Guide to the John Hay (1915-2011) papers, 1939-2011

(bulk 1959-2011)

Brown University Library, Special Collections
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
Fax: 401-863-2093
E-mail: hay@brown.edu

Published in 2007

Collection Overview

Title:	John Hay (1915-2011) papers
Date range:	1939-2011, (bulk 1959-2011)
Creator:	Hay, John, 1915-
Extent:	5.5 linear feet
Abstract:	The collection represents a portion of the research materials, letters, journals and manuscripts of the Burroughs medal winning naturalist, writer and poet John Hay (1915-2011).
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	Brown University Library, Special Collections
Collection number:	Ms. 2007.008

Scope & content

The John Hay (1915-2011) papers represent a portion of the working life of John Hay. The naturalist, writer and poet spent most of his adult life on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, observing the birds and fish of the area and attempting to protect the fragile ecology of the Cape from the ever-growing number of tourists and settlers, their motels and mansions. In order to present the papers in the most useful manner, they have been grouped into four series: correspondence, research files, reviews of Hay's published books and, lastly, his writings.

While much of the material in the collection is undated, there are letters from as early as 1939 and as late as 2011. The bulk of the correspondence in the collection consists of letters to John Hay, but there are also letters by him, as well as letters from others to his father Clarence, and to his wife, the former Kristi Putnam, along with a generic letter to stockholders of a large company and assorted letters to and from other correspondents which refer to Hay's books. There is a particularly extensive section of correspondence between Hay and Peter Farb which explains their collaboration on The Atlantic Shore. These exchanges are housed in a separate sub-series comprising several folders arranged in date order.

Hay's papers also contain research or reference materials which have been filed alphabetically. The information covers a wide range of Hay's interests: everything from recommendations for wild flowers suitable for New England gardens, American Indian dancing, alewives, box turtles and the 1959 wreck of a trawler on the Cape Cod shore. Also included in this series are printed advertisements for Hay's books. Of particular note are photographs of the Astor Expedition to the Galapagos Islands taken by his father Clarence L. Hay in 1930.

John Hay's friends and his agent, Richard Winslow, made sure Hay received reviews of his books whether they came from local newspapers or from papers as far away as Texas. Hay saved these, often just as they came, clipped to a letter or one of Winslow's calling cards. Many of these have cryptic comments penned on them by Winslow. The reviews of more than half a dozen of Hay's thirty publications are here arranged alphabetically by the title of the book reviewed.

Hay kept a sort of diary and took notes on his observations. The collection includes a number of these journals, some yellow legal tablets and a sketch book, most of which are undated. There are a few journals that Hay labeled by the title of the book for which he was gathering information, and these are filed with draft material for the respective books.

All the journals are somewhat Joycean in style; they meander in the space of a single page from phone numbers to book titles, from Hay's sketches to children's scribbles, and from timed observations of fish migrations to fragments of poetry forming as the poet wrote. John Hay saved rough drafts of articles and book chapters as well as galley proofs and typescripts. These are filed to the extent possible, alphabetically by title or topic. All have been organized in folders in the rough order in which they were found. In some cases, there is accompanying correspondence which explains the notes and corrections, and for these, the letters have been kept with the drafts. Materials without title or clear topic are filed at the end. Publishers sought Hay's reviews of other writer's books on natural history and ecology, and there are copies of some of these reviews in the collection as well, filed together in the folder entitled Book reviews. Also included in the section of writings by John Hay are published articles and poems from magazines as different as Sports Illustrated and The Prairie Schooner.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Hay, John, 1915-
• Hay, Clarence Leonard, 1884-1969

Subject Names

• Hay, John, 1915-
• Hay, Clarence Leonard, 1884-1969

Subject Organizations

• Cape Cod Museum of Natural History
• Orion Society
• John Burroughs Association

Subject Topics

• Natural history
• Nature--Effects of human beings on
• Naturalists--Massachusetts--Cape Cod--Sources
• Nature conservation--Books--Reviews
• Nature conservation--Manuscripts, American--Rhode Island--Providence

• The Run

• The Charleston News and Courier

• The Great Beach

• Yank

• The Atlantic Shore

Document Types

• Journals (accounts)
• Articles
• Clippings
• Letters (correspondence)

Occupations

• Jounalists
• Writers
• Naturalists
• Nature conservators

Arrangement

The collection consists of the following series. Series 1 is arranged chronologically, series 2-4 are arranged alphabetically.

