Biographical note

Scope and contents

Box 1 Advertisement -- Catalogs

Box 2 Cheever, L.O. -- Correspondence, 1927 -- September 1961

Box 3 Correspondence, October 1961 -- Ocotober 1962

Box 4 Correspondence, November 1962 -- April 1964

Box 5 Correspondence, May 1964 -- Derleth, August

Box 6 Design for stationery -- Miscellaneous printed material

Box 7 Mott, Frank Luther -- University of Illinois

Box 8 Van Doren, Mark -- West, Herbert

Box 9 Derleth, August -- West, Herbert

Index to Coleman Correspondence

Biographical Note

Carroll Coleman (1904 -- 1989) was born in Appanoose County, Iowa, and graduated from Muscatine High School in 1923. He was still in high school when he acquired his first small press and began printing. After graduation he took several jobs in commercial printing and worked for the Muscatine Journal, the local newspaper, for seven years. Bad health forced him to quit his job with the paper. He then moved to Chicago where he studied with the noted designer, William Kitterage. Returning to Muscatine, Coleman started his own press. In 1935, his Prairie Press published four books and the following year one of his books (What Laughing God? by Whitelaw Saunders) was named among the "Fifty Best Books of the Year" by the American Institute of Graphic Arts. This would be the first of thirteen such honors. In 1945 he moved his press to Iowa City and joined the faculty of the University of Iowa where he taught typography for the new Typographic Laboratory. In 1956 he added the position of University Editor, Director of Publications and Manager of Printing Services to his professional duties. It became increasingly difficult to balance his responsibilities to the University and run his press. In 1961 he returned full time to the Prairie Press, where he continued publishing the works of living writers.

Scope and Contents

The Carroll Coleman Papers are a reflection of his career and of his Prairie Press. Its 4.5 linear feet of material is organized chronologically within an alphabetical sequence dating from the late 1920s through the 1960s. There are four boxes of correspondence which include letters from: Walter Blumenthal, Myron Broomwell, Hayden Carruth, August Derleth, James Hearst, Frank Luther Mott, Alan Swallow, and others. Many of his books are represented in formative stages with galley proofs, page proofs, and mock-ups. The Prairie Press is well documented, not only with individual works but also with advertising and business records. Other files include such things as the Christmas cards that Coleman printed each year, speeches, and typefaces.
Box 1

Advertisement.

Allen, Herman. Open Door to Learning. University of Illinois Press, 1963. Including printers proofs, front matter, printing instructions and paste ups.

American Institute of Graphic Art. Fifty Books of the Year, 1951, #24.

Artist Guild of Chicago. Directories, 1955 -- 1967.

Biographical.

Book jackets. University of Illinois Press.

The Booklist and Subscription Books Bulletin 59:15 (April 1, 1963), p. 632.

Broadsides, 1961 -- 1992.

Campbell, Christiana McFadyen. Farm Bureau and the New Deal. University of Illinois Press, 1962. Including printers proofs, paste-ups, printing instructions, illustrations, and front matter.

Carruth, Hayden. The Clay Hill Anthology, 1969. Including typescript draft.

Catalogs. (2 folders)

Box 2

Cheever, L.O. Mexico, 1946.

Chestnutt, Charles. Baxter's Procrustes/The Rowfant Club of Cleveland, 1966. Including typescript draft, printer's proofs, and illustrations.

Chicago Book Clinic. Including roster, Top Honor Books, and exhibit ballots.

Christmas cards, 1939 -- 1985.

Correspondence

1927, 1946 -- 1955. Including letters from: E.M. Catich, August Derleth, Virgil M. Hancher, Alan Swallow, May Swenson, and Goudy Dinner.

1956. Including letters from: August Derleth and Alan Swallow.

1957. Including letters from: August Derleth, John Holmes, Frank Luther Mott, Alan Swallow, and Alfred Kreymborg.

1958 -- 1960.

Jan. -- Sept. 1961. Including letters from: Virgil M. Hancher, James Hearst, Frank Luther Mott, Louis P. Penningroth, and Alan Swallow.

Correspondence (cont.)

Oct. -- Dