Rhode Island Writers' Guild records, 1949-1980

(bulk 1950-1975)

John Hay Library , Special Collections
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401-863-2146
email: hay@brown.edu

Published in 2013

Collection Overview

Title:	Rhode Island Writers' Guild records
Date range:	1949-1980, (bulk 1950-1975)
Creator:	Rhode Island Writers' Guild
Extent:	5.0 Linear feet
Abstract:	This collection consists of administrative records, correspondence, newsletters, scrapbooks, photographs, clippings, and proclamations from the Rhode Island Writers' Guild, founded by Ruth Eddy in 1950 . The collection also includes original poetry, prose and music written by Guild members.
Language of materials:	English
Repository:	John Hay Library , Special Collections
Collection number:	Ms.2008.015

Scope & content

The collection consists of thirteen series. The administrative records series contains materials concerning the actual administration, functioning, and history of the group. The series includes membership lists, membership forms and some filled out membership applications along with the charter, two histories of the Guild, minutes of some of the meetings and a listing of the contents of the collection as it was when it was purchased.

The correspondence series is arranged by date. The letters of John McCabe which are witty, voluminous and illustrated by his own drawings have been separated, placed last, and kept in date order. The newsletters series includes the newsletters of the Guild. At one point, the newsletter was titled the Guild O Gram. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings of obituaries of deceased members, notices of meetings, and descriptions of meetings just held. The occasional published poem is also included.

The Guild held contests and offered awards for poet of the year and in 1976 offered special awards for writers of history. The awards series includes awards for excellence, author of the year, junior and senior achievement awards and later and Eddy Memorial and Clarke Memorial awards. The biographical material series contains information on both members and non-members.

The actual output by the members is represented in the four series labeled hymns, periodicals, poetry and prose. These are filed within each category by the author's last name.

The photograph series shows the members both at work and at play. There are many photographs of events such as Christmas parties as well as some of roundtable discussions and speakers addressing rooms crowded with attentive members.

The publicity series concentrates mostly on Poetry Day, October 15, and contains many proclamations declaring Poetry Day in Rhode Island. These are signed by the Rhode Island governors who held office during the three decades that the Guild was active.

The miscellaneous series contains items like Clifford Eddy's Guild membership card, business cards for both Ruth Eddy and her mother Muriel, the wooden plaque of the organization, a reel to reel tape, and a 1950's map of the campus of Brown University where many of the early meetings were held.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Eddy, C. M. (Clifford Martin)
• Eddy, Muriel E. (Muriel Elizabeth), b. 1896
• Eddy, Ruth Muriel, 1921-
• McCabe, John B.

Subject Organizations

• Rhode Island Writers' Guild

Subject Topics

• Authors--Societies, etc

Occupations

• Poets
• Writers

Document Types

• Clippings (Information artifacts)
• Letters (Correspondence)
• Newsletters
• Photographs
• Scrapbooks

Subject Topics

• Rhode Island/Local Interest

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into the following series:

• Series 1. Administrative records
• Series 2. Correspondence
• Series 3. Newsletters
• Series 4. Scrapbooks
• Series 5. Awards
• Series 6. Biographical material
• Series 7. Hymns
• Series 8. Periodicals
• Series 9. Photographs
• Series 10. Poetry
• Series 11. Prose
• Serids 12. Publicity
• Series 13. Miscellaneous

Historical note

The Rhode Island Writers' Guild, or Writer's Guild as they called themselves in some materials, was founded in 1950 by Ruth Eddy. She placed an advertisement in a writing journal in 1949 seeking writers for a self-help group in Rhode Island and in 1950 got a turnout of four which formed the nucleus of the Guild. The motto of the Guild was "If you feel WRITE, the Guild's for you!", which was chosen after a contest and written by Ann Papazian. "The purpose of the Rhode Island Writers' Guild shall be to encourage the development of skills in writing, particularly writing for publication" according to the histories of the organization written by Muriel E. Eddy. Membership was not limited to those who lived in Rhode Island or those who had actually published. A member is described in the histories as "Anyone of good character interested in the objectives and purposes of this organization". Most members are described as semi-professional, meaning that they did not earn enough money from writing to retire from their jobs in other fields. The Providence Public Library occasionally referred potential members to the group. The Guild described itself as interested in the quality of the writing done by its members, and their contributions to the cultural life of their community and the state of Rhode Island. It also sought to encourage good communication and the spirit of fellowship among writers. In spite of the formation of splinter and rival groups in the early years of the Guild, the group flourished for about 25 years but faded out of existence after the death of Muriel Eddy in 1978 and met its formal demise in 1980.

