Folder 37	Notes on Shakespeare lectures	1952
Box 1	Folder 38	Notebook	1896-1901
		Scope and Contents Notebook on "Books as I have Read Them"
Box 1	Folder 39	Correspondence: New Republic	1914
Box 1	Folder 39	Willard's Death	1918
Box 2	Folder 1	Notebooks	1950-1959
		Scope and Contents Notebooks on lectures, and on quotations from Pueblo Indian book.
Box 2	Folder 2	Notes	1955
		Scope and Contents Notes on English furniture, on the "Tempest", etc. circa 1950's.
Box 2	Folder 3	"Something of What I have Learned in this Year of Grace"	1955
		Scope and Contents for Terry.
Box 2	Folder 4	DWSE Shakespeare Notes	1955
		Scope and Contents "Measure for Measure"
Box 2	Folder 5	DWSE Travel Diary: Italy	1949
Box 2	Folder 5	DWSE Travel Diary: France	1951
Box 2	Folder 6	DWSE Travel Diary: Italy	1959-1965
		Scope and Contents Specific dates: 1959, 1961, 1964
Box 2	Folder 6	DWSE Travel Diary: Greece	1963
Box 2	Folder 7	DWSE Shakespeare Notes	1955
		Scope and Contents Notes on "Othello"
Box 2	Folder 8	Diary of a Motortrip	1959-10-12-1959-10-26
Box 2	Folder 9	DWSE Extracts and Notes for a Lecture	1954
Box 2	Folder 10	Quotes and Notes	1960-1963
		Scope and Contents Quotes and notes on Shakespeare's sonnets and extracts from Neumann's study of Henry Moore and Bradley on Lear.
Box 2	Folder 11	"How the World Began" by Dorothy	Undated
		Scope and Contents DWSE's granddaughter.
Box 2	Folder 12	My Special Anthology	1961
Box 2	Folder 13	DWSE notes copied by Leonard K. Elmhirst	1963-1968
Box 2	Folder 14	Psalms and Quotes	1965
Box 2	Folder 15	Notes	1966-1968
Box 2	Folder 16	Diaries	1968
Box 2	Folder 16	Venice	1964
Box 2	Folder 17	Diary and notes	1967-1968
Box 2	Folder 18	Ellen Van Volkenberg Browne	1929-1972
Box 2	Folder 19	Notes on the Concept of God	1922-1923
Box 2	Folder 20	Notebook on Bible class	Date unknown
Box 2	Folder 21	Notes on Tyson course	1920
		Scope and Contents "Bible and Modern Scholarship" Part 1.
Box 2	Folder 22	Notes on Tyson course	1920
		Scope and Contents "Bible and Modern Scholarship" Part 2.
Box 2	Folder 23	Lecture Notes	1922
Box 2	Folder 24	DWSE Poem Anthology	1919-1923
Box 2	Folder 25	DWSE Selected Poems	1920-1929
Box 2	Folder 26	DWSE Selected Poems and Notes	1922
Box 2	Folder 27	Lecture Notes	Undated
		Scope and Contents Dewey-Gates, et. Al.
Box 2	Folder 28	Lecture Notes	Date unknown
		Scope and Contents John Dewey
Box 2	Folder 29	Lecture Notes	Date unknown
		Scope and Contents John Dewey
Box 2	Folder 30	Lecture Notes	1923-10
		Scope and Contents Dr. Fosdick
Box 2	Folder 31	European Diary	1904-1905
Box 2	Folder 32	European Diary	1904-1905
		Scope and Contents Part 2
Box 2	Folder 33	European Diary	1904-1905
		Scope and Contents Part 3
Box 2	Folder 34	Engagement Book	1904
Box 2	Folder 35	Typical pages of uncopied diaries	1916-1923
Box 2	Folder 36	Diary, Part 1	1906
Box 2	Folder 37	Diary, Part 2	1906
Box 3	Folder 1	Diary, Part 3	1906
Box 3	Folder 2	Line-A-Day Diary, Part 1	1916-1920
Box 3	Folder 3	Line-A-Day Diary, Part 2	1916-1920
Box 3	Folder 4	Line-A-Day Diary, Part 3	1916-1920
		Scope and Contents Plus miscellaneous notes.
Box 3	Folder 5	Line-A-Day Diary, Part 1	1911-1915
Box 3	Folder 6	Line-A-Day Diary, Part 2	1911-1915
Box 3	Folder 7	Line-A-Day Diary, Part 3	1911-1915
		Series II. Originals
Box 3	Folder 8	Letters of Ruth Morgan to DWSE, Part 1	1925-1933
Box 3	Folder 9	Letters of Ruth Morgan to DWSE, Part 2	1925-1933
