Guide to the Austin Warren papers, circa 1915-2003

(bulk 1919-1986)

John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Box A
Brown University
Providence, RI 02912
Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148
Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Published in 2024

Collection Overview

Title:	Austin Warren papers
Date range:	circa 1915-2003, (1919-1986)
Creator:	Warren, Antonia J.
Extent:	19 Linear Feet 17 records center boxes, 3 document boxes, 1 2-size box
Abstract:	The Austin Warren papers include correspondence, manuscripts, lecture notes, journals, personal papers and photographs belonging to Austin Warren and his wife Antonia J. Warren. Most of the material is correspondence to and from Austin Warren and manuscripts written by both Austin and Antonia Warren. The papers are dated between circa 1915 and 2003.
Repository:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts
Collection number:	Ms.95.1

Scope & content

The Austin Warren papers have been organized into nine series which include correspondence, manuscripts, lecture notes, journals, personal papers and photographs belonging to Austin Warren and Antonia J. Warren. Most of the correspondence is to and from Austin Warren and his professional colleagues. The manuscripts in these papers were written by both Austin and Antonia Warren. The papers are dated between 1915 and 2003.

Series 1.Correspondence contains letters to and from Austin Warren to professional colleagues, friends, and institutions. The letters are dated between circa 1915 and 1986. This series is divided into four subseries which are arranged alphabetically:

Subseries A. Outgoing correspondence contains letters written by Ausin Warren. It is dated between 1929 and 1986. Subseries B. Incoming correspondence contains letters written to Austin Warren. It is dated between 1919 and 1986. Subseries C. Miscellaneous correspondence to individuals is not dated. Subseries D. Miscellaneous correspondence to institutions is dated between 1920 and 1930.

Other correspondence to Austin Warren may be found in Series 3. Short writings and professional correspondence, Series 4. Copybooks and letterbooks, Series 7. April 2005 accession and Series 8. December 2008 accession. Correspondence to and from Antonia J. Warren may be found in Series 7. April 2005 accession and Series 8. December 2008 accession.

Series 2. Manuscripts contains several manuscripts by Austin Warren. They are entitled Becoming an Author: History of My Books.' On Pilgrimage, Literature and Religion, and On Becoming What One Is. This material is dated between 1967 and 1975. Other manuscripts by Warren may be found in Series 7. April 2005 accession and Series 8. December 2008 accession. Manuscripts by Antonia J. Warren are found in Series 8. December 2008 accession.

Series 3. Short writings and professional correspondence contains correspondence regarding published works by Austin Warren, short writings such as essays and book reviews, and copies of essays written by other scholars known to Warren. This series also includes Warren's recommendations for fellowships and jobs for his students as well as material that was originally labeled "First Black Binder" and "Second Black Binder". The material in this series is dated between 1924 and 1991.

Series 4. Copybooks and letterbooks contains a variety of material, including short writings, quotations, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and ephemera such as programs. This material was compiled between 1940 and 1967, but it contains material dated as early as 1919. The copybooks are numbered from E1 to E9 and the letterbooks are numbered from 2 to 7. There is no letterbook number 1.

Series 5. Journals contains both journals and diaries owned by Ausin Warren. The journals contain more extensive writing by Warren, while the diaries are largely records of daily activities and appointments. This series is dated between 1925 and 1980. Additional diaries dated between 1982 and 1988 may be found in Series 8.December 2008 accession.

Series 6. Lecture notes contains notebooks that Austin Warren had originally labeled "Treasures of the Mind", "Workshop 1" and Workshop II", and "Princeton lecture notes". They include quotations and citations for sources used in his classes. This material is dated between 1923 and 1931.

Series 7. April 2005 accession has been organized into the following subseries:

Subseries A. Correspondence contains correspondence to Austin Warren, Antonia J. Warren, and correspondence addressed to them both. The letters are arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent and are dated between 1930 and 2003. Some of the letters are written in German or French.

Subseries B. Manuscripts contains the manuscript for Austin Warren's autobiography On Becoming What One Is. It is not dated.

Subseries C. Personal papers contains several issues of a journal called The Historiographer dated 1970 and a small notebook that is mostly empty.

Subseries D. Oversize prints contains artwork collected by or given to Austin Warren. It contains 33 items. Included is a set of plates William Blake created to illustrate Paradise Lost given to Austin Warren by Howard Blake. Also included are prints for 2 poems - 1 printed by Rosmarie Waldrop and the other written by her.

Subseries E. Photographs contains four undated photographs of Austin Warren.

Subseries F. VHS tape contains one tape labeled "Louise Dauner on Robert Frost". It is not dated.

Series 8. December 2008 accession has been organized into the following subseries:

Subseries A. Manuscripts contains the manuscripts for On Becoming What One Is and On Pilgrimage: An Experiment in Spiritual Autobiography. The latter is dated 1970.

Subseries B. Short writings includes poems and a short autobiography by Austin Warren as well as writing by Konstantinos Lardos and an unsigned short letter dated 1969. This series also includes some personal papers such as the list of books Warren donated to the University of Michigan and a church cookbbook dated circa 1915.