In its active days, the Guild offered tutorials and workshops for budding writers, and helped them to find publishing opportunities. Published writers gave inspirational talks at meetings, and the Guild members helped to publicize events such as Author’s Week and Poetry Day. The Guild also offered awards such as writer of the year or poet of the year and sponsored readings of works by their members. Ruth Eddy had strong support with the organization of the Guild from her parents, Muriel Eddy and Clifford M. Eddy, both of whom served on the board of the Guild at various times. The Eddys were friends with H.P. Lovecraft and were themselves published authors in genres as varied as song lyrics and horror stories.

Ruth Muriel Eddy, the founder of the Guild, was born in 1921. She graduated from Central High School in Providence, Rhode Island in 1939, and from Eastern Nazarene College in 1943. In 1966, she received an extension diploma from Brown University. She was a proofreader for Oxford Press, a newsroom typist for the Providence Journal, and a public relations writer for WJAR-TV. Other jobs included stints in the departments of Employment Security and Social Welfare for the state of Rhode Island, director of senior citizens groups in both Providence and East Providence, Rhode Island, typing instructor and creative writing instructor. She was primarily a poet and several of her books of poetry, Impression of the Terminal, Poems for Christian Youth, and Stardust, Silver, and Gold are in the Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays at Brown University. Some of her recollections of H.P. Lovecraft's visits with her parents are also in print along with a handful of horror stories.

Clifford Martin Eddy, Jr. (1896-1967) was born in Providence, Rhode Island and graduated from Classical High School in Providence. He is known primarily for his short stories in the horror, science fiction and supernatural genres and began his writing career by publishing stories in magazines like Weird Tales and Snappy Stories. He also wrote songs, both words and music, sometimes collaborating with others, particularly his daughter, Ruth. He was a theatrical agent, a proof reader for Oxford Press, the principal clerk of the State of Rhode Island and a creative writing instructor. He was also a friend and confidant of H.P. Lovecraft, the horror and occult writer, and the magician Harry Houdini. He and Lovecraft edited each others works and were investigators for Houdini. Eddy also did ghostwriting for the magician. He served from 1954 to 1956 as president of the Rhode Island Writers' Guild, and as secretary treasurer of the Rhode Island Theatrical Booking Agents' Association.

Muriel Elizabeth (Gammons) Eddy (1896-1978) was born in Taunton, Massachusetts and was educated in Attleboro Falls, Massachusetts, Redlands, California, and at the Horace Mann School in San Jose, California. She married Clifford Eddy in 1918 following a correspondence which developed from their common interest in creative writing. They both continued their writing careers after marriage and raised three children: Clifford Myron, Fay Audrey and Ruth Muriel. The Eddys met H. P. Lovecraft in 1923 and maintained a close friendship with him until his death in 1937. Over the years Muriel Eddy wrote many profiles of Lovecraft, the last of which, The Gentleman from Angell Street, is the most comprehensive. She published in many genres including biography, romance, occult, poetry, and recipes. She served for more than 20 years as the president of the Rhode Island Writers' Guild, taught creative writing and was a member of the American Federation of Indians and the League of North American Indians.

