Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm79047977
Collection material in English and French
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Waldo Peirce, artist, were given to the Library of Congress by his widow, Ellen Larsen Peirce, in the years 1971-1973, 1978-1979, and 1986. Other papers were received as a gift of his son, J. Waldo Peirce, in 1965-1966 and of his daughter, Anna Peirce, in 1973.
The papers of Waldo Peirce were processed in 1979. An addition was made in 1987, and formerly restricted material was opened for use without permission in 1998. The finding aid was revised in 2012.
Drawings, water colors, and photographs have been transferred to the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of these papers.
In 1973, Mrs. Peirce dedicated to the public the literary rights that she possessed in the unpublished writings of Waldo Peirce in these papers and in other collections of papers in the Library's custody, except that the exclusive use of such rights were reserved to her for her lifetime.
The papers of Waldo Peirce are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on two reels. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Waldo Peirce Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Waldo Peirce (1884-1970) span the years 1889-1977 and consist of a diary, correspondence, writings, legal and financial papers, photographs, and miscellaneous personal items. The collection is organized into six series: Diary , Family Correspondence , General Correspondence , Miscellany , Formerly Restricted Family Correspondence , and Addition .
Much of the Family Correspondence and Formerly Restricted Family Correspondence is between Waldo Peirce and his mother, Anna Hayford Peirce, 1892-1928. Often illustrated with pen and ink drawings, the son’s letters trace Peirce's artistic career in vivid detail. Her letters describe life in Bangor, Maine, and the various countries that she visited. Also in the Family Correspondence are letters of Waldo’s brother, Hayford Peirce, an authority on Byzantine art and author of publications on late Roman, Byzantine, and early Islamic archaeology.
Prominent correspondents in the General Correspondence include fellow artists such as George Biddle, Douglas W. Gorsline, Marsden Hartley, Doris Lee, Henry Varnum Poor, Homer Saint-Gaudens, Millard Sheets, Frederic Taubes, Hendrik Willem Van Loon, Art Young, Dahlov, Zorach Ipcar, and William Zorach. Also prominent are letters from Ernest Hemingway (whom Peirce met in France during World War I and accompanied on several trips to Spain), Earnest Albert Hooton, Samuel Eliot Morison, and Maxwell E. Perkins. Of particular interest are letters he received from his close friend Lincoln Colcord, a literary critic and author of sea stories, for the period 1923-1944.
Included in the Miscellany are an incomplete draft of an autobiography, bills and receipts, drawings made by Peirce’s children and grandchildren, a holograph collection of his Rabelaisian poetry, and school papers from when he was a student at Harvard. Many of the latter are embellished with Peirce's pen and ink drawings, and some are further enhanced by the often acerbic comments of Charles Townsend Copeland.
Formerly Restricted Family Correspondence consists of letters received that were made available to readers without requiring special permission beginning in 1998. The Addition supplements previously processed series of family material, general correspondence, and miscellany.
This collection is arranged in six series:
Bound diary.
Letters sent and received by Peirce and various members of his family.
Arranged alphabetically by name of family member.
Letters sent and received.
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent. At the end of the series are
bound volumes of mostly outgoing correspondence.
Bills and receipts, poems, school papers, and other items.
Arranged by type of material.
Family letters received.
Arranged by name of family member.
Family correspondence, general correspondence, special correspondence, writings and miscellaneous material.
Arranged by type of material and therein alphabetically by name of person,
organization, subject, or title.