Scope and Content Note
The papers of William Orton Tewson (1877-1947) span the years 1923-1926, with all but one of the items dating from 1926 and consisting of responses from poets, writers, and journalists to the question by Tewson "Do you care what the critics say about you?" Tewson had raised the query in the Literary Review of the New York Evening Post, a weekly magazine edited by him, on 4 September 1926. More than one hundred authors responded, some at considerable length, with handwritten as well as typewritten and signed contributions. Their replies are arranged alphabetically by name of respondent.
Among the writers represented are Sherwood Anderson, George Agnew Chamberlain, Hamlin Garland, Ben Hecht, Joseph Hergesheimer, Rupert Hughes, Fannie Hurst, Robinson Jeffers, Ring Lardner, Richard Le Gallienne, Sinclair Lewis, Edwin Markham, Edgar Lee Masters, H. L. Mencken, George Jean Nathan, Robert Nathan, Meredith Nicholson, Eugene O'Neill, Edwin Arlington Robinson, Upton Sinclair, Booth Tarkington, Louis Untermeyer, and Owen Wister.