Sherwood Anderson Through the Correspondence Lens

While Special Collections houses four collections with original Sherwood Anderson materials, we have as many collections (in addition to those), with information about or references to Anderson. Most often, this comes in the form of correspondence to/from family, friends, colleagues, the art/literary circle of Virginia, and later scholars/reseachers, some of which is highlighted here.

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Letter, Eleanor Anderson to J. J. Lankes, May 2, 1941, written shortly after Sherwood Anderson's death. In it, Eleanor Anderson metions connecting Lankes to Stanley Young. A transcript of this letter is available online.

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Letter, J. J. Lankes to Eleanor Anderson, August 28, 1941. Written a few months after Anderson's death Lankes writes of a recent Story article about Anderson, as well as the publication of Sherwood Anderson's Memoirs. Lankes includes a passage in the middle about his own lessons learned from Anderson about art as a profession. A transcript of this letter is available online.

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Letter, Eleanor Anderson to J. J. Lankes, January 8, 1951. Eleanor Anderson, by this time, was helping collection letters for the 1953 Letters of Sherwood Anderson, edited by Howard Mumford Jones and Walter B. Rideout, and had already begun donating materials to The Newberry in Chicago. She also includes an update on Anderson's sons.

Letter, James T. Farrell to Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson, May 25, 1952. Farrell specifically talks about the significance of Sherwood Anderson's work on his own recent travels.

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Letter, J. J. Lankes to Eleanor Anderson, June 15, 1953. Lankes writes of reading the new Letters of Sherwood Anderson, edited by Howard Mumford Jones and Walter B. Rideout, as well as sharing his thoughts on Charles Burchfield. A transcript of this letter is available online.

Letter, James T. Farrell to Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson, April 12, 1954. Farrell writes a response to her feedback on a recent piece he has been writing on Sherwood, which he plans to publish.

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Letter, Eleanor Anderson to W. D. Taylor, April 15, 1966. Anderson provides feedback on piece Taylor is writing and an update on her travels. The "Mr. Ryan" referenced is David Ryan, who took a series of photographs of Ripshin in 1966, several of which are in the collection. A transcript of this letter is available online.

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Letter, Eleanor Anderson to W. D. Taylor, August 28, 1971. Anderson writes of her appreciate for his book (The Buck Fever Papers, edited by Welford Dunaway Taylor) and interest in it. A transcript of this letter is available online.

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Letter, Eleanor Anderson to W. D. Taylor, January 6, 1973. Anderson writes of Taylor's work, provides updates on herself, and talkes about Ripshin. A transcript of this letter is available online.

Letters to/from Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson

This section features letters to and from Eleanor Copenhaver Anderson from three different sources: Friend and collaborator J. J. Lankes, author James Farrell, and Sherwood Anderson scholar, W. D. Taylor. The letters talk about memories, posthumous projects, and personal events.

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Letter, Robert Anderson to J. J. Lankes, January 8, 1930. Anderson writes about the forthcoming reprint of an article by his father which will include a Lankes woodcut, the gift of a painting, the winter in Marion, his moving to a new apartment, and an invitation to visit.

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Letter, J. J. Lankes to Charles Burchfield, March 7, 1931. For the most part, this letter contains a transcript of a letter from Sherwood Anderson to Lankes about the woodcut for Perhaps Women, bracketed by Lankes commentary about Anderson's request that both men be part of the artistic side of the project.

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Letter, Tom Smith to J. J. Lankes, May 21, 1931. First of three letters from Smith at Horace Liveright & Publisher regarding details on the frontispiece for Anderson's Perhaps Women. It includes handwritten notes from Lankes on the billing and receipt of payment.

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Letter, Tom Smith to J. J. Lankes, June 23, 1931. Smith acknowledges the receipt of the woodcut, as well as confirms payment.

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Letter, Tom Smith to J. J. Lankes, August 6, 1931. Lankes apparently suggested a number of people who should receive copies of Perhaps Women, including Louis Jaffe, which Smith intends to send soon.

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Letter, Julius Friend to J. J. Lankes, September 12, 1941. In reply to a letter, Friend acknowledges he is not the person Lankes had previously met, but notes his acquaintance with Sherwood Anderson. The bulk of this letter is Friend's account of a dinner with Anderson and Anderson's reaction to public attention (or lack thereof).

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Letter, Stanley Young to J. J. Lankes, April 21, 1942. Young writes in response to Lankes praise of Sherwood Anderson's Memoirs.

Letters to/from J. J. Lankes

This section includes to J. J. Lankes from family and friends of Sherwood Anderson, as well as collaborators and colleagues in the publishing world. These letters mostly deal with Lankes work on designs for Anderson's 1931 Perhaps Women, but also touch on personal matters.

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Letter, Louis Jaffe to J. J. Lankes, December 5, 1935. Jaffe, having acquired on of Lankes' paintings, writes Lankes to take care of the framing details. In addition, he writes in response to Lankes concerns about relocating and a lack of belonging. He references Mrs. [Mary Sinton] Leitch (see additional letters below), as well.

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Letter, Louis Jaffe to J. J. Lankes, December 3, 1941. Jaffe writes of his previous efforts to get illustrations added to the Virginia Quarterly Review through Anderson's essay on Lankes' woodcuts and his role in the possibility of getting Lankes to do the jacket for Anderson's memoirs. The second half of the letter is Jaffe's request to make a gift of one of Lankes' paintings to a friend.

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Letter, J. B. Lankes to Alice Jaffe, June 13, 1982. J. B. Lankes was the son of J. J. Lankes. Alice Jaffe was Louis Jaffe's widow. The two corresponded several times in the early 1980s over the location of Lankes materials (woodcuts, paintings, and letters). This letter discusses Lankes' recent visit to the collections at UVA, the work of W. D. Taylor, the newsletter The Winesburg Eagle, and the planning for Lankes' future work on his father's materials.

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Letter, J. B. Lankes to Alice Jaffe, October 10, 1985. Lankes writes to Jaffe about copies of Virginian-Pilot editorials, further disposition of J. J. Lankes works, and the recent death of Eleanor Anderson.

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Letter, Mary Sinton Leitch to J. J. Lankes, June 18, 1932. This is the first of Leitch's letters to Lankes, which would begin a nearly 20 year correspondence between the two, after being introduced by Louis Jaffe. Leitch is interested in Lankes producing a woodcut for a forthcoming issue of The Dial she is editing.

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Letter, Mary Sinton Leitch to J. J. Lankes, April 3, 1941. With a forthcoming visit to Virginia by poet Robert Frost, Leitch writes to Lankes about plans and details for the visit. A transcript of this letter is available online.

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Letter, Mary Sinton Leitch to J. J. Lankes, September 20, 1944. Leitch writes about a misunderstanding at a recent social gathering and also discusses her views on their art forms.

Letters to/from the Jaffe-Lankes-Leitch Circle

This section includes some Sherwood Anderson-adjacent correspondence. While perhaps not explicit in their connections, writers and receipients of these letters had direct or slightly-removed contact with Anderson, and represent the literary and artistic circle of Virginia. They offer further insight into Anderson's friends, family, and creative partners. Both J. J. Lankes and Louis Jaffe (long-time editor of The Virginian Pilot and activist) corresponded with Anderson throughout his life. Lankes broader circle, before and after Anderson's death, included Jaffe and Mary Sinton Leitch (founder of the Poetry Society of Virginia, poet, and short fiction writer).