Subseries C. Lecture notes consists of several notebooks containing material used in Austin Warren's classes. This material is dated between 1919 and 1966.

Subseries D. Photographs contains photographs of Austin Warren's friends dated between circa 1928 and circa 1976.

Subseries E. Antonia Warren manuscripts contains writings by her. They are not dated with the exception of one manuscript which is labeled "1998 corrected version". These appear to be manuscripts of short stories.

Subseries F. Summary, inventory and index contains the summary of Austin Warren's journals written by Antonia Warren, her inventory of his papers, her index and cross-reference to two hundred of his letters, and a list of books owned by Austin Warren.

Subseries G. Diaries contains Austin Warren's diaries for the years 1982 to 1986.

Subseries H. Honorary degrees contains the honorary Doctor of Letters degreee awarded to Austin Warren by Brown University in 1974 and the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree awarded to him by the University of Hartford in 1980.

Series 9: October 2012 accession is a small group of letters to Doris and Charles H. Foster; Warren's paper delivered at Modern Language Association titled "Hawthorne and the Craft of Fiction;" and Warren's pamphlet "The Incarnation in Seventeenth Century English Poetry" inscribed by author to Charles H. Foster.

Access Points

Subject Names

• Foster, Charles H. (Charles Howell)
• Bronson, Robert Stevens, 1928-1982
• Lardas, Konstantinos, 1927-
• Stoneburner, Tony, 1926-

Subject Organizations

• Brown University--Faculty

Subject Topics

• English literature -- 20th century
• Comparative literature
• College teachers -- United States
• American literature -- 20th century
• Authors, American -- 20th century
• Poets, American -- 20th century
• Criticism -- United States

Document Types

• Essays
• Photographs
• Letters (Correspondence)
• Lecture notes
• Diaries
• Journals
• Clippings (information artifacts)
• Manuscripts (documents)

Arrangement

The collection has been arranged into the following series:

The collection has been arranged into the following series:

• Series 1: Correspondence
• Series 2: Manuscripts
• Series 3: Short writings and professional correspondence
• Series 4: Copybooks and letterbooks
• Series 5: Journals
• Series 6: Lecture notes
• Series 7: April 2005 accession
• Series 8: December 2008 accession
• Series 9: October 2012 accession

Biographical note

Austin Warren, an American literary critic and theorist, was born in Waltham, Massachusetts on July 4, 1899. He was the son on Edward Austin Warren and Nellie Myra Anderson Warren. After his graduation in 1920 from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, he entered graduate school at Harvard University in 1921. He transferred to Princeton University in 1922, where he received his Ph.D. in 1926.

Warren began his teaching career at Boston University in 1926. In 1939 he joined the English Department at the University of Iowa. He taught at the University of Michigan from 1948 until his retirement in 1968. He moved to Providence, Rhode Island in 1970, where he taught at Brown University. In 1973 the American Academy of Arts and Letters gave him its Arts and Letters Award for Literature. He received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Brown in 1974 and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University of Hartford in 1980.

Warren was married to Eleanor Blake from 1941 until her death in 1946. In 1959 he married Antonia Degan Keese (Antonia J. Warren). Warren passed away on August 20, 1986, in Providence.

Warren was known for his writings on Alexander Pope, Henry James and Richard Cranshaw. He collaborated with Rene Wellek on Theory of Literature, one of the first works to systematize literary theory. His interests also included philosophy, music and theology. Warren's autobiography, Becoming What One Is, was published posthumously in 1995 by the University of Michigan Press.

Antonia J. Warren was a native of Switzerland and a physician who practiced in New York state and in Michigan, where she met Austin Warren. She later worked as an editorial advisor to the journal Modern Age. She was described by its editors as an accomplished writer of short stories, some of which were published in that journal. She passed away in Providence on March 19, 2004.

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:	Researchers are advised that express written permission to reproduce, quote, or otherwise publish any portion or extract from this collection must be obtained from the Brown University Library. Although Brown University has physical ownership of the collection and the materials contained therein, it does not claim literary rights. It is up to the researcher to determine the owners of the literary rights and to obtain any necessary permissions from them.
Preferred citation:	Austin Warren papers, Ms.95.1, Brown University Library.
Contact information:	John Hay Library, University Archives and Manuscripts Box A Brown University Providence, RI 02912 Telephone: Manuscripts: 401-863-3723; University Archives: 401-863-2148 Email: Manuscripts: hay@brown.edu; University Archives: archives@brown.edu

Administrative Information

ABOUT THE COLLECTION
Acquisition:	The collection was a gift from Austin Warrens' widow, Antonia J. Warren, in January 1995. Additional material was donated by her estate in April 2005 and December 2008. Original letters from Austin Warren to Paul Stanwood were donated by Paul Stanwood in 2018.
Accruals:	No further materials are anticipated for this collection.
Processing information:	This collection was processed under the guidelines of the two-year Basic Processing grant awarded to Brown by the NHPRC. Materials were refoldered as needed and housed in acid free boxes.
ABOUT THE FINDING AID
Author:	Brown University Library staff.
Encoding:	This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2024-05-31.
Descriptive rules:	Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Sponsor:	Processing funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Additional Information

Inventory

---