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Hemingway Papers Acquired By College

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By DAVE GRAM, The Associated Press

Published: October 7, 2007

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - No matter where he lived, Ernest Hemingway cared what people thought of him back home.

That's clear from a letter he wrote to his father, Clarence Hemingway, from Paris in 1925. A collection of short stories, 'In Our Time,' had won good reviews in the New York newspapers. He hoped the local press in his hometown of Oak Park, Ill., would take note as well, he said, 'so they will hear I am not considered a bum in N.Y. at least.'

He added, 'I wish the book would have a good sale in Chicago and Oak Park as I'd like the people I know to see what the stuff is that I am doing, whether they happen to like it or not.'

The letter is among hundreds written by Hemingway and other members of his family, including mid-19th century journals and Civil War letters written by his grandfather.

The letters and photos of Hemingway and his family at home in Oak Park and at their summer place in Michigan recently were acquired by Middlebury College from his nieces, Anne and Hilary. Hilary Hemingway's husband graduated from Middlebury in 1975.

Andrew Wentink, curator of Middlebury's special collections, calls the Hemingway collection the most significant acquisition by the college's archives since it got Henry David Thoreau's personal copy of the first edition of 'Walden,' complete with Thoreau's margin notes, in 1940.

'To have been in this position at a time when this came to Middlebury - it's hard to get over it, it's just so exciting,' Wentink said.

It will take months to catalogue the letters and photos.

A public opening isn't expected until next year. The college paid for some of the materials, though Wentink wouldn't say how much; others were provided as gifts by Hemingway's heirs.

Wentink and Tim Spears, dean of the college at Middlebury and a professor of American studies who teaches a course on Hemingway, said the materials contain clues they think will be important to Hemingway researchers.

'Scholars have put a lot of weight on Hemingway's early years ... the context of his early family history is really important,' Spears said. The roots of Hemingway's love for the outdoors likely were formed during summers at the family compound on Walloon Lake.

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