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:	Rhode Island Writers' Guild Records, Ms. 2008.015, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library , Special Collections Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Tel: 401-863-2146 email: hay@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The collection was purchased through Ruth Eddy in 1983.
Processing information:	When Brown University purchased the collection, it was housed in several boxes and twenty-three scrapbooks. The scrapbooks contained the bulk of the Guild’s archives of newspaper clippings and photographs as well as a handful of documents relating to the 1976 bicentennial celebration in Rhode Island. The clippings have been left in the scrapbooks. The bicentennial album has been left intact and placed in the first series, administrative records. The photographs have been removed to separate acid-free envelopes for preservation purposes.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Finding aid prepared by Lindsay Woodel.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2013-04-18

Additional Information

Related material:	The Clifford M. and Ruth M. Eddy Musical Compositions
Separated material:	This collection includes monographs that were cataloged separately. They can be found under the following search entry: Rhode Island Writers' Guild Records (Brown University)
Other information:	Brown University Library catalog record for this collection: Rhode Island Writers' Guild records

Inventory

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Box 4, Folder 13-94

Poetry

Box 4, Folder 13

Anonymous

Box 4, Folder 14

Adams

Box 4, Folder 15

Anderson

Box 4, Folder 16

Appleby

Box 4, Folder 17

Armknecht

Box 4, Folder 18

Boissoneau

Box 4, Folder 19

Clapp

Box 4, Folder 20

Clark

Box 4, Folder 21

Clarke

Box 4, Folder 22

Clegg

Box 4, Folder 23

Collections

Box 4, Folder 24

Colucci

Box 4, Folder 25

Contois

Box 4, Folder 26

Cromweed

Box 4, Folder 27

DelBene

Box 4, Folder 28

De Fusco

Box 4, Folder 29

Dickenson

Box 4, Folder 30

Durfee

Box 4, Folder 31

Dyer

Box 4, Folder 32

Ebling

Box 4, Folder 33

Eddy, R.

Box 4, Folder 34

Eldridge

Box 4, Folder 35

Ferland

Box 4, Folder 36

Francis

Box 4, Folder 37

H.S.G.

Box 4, Folder 38

Genereux

Box 4, Folder 39

Giraitis

Box 4, Folder 40

Gobeille

Box 4, Folder 41

Goodman

Box 4, Folder 42

Gresham

Box 4, Folder 43

Heath

Box 4, Folder 44

Hildreth

Box 4, Folder 45

Jess

Box 4, Folder 46

Langford

Box 4, Folder 47

Leighton

Box 4, Folder 48

Lipinski

Box 4, Folder 49

Littlefield

Box 4, Folder 50

Lo Russo

Box 4, Folder 51

Luther

Box 4, Folder 52

Lyons

Box 4, Folder 53

McCarthy

Box 4, Folder 54

MacDougall

Box 4, Folder 55

Macomber

Box 4, Folder 56

Mahngotaysee

Box 4, Folder 57

Marrocco

Box 4, Folder 58

Mauro

Box 4, Folder 59

Merritt

Box 4, Folder 60

Mitchell

Box 4, Folder 61

Murfey

Box 4, Folder 62

Murphy

Box 4, Folder 63

Nelsen

Box 4, Folder 64

O'Connor

Box 4, Folder 65

O'Leary

Box 4, Folder 66

Olsen

Box 4, Folder 67

Papazian

Box 4, Folder 68

Pelosi

Box 4, Folder 69

Pequard

Box 4, Folder 70

Pulner

Box 4, Folder 71

Red Wing

Box 4, Folder 72

Riley

Box 4, Folder 73

Rogers

Box 4, Folder 74

Rosanova

Box 4, Folder 75

Schönhardt

Box 4, Folder 76

Selby (1)

Box 4, Folder 77

Selby (2)

Box 4, Folder 78

Sherman

Box 4, Folder 79

Shute

Box 4, Folder 80

Shurtleff

Box 4, Folder 81

Smith

Box 4, Folder 82

Smithdas

Box 4, Folder 83

Snow

Box 4, Folder 84

Stearns

Box 4, Folder 85

Sundin

Box 4, Folder 86

Thompson

Box 4, Folder 87

Tomlinson

Box 4, Folder 88

Truesdell

Box 4, Folder 89

Whewell

Box 4, Folder 90

Whitney

Box 4, Folder 91

Wilbur

Box 4, Folder 92

Wood

Box 4, Folder 93

Wrubel

Box 4, Folder 94

Zelle