• Series 1. Correspondence
• Series 2. Subject files
• Series 3. Book reviews
• Series 4. Writings

Biographical note

John Hay was born in 1915, ten years after the death of his famous grandfather and namesake, John Milton Hay (1838-1905), a Brown alumnus (Class of 1858), poet and diplomat. Clarence L. Hay, father of the younger John Hay, was an archaeologist who, after doing some exploration in Mexico, served as curator of Aztec and Mayan civilizations at The American Museum of Natural History in New York. He was also an amateur botanist.

Clarence L. Hay married Alice Appleton, and the younger John Hay was born at the Appleton family estate in Ipswich, Massachusetts. The younger Hay was raised in New York City , attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire and had the privilege of spending his summers at The Fells, his late grandfather's estate on Lake Sunapee.

Hay attended Harvard, and on graduation worked as Washington correspondent for The Charleston News and Courier. Just before going into the army, Hay apprenticed himself to Conrad Aiken, the poet, who was then living in Brewster, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. Hay divided his time in Brewster between clearing land and writing poetry. Before leaving for the service, Hay bought what he thought was 10 acres of land on the top of a nearly treeless hill, close to Aiken's home called “41 Doors.” He spent some of his tour of duty in the Army as an associate editor of Yank, the army newspaper.

After his discharge, he and his new wife, Kristi Aresvik Putnam, settled on what turned out to be Hay’s 18 acre lot to raise their family, which eventually numbered four, on Cape Cod. Hay worked as a freelance writer and reviewer, and privately published a book of his poetry. His love of the Cape and of his grandfather's land in New Hampshire led him to combine observation of nature with his writing skills. This resulted in a 1959 publication entitled The Run, almost immediately recognized as a classic in the field of nature writing. John Hay continued to observe and to write, but he was also an activist and an educator. He taught at Dartmouth from the early 1970's into the 1980's. He had previously co-founded the Cape Cod Museum of Natural History with other local educators in 1954 and helped to establish its many outreach programs. He served as the Museum’s second president and held that post for 25 years. He joined the Brewster Conservation Committee, persuading the town to take over 200 acres of salt marsh by eminent domain, to ensure that some land on the rapidly developing Cape remained in public hands. His many honors include selection as Phi Beta Kappa poet at Harvard in 1963, and the John Burroughs Medal in 1964, garnered for his book The Great Beach. He was named conservationist of the year by the Massachusetts Wildlife Federation in 1970. In 1991, the Orion Society established the John Hay Award, given annually to an author who excels in addressing the relationship between man and nature, environmental education and conservation, in his honor. The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests named him Conservationist of the Year for the second time in 1993.

Through his books, his poetry, his college lectures, the museum and his life, John Hay has spread the message that man is only part of nature, not in control of nature. He died in Bremen, Maine on February 26, 2011.

Access & Use

Access to the collection:	There are no restrictions on access, except that the collection can only be seen by prior appointment. Some materials may be stored off-site and cannot be produced on the same day on which they are requested.
Use of the materials:	Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. Researchers should note that compliance with copyright law is their responsibility. Researchers must determine the owners of the literary rights and obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	John Hay (1915-2011) papers, Ms. 2007.008, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	Brown University Library, Special Collections Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Tel: 401-863-2146 Fax: 401-863-2093 E-mail: hay@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The bulk of the collection was given to Brown University by John Hay in 1994. His manuscripts for Spirit of Survival and An Undiscovered Country were transferred to Brown University from the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University in 2012 at the request of Susan Hay Burroughs (A2012-005). Photographs of the 1930 Astor Expedition to the Galapagos, Clarence L. Hay as Pocahontas, correspondence from 1994-2011, and rough drafts and notes created by John Hay during the last years of his life were donated by Susan Hay Burroughs in 2012 (A2012-055).
Custodial history:	The John Hay (1915-2011) papers were compiled by John Hay. Prior to entering the possession of the Brown University Library, the material belonged to John Hay.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Holly Snyder and Lindsay Woodel.
Encoding:	Finding aid encoded by Tatyana Badalyan 2007 April 27

Additional Information

Related material:	RESOURCES AT BROWN UNIVERSITYWorks for which John Hay (1915-2011) is author or contributorRESOURCES BEYOND BROWN UNIVERSITYCape Cod Museum of Natural HistoryOrion SocietyJohn Burroughs Association
Other information:	Brown University Library catalog record for this collection: John Hay (1915-2011) papers, 1939-2011 (bulk 1959-2011)

Inventory

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