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Arthur Wentworth Hewitt Collection

 Collection
Identifier: mss-111

Scope and Content

The Hewitt Collection contains personal correspondence, that is, correspondence between Hewitt and friends, booksellers, and colleagues. Correspondence relating to The Harp of the North, The Green Mountain Troubador, and the Poetry Society have been kept separate. All correspondence has been chronologically arranged. The collection also contains clippings of reviews of Hewitt's work, clippings of poems which he thought worthwhile to keep, and published accounts of his social and official actions, Two boxes of literary autographs, especially those relating to Eglish Romanticism, have been arranaged alpahbetically. Additions to the collection include old family books, a fairly complete run of diaries, family photos, correspondence to Arthur and Nina, writings in typescript, manuscript, and bound versions, clippings, certificates, and other materials documenting Arthur's (and some of Nina's) more private activities, as opposed to his more public activities in the Methodist Church and local politics.

Dates

  • 1905-1970

Creator

Access:

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Manuscripts.

Biography

Arthur W. Hewitt was born in Riverton, Vermont, June 22, 1883. He attended Riverton schools and was a graduate of Northfield High School and Montpelier Seminary. On September 18, 1907 he married Nina Battles of Wilder.

Dr. Hewitt's pastoral life began in 1908 in Plainfield, Vermont, where he served as a minister of the Methodist Church until 1933. He served in Moretown, Vermont from 1933-35, and in Northfield and Northfield Falls until 1956.

Dr. Hewitt was also active in education. He was superintendent of schools in Glover, 1905-1906, and in Plainfield, 1910-1911. He was, for a time, the head of Montpelier Seminary, organized Vermont Junior College, and served as its president from 1923 to 1935. During the years 1912-1917, as Plainfield's representative in the Vermont General Assembly, he was chairman of the House Committee on Education. From 1923 to 1935 he was chairman of the Vermont Board of Education.

Hewitt was also a poet. He published five collections of poetry, including, Harp of the North (1916) and The Mountain Troubaor (1962. He also wrote a biography entitled The Old Brick Manse (1965). he was the head of the Poetry Society of Vermont (P.S.O.V.) for eight years, and in August of 1971 he was recommended by the state legislature to succeed Robert Frost as Poet Laureate of Vermont. He died November 6, 1971 in Berlin, Vermont.

Extent

9.4 Linear feet

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Hewitt Collection contains personal correspondence between Hewitt and friends, booksellers, and colleagues. The collection also contains clippings of reviews of Hewitt's work, clippings of poems which he thought worthwhile to keep, published accounts of his social and official actions, and two boxes of literary autographs. Additions to the collection include old family books, a fairly complete run of diaries, family photos, correspondence to Arthur and Nina, writings in typescript, manuscript, and bound versions, clippings, certificates, and other materials documenting Arthur's (and some of Nina's) more private activities, as opposed to his more public activities in the Methodist Church and local politics.

Physical Location

Library Research Annex; contact uvmsc@uvm.edu for access.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Arthur W. Hewitt during 1972-1973

General note

Personal Correspondence contains letters from A. W. H. to I. L. Salomon. The dates of these letters are:

Chronological List

  1. 1961, July 5
  2. 1961, July 25
  3. 1961, Oct. 21
  4. 1961, Nov. 13
  5. 1963, July 16
  6. 1963, July 20
  7. 1963, Aug. 21
  8. 1963, Aug. 29
  9. 1963, Sept.
  10. 1963, Nov. 18
  11. 1964, Feb. 25
  12. 1970, Jan. 6
  13. 1970, Jan. 15
Title
Inventory of the Arthur Wentworth Hewitt Collection
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by Processor: P. Duguette.
Date
1998
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the University of Vermont Libraries, Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Silver Special Collections Library
48 University Place, Room B201
Burlington Vermont 05405 U.S.A. US
(802) 656-2138
(802) 656-4038 (Fax)