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The main body of this collection contains letters from Carpenter to Robert W. Herrick (1868-1938), a student of his at Harvard from 1888 to 1890, and later a colleague on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty, 1890-1893. At this time Herrick went to teach at the University of Chicago and Carpenter came to Columbia. Much of this correspondence is concerned with helping his friend Herrick break into the professional writers' world. Items of personal interest are also discussed in these letters to a long-time friend. Three early letters, 1886-1888, are written to his mother from Paris and Berlin where he spent the two years of the Rogers Fellowship upon his graduation from Harvard in 1886. More descriptive than personal, they tell his impressions of these countries and news items of the day. In addition there is an 11-page manuscript by Carpenter entitled "My Impressions of France" written ca. 1888. There is also a scrapbook of clippings from newspapers and magazines of writings by Carpenter from 1892 to 1905. Included are book reviews, literary writings and some items relating to Columbia University.

Papers dealing with Robinson's activities as a student and instructor in English at Columbia University, editor of CONTEMPORARY VERSE, senior editor at THE READER'S DIGEST, poet and author of many books including THE CARDINAL. Among the correspondents are Melville Cane, Paul de Kruif, John Erskine, Merrill Moore, and Christopher Morley.

Correspondence relating to Erskine's various educational, musical and literary interests; manuscripts of his writings; lecture notes for college courses; souvenirs of his army service in World War I and his Columbia University professorship, and student papers from his own school and college days. Also, biographical file, scrapbooks, and articles.

Ginsberg's papers are mostly the manuscripts and clippings of his poetry and prose writings, class notes for his courses at Rutgers, clippings of interviews and other publicity materials for his joint poetry readings with Allen Ginsberg, and many books from his library. Also included are ten letters from Ginsberg to Louis Untermeyer regarding Ginsberg's poetry; and four letters from Gisnberg to Stanley Wertheim.