Scope and Content Note
The papers of Marcella Miller du Pont (1903-1985) span the years 1861-1976 with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1935-1965. The collection includes correspondence, writings and publication records for her books of poetry and aphorisms, legal documents, photographs, a guest book, school and travel records, genealogical records, diary transcripts, and memoirs. The papers are organized into three series: Family and Biographical Files, General Correspondence, and Literary File.
The Family and Biographical Files include substantial correspondence with du Pont's father-in-law, Alfred Irénée du Pont (1864-1935), of the prominent industrial family in Delaware. Alfred I. du Pont became one of the principals in the family company, battled for and lost control of the firm, and then made a new private fortune in Florida real estate and banking ventures. His correspondence with Marcella Miller du Pont concerns family and business matters during his years in Florida and touches upon the architectural work undertaken by his son, Alfred Victor du Pont (1900-1970), at "Nemours," Alfred I. du Pont's estate in Wilmington, Delaware, and other building projects.
The Family and Biographical Files also include extensive genealogical records of the Miller family in Denver, Colorado, and their ancestors in the Midwest and New England. Marcella Miller's parents were pioneers in Denver. Her father, Arthur Scott Miller, migrated to Colorado after the Civil War as a legal clerk and became a prominent citizen and real estate investor. He was an energetic diarist, and typescripts for four volumes, dated 1871-1879 and 1886-1887, record matters of daily business and personal affairs. His wife, Emma Ellwood Miller, wrote a memoir, "We Went West," working drafts of which are included in the family file of the series.
The General Correspondence series includes Marcella du Pont's correspondence with literary associates and other friends, most prominently with H. L. Mencken and Joseph Hergesheimer. Mencken and his wife, Sara, met Marcella and Alfred du Pont in 1932 on a Caribbean cruise and became instant friends. Their earliest letters are not entirely preserved, but after 1936 the correspondence between Mencken and Marcella du Pont is fairly complete. After Mencken's stroke in 1948, their correspondence dwindled to a few notes dicatated by Mencken to his secretary, Rosalind Lohrfinck. Marcella du Pont considered publishing the correspondence a number of times after Mencken's death in 1956 and made preliminary arrangements by copying and dating the letters, but publication plans were never completed. Much of the Mencken correspondence touches only lightly on literary matters and more often concerns arrangements for visits, travels, and news of mutual friends such as Lillian Gish and Joseph Hergesheimer.
Copies of selected Mencken letters have been available for research at the libraries of the University of Denver and Princeton University and at the New York Public Library. The originals are preserved with du Pont's papers where the context of her other correspondence and literary files amplify the Mencken record. The correspondence with Hergesheimer, for instance, is heavily weighted with literary, political, and philosophical topics and contains commentary on family and friends such as Mencken. The Literary File also includes notes on the correspondence and the working file for du Pont's essay on Mencken that appeared in the summer 1966 number of Menckeniana. Correspondence with Betty Adler, editor of Menckeniana, includes reminiscences of Mencken. He is also a subject of du Pont's correspondence throughout the 1940s in his role as sage and boon companion.
Other literary correspondents include Dixon Wecter, critic and commentator on American civilization known for such works as The Saga of American Society (1937) and Hero in America (1941). His work is mentioned, but for the most part their correspondence is a record of his critiques of her poetry. When she published her first book, Sonnets and Lyrics, he wrote the introduction, but the book was not yet in print at the time of his sudden death in 1950.
Emily Dickinson was du Pont's favorite poet. Du Pont made a pilgrimage to Amherst, Massachusetts, and there met Dickinson's niece, Martha Dickinson Bianchi. Bianchi was compiling and publishing her aunt's poetry and letters, and her correspondence with du Pont details these efforts and future plans for the Dickinson family home and papers. Du Pont thought of publishing the Bianchi correspondence and toward that end prepared typescripts and copies of the letters which are preserved with the originals. After Bianchi left the estate to her collaborator, Alfred Leete Hampson, Hampson's correspondence picked up where Bianchi's left off in documenting the disposition of the family papers and Dickinson scholarship in the 1940s and 1950s. Hampson sent Bianchi's incomplete memoir to du Pont for editing. Only a portion of it is preserved in the General Correspondence series; the fate of the remainder is unknown. Du Pont's correspondence with literary and film critic Jay Leyda also includes notes and letters concerning Emily Dickinson.
Marcella du Pont's poetry and prose are documented in the Literary File . The series includes drafts of writings, working notes and jottings, correspondence, and publication records for du Pont's books, single poems, essays, criticism, newspaper articles, short stories, an opera libretto, and radio scripts, along with unpublished works of poetry and fiction. Scrapbooks compiled by du Pont to document the publication of her books include correspondence from literary friends and from the artist Fritz Eichenberg who created the woodcuts used in her books by Spiral Press. A file of miscellaneous notes is sorted into categories such as philosophy, parapsychology, religion, and politics. Unsorted notes concern her family, friends and acquaintances, readings, and ideas for stories, characters, names, and titles. Although a diary is not included among the papers, du Pont makes frequent reference to one in her correspondence and elsewhere. Her notes, diary addenda, and unpublished fiction and poetry are rich in references to her former husband, Alfred V. du Pont, and the complicated antagonisms of the Alfred I. du Pont family.