Box 3	Folder 10	DWSE to Margaret and Helen Isherwood and others	1932-1936
Box 3	Folder 11	DWSE to Margaret and Helen Isherwood and others	1937-1941
Box 3	Folder 12	DWSE to Margaret and Helen Isherwood and others	1942
Box 3	Folder 12	DWSE to Margaret and Helen Isherwood and others	1928-1963
Box 3	Folder 13	DWSE to Margaret and Helen Isherwood and others	1964-1968
Box 3	Folder 14	Susan Sedgwick Hammond correspondence and notes	1940-1968
Box 3	Folder 14	Susan Sedgwick Hammond correspondence and notes	1973
Box 3	Folder 14	Susan Sedgwick Hammond correspondence and notes	Undated
Box 3	Folder 15	Ellen Van Volkenberg Correspondence and Material re: Dartington Hall	1929-1972
Box 3	Folder 15	Ellen Van Volkenberg Correspondence and Material re: Dartington Hall	1952-1966
Box 3	Folder 16	DWSE miscellaneous correspondence	Date unknown
Box 3	Folder 17	Nancy Green correspondence--Applegreen	1950-1964
Box 3	Folder 17	Nancy Green correspondence--Applegreen	Undated
Box 3	Folder 18	Index to Records Room Materials, Dartington Hall	Undated
Box 3	Folder 19	Commemorative articles	1948
Box 3	Folder 19	Commemorative articles	1960-1969
Box 3	Folder 19	Commemorative articles	1972
Box 3	Folder 20	Miscellaneous	Undated
Box 3	Folder 21	Croly Correspondence, notes by E.A Stettner	1920-1929
		Scope and Contents see detailed list
Box 3	Folder 22	Croly Correspondence, notes by E.A Stettner	1927
		Scope and Contents see detailed list
Box 3	Folder 23	Croly Correspondence, notes by E.A Stettner	1928
		Scope and Contents see detailed list
Box 3	Folder 24	Croly Correspondence, notes by E.A Stettner	1928-1929
		Scope and Contents see detailed list
Box 3	Folder 25	Croly Correspondence, notes by E.A Stettner	1934
		Scope and Contents see detailed list
Box 3	Folder 26	Croly Correspondence, notes by E.A Stettner	1930-1939
		Scope and Contents see detailed list
Box 3	Folder 27	Croly Correspondence, notes by E.A Stettner	1940
		Scope and Contents see detailed list
Box 3	Folder 28	Croly Correspondence	1940-1949
Box 3	Folder 28	Croly Correspondence	1972
Box 3	Folder 29	Theater Arts Inc. Part 1	1930-1939
Box 3	Folder 30	Theater Arts Inc. Part 2	1930-1939
Box 3	Folder 31	Diary - author unknown	Undated
Box 3	Folder 32	Rechristening of the "Dorothy" button	1972-06-19
Box 3	Folder 33	Negatives transferred from collection # 1260	1981-11
		Scope and Contents MH
Box 3	Folder 34	Correspondence of DWSE and LKE with Susan Sedgwick Hammond	1951-1972
Box 3	Folder 35	Letters to Gilbert Harrison from Dorothy Elmhirst	1964-03-07
		Scope and Contents August 1951 Accession
Box 3	Folder 35	Letters to Gilbert Harrison from Dorothy Elmhirst	1965-12-31
Box 3		Leonard Elmhirst	1964-03-28
		Series III. Microfilm
Box 3		Diaries	1927-1928
		Scope and Contents Consists of DWSE's diaries, clippings, social appointments, notes and addresses. Positive film only.
Box 4		Clippings on events at Dartington Hall
Box 4		Ten photographs of Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst's penthouse on Park Avenue	1928

Contents

Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst papers from Dartington Hall, 1890-1976,-1920-1958 (bulk) Collection Number: 3782

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections Cornell University Library

Dorothy Whitney Straight Elmhirst papers from Dartington Hall, 1890-1976,-1920-1958 (bulk)
Collection Number: 3782

Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library