F. W. (Frederick Wilcox) Dupee papers, 1778-2003, bulk 1933-1979
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#1700
- Bib ID:
- 10565167 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Dupee, F. W (Frederick Wilcox), 1904-1979
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 9.43 linear feet (8 record cartons, 3 document boxes and 1 flat box)
- Language(s):
- English , French , Spanish; Castilian .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
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This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
If you would like to use audiovisual materials in Box 5, please contact the library in advance of your visit to discuss access options.
This collection has no restrictions.
Description
Summary
The collection includes a variety of personal and professional documents, primarily from the 1930s to the 1970s. These include, among others, correspondences with dozens of writers, critics, scholars, editors and artists, as well as Dupee's wife, mother and children; journals, notes and annotated manuscripts; full transcriptions of in-depth interviews with Dupee; over 100 books from Dupee's library, signed by authors and/or annotated by Dupee; dozens of socialist titles published in the United States between 1932-1959; souvenirs and photographs from trips taken to Mexico in 1933-1935; and some films shot by Dupee.
The collection includes many testimonials on the New York intellectual life of the 1930s, and numerous items reflecting Columbia and Bard college life in the mid-century. It provides a glance into Dupee's work habits and professional and personal relationships, and into some of his unfinished work.
Letters and other materials by Dupee might also be found in the collections of his friends and colleagues in the RBML, among them the Edward W. Said Papers, the Lionel Trilling papers, the Diana Trilling papers, the Mark Van Doren papers, the George Stade papers, the Meyer Schapiro collection, the Richard Volney Chase papers, the Quentin Anderson papers, and the Richard Poirier collection.
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Series I: Personal papers and photos, 1831-2005, undated, bulk 1933-1979
The series is divided into four subseries. Subseries 1 contains Dupee's journals and personal notes and some of his drawings. Most of the items date 1933-1952, but some are undated. Subseries 2 contains correspondences of Mr. and Mrs. Dupee from 1933 to 1999. Subseries 3 contains vital records, photographs of Dupee or taken by Dupee, photographs and genealogy of Dupee's extended family, and some family correspondence. The items in this subseries date back to 1831. Subseries 4 curates souvenirs from Dupee's trips to Mexico in the 1930s, including photographs, books and newspapers from Mexico, journals, and hand-drawn maps of Mexican cities.
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Series II: Professional materials, 1929-2003, undated
Materials pertaining to Dupee's work life are found in series II, among them manuscripts, proofs, notes, published essays and reviews, the original annotated draft of Henry James, drafts of memoirs Dupee was writing, and correspondences regarding a collection of American poetry that Dupee was working on. The series also includes reviews of Dupee's work, clippings on Dupee, obituaries, awards, posters and testimonials, correspondence on university appointments, correspondences with editors and publishers, and notes and syllabi from classes Dupee taught at Stanford. Full transcripts of in-depth interviews with Stephen Longstaff and Alan Wald are filed here as well.
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Series III: Collected magazines and journals, 1924-1989
Series III includes journals and magazines collected by Dupee, some containing his own work or referring it: among them numerous volumes of The Miscellany (1929-1931) and The New York Review of Books (1963-1983, intermittently), Forum, Yale Literary Magazine, The New Yorker, Literature and Revolution, and many others.
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Series IV: Collected books, 1778-1983, bulk 1920s-1979
Series IV provides access to over 100 items from Dupee's library. Most of the items are annotated and/or signed, and could be used in tracking Dupee's work processes as well as his literary relationships. This series is divided into two subseries: one of library books, the other highlighting Dupee's collection of socialist literature, most of which were published in New York in the 1930s.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in four series.
- Series I: Personal papers and photos, 1831-2005, undated, bulk 1933-1979
- Subseries I.1: Journals, notes and drawings, 1933-1979 undated, 1933-1979, undated
- Subseries I.2: Correspondence, 1933-1999 undated [Bulk dates: 1933-1980], 1933-1999, undated
- Subseries I.3: Vital records, photos and personal items, family photos and genealogy, family correspondence, 1831-2005 undated [Bulk dates: 1870s-1979], 1831-2005, undated
- Subseries I.4: Mexico, 1933-1935
- Series II: Professional materials, 1929-2003, undated
- Series III: Collected magazines and journals, 1924-1989
- Series IV: Collected books, 1778-1983, bulk 1920s-1979
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
If you would like to use audiovisual materials in Box 5, please contact the library in advance of your visit to discuss access options.
This collection has no restrictions.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); F. W. (Frederick Wilcox) Dupee Papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Selected Related Material-- at Columbia
Quentin Anderson Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Richard Volney Chase Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Richard Poirier Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Edward Said Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Meyer Schapiro Collection, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
George Stade Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Diana Trilling Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Lionel Trilling Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Mark Van Doren Papers, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Accruals
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source of acquisition--Estate. Date of acquisition--12/3/2013. Accession number--2013-2014-M108.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Processed by Efrat Nechushtai (Graduate School of Journalism) 2016.
Finding aid written by Efrat Nechushtai (Graduate School of Journalism) July 2016.
Revision Description
2016-07-08 File created.
2016-07-08 xml document instance created by Catherine C. Ricciardi
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Biographical Note
Frederick Wilcox Dupee (1904-1979) was a prominent American literary critic and scholar, known for his lucid and witty prose. The Columbia University English professor was among the founders of Partisan Review and a regular contributor to publications such as The New York Review of Books and The Nation, authored "The King of the Cats" & Other Remarks on Writers and Writing (1965) and the biography Henry James (1965), and edited The Question of Henry James (1945), Henry James: Autobiography (1956), and editions of Charles Dickens, Gertrude Stein, Marcel Proust, E. E. Cummings and Leon Trotsky.
An Illinois native and Yale graduate, Dupee belonged to the mid-century generation of New York left-wing intellectuals described by Nicholas Lemann as "The American Bloomsbury". For decades, Dupee had been a fixture of the New York literary scene, keeping friendships and correspondences with many of the period's cultural icons. His close friendship with Mary McCarthy was portrayed in an essay she contributed to The Company They Kept (2006).
Dupee started publishing literary reviews in the 1920s. During the 1930s he was a socialist organizer and literary editor for the New Masses. Dupee was hired by Columbia University as Assistant in English in 1940, and became assistant professor at Bard College in 1944. In 1947 he married Barbara ("Andy") Hughes, a recent Bard graduate; the two returned to New York within several years, when Dupee became a Columbia University professor. Dupee was appointed as full professor in 1957, despite never having obtained a graduate degree.
Dupee was an awarded and popular professor, known for his contemporary choices of readings and sometimes unorthodox style of teaching, as well as his support of students during the Columbia University protests of 1968 – documented in an essay he published in The New York Review of Books following the events ("my habitual detachment from campus politics had recently broken down as I saw the students growing more and more desperate," wrote Dupee). After retiring from Columbia in 1971, Dupee and his wife moved to Carmel, California. He maintained connections with West Coast academics and occasionally taught at Stanford. Dupee died in California in 1979, following a medication overdose.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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