Agnes Repplier Papers - Scope and Content Note
The two containers of correspondence in the Agnes Repplier Papers consist
predominantly of correspondence addressed to Agnes Repplier. There are a number of letters
from Shakespearean scholar, Horace Howard Furness, who enjoyed Miss Repplier's company at
gatherings at his suburban home. The largest number of letters from a single correspondent
are those from the British author, folklorist, and compiler of children's literature, Andrew
Lang. Outgoing correspondence from Repplier is filed after the incoming correspondence and
consists almost entirely of letters that Agnes Repplier wrote to her friend Helen Godey
Wilson (these letters were a gift from Wilson to the University of Pennsylvania) and to her
niece, Emma Repplier Witmer. Readers should be aware that Repplier's letters to Horace
Howard Furness are included in the Furness correspondence within the H. H. Furness Memorial
Library manuscript collection in Special Collections, Van Pelt Library, University of
Pennsylvania. Repplier's letters to A. Edward Newton are at Princeton University. Some of
Repplier's correspondence with notable Philadelphians is located in the manuscript
collection at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and Repplier's letters
to editors of The Atlantic Monthly regarding the publication of her essays and of her
books with Houghton Mifflin are in the Houghton Library at Harvard University.
The selection of items of correspondence that were saved appears to have been made by Agnes Repplier's niece, Emma Repplier Witmer, who wrote a memoir of her aunt. Some notations on the
envelopes and manuscripts are in Repplier's hand, however, most are in Emma Witmer's hand.
Many of these are letters from well-known literary or political figures, for example, Edith
Wharton and Theodore Roosevelt. A number of these letters praise Repplier's work or
congratulate her for an achievement or award; in other words, the correspondence, with a few
exceptions, tends to focus on highlights of her career rather than on her personal life or
her works in progress.
The collection includes forty-one manuscripts of essays, speeches, and notes for
Repplier's books plus one folder of manuscript fragments. The five Agnes Repplier notebooks
in the collection are records of her notes on her reading and accounts of income that she
received from her work. There is a small selection of published copies of some Repplier
essays, followed by articles about Repplier and reviews of her work. The collection also includes one book manuscript: Mere Marie of the Ursulines.
Memorabilia includes photographs of Agnes Repplier (with some of her cats), newspaper
clippings, and two handmade commonplace books.
Last update: Friday, 31-Jan-2003 21:00:13 EST
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