Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Ida Compton Papers
Date(s)
- 1947-1985 (Creation)
Extent
1.42 linear feet
Name of creator
Biographical history
Ida Kay Compton was born on June 14, 1917 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. While a graduate student at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1947, she met Sinclair Lewis. Lewis had recently moved to Williamstown from Duluth, Minnesota.
Compton, who was known as Ida Kay, wrote a book review on Lewis' 1947 novel, Kingsblood Royal, and was summoned by Lewis to his farm, Thorvale. Here began a friendship that lasted until Lewis' death in 1951.
Ida married Williams College chemistry faulty member Charles Compton in 1953.
Her career included stints at the University of Chicago Press and Time, Inc.
Ida passed away on September 22, 1985 in Bradenton, Florida.
Name of creator
Biographical history
Harry Sinclair Lewis, known to his friends as “Red,” was a prolific American novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. Main Street, published in 1920, is Lewis’ best known work.
Born in Sauk Centre, Minnesota on February 7, 1885, to Edwin and Emma Lewis, Lewis had two older brothers, Fred and Claude.
At Yale University where Lewis received a degree from in 1908, Lewis published in the Yale Literary Magazine, the Courant, and the Record. This began a long career of writing novels, plays, and short stories.
Lewis turned down the Pulitzer Prize in literature in 1926, but accepted the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930.
Lewis was married twice: Grace from 1914 to 1925. They had a son, Wells, who was born in 1917. In 1944, Wells died in combat in France during World War II.
In 1928, Lewis married Dorothy Thompson, a well-known journalist. They had one son, Michael, who was born in 1930. They divorced in 1942. Lewis never remarried.
Lewis died in Rome, Italy on January 10, 1951. His cremated remains were interred in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Ida Compton papers contain mostly letters written to Ida Kay Compton by Sinclair Lewis and others, dating from 1947 to 1985. Also included are clippings about Sinclair Lewis, including some written by and about Ida Kay Compton. In addition, the papers contain audio recordings of Lewis in the 1940s.
Sinclair Lewis wrote 18 letters and one telegram to Ida Kay Compton from 1947 to 1950. In these letters, Lewis mostly lived or was traveling in Europe. He described the people he was met and his home in Florence. Lewis also wrote about his new secretary, Alex Manson. The remainder of his letters discussed Ida's upcoming visit to Europe in the summer of 1950.
Other correspondence includes letters from Claude and Helen Lewis. Dated mostly around the death of Sinclair Lewis in 1951, these letters chronicle Ida's trip to Minnesota for the memorial service, as well as the disposition of Sinclair's personal property.
Letters written by Mark Schorer, who was writing a biography of Lewis, asked Ida for her memories of Lewis, while letters from Bennett Cerf and Harry Maule discussed an incident involving a confrontation with Sinclair Lewis over World So Wide, a book published in 1951.
Especially noteworthy are letters written by and to Barnaby Conrad, detailing Ida's friendship with Sinclair Lewis. Conrad briefly served as Lewis' secretary in 1947.
Other significant material are the newspaper clippings collected by Ida Kay Compton. Many dealt with the death of Sinclair Lewis, book reviews about publications of Lewis' life, as well as a few about Ida Compton herself, which dated in 1985.
The papers include audio recordings of Lewis from the 1940s and may be the only recordings Lewis' voice that survive. The large vinyl records have been reformatted onto a reel-to-reel tape and an audio cassette.
System of arrangement
The records are arranged in two series.
Series 1: Correspondence and Clippings
Contain here are correspondence and clippings related to Sinclair Lewis. Letters are organized by creator and then chronologically. The clippings are arranged by date.
Series 2: Audio
Vinyl records and audio tape, arranged by format.
Records are located at 27B.4f and 1A.9a.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
There are no access restrictions.
Physical access
Equipment to listen to the original audio formats is not available in University Archives.
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Permission to publish, quote, and reproduce must be secured from the copyright holder.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
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Sources used
Archivist's note
Processed by Tom Steman in April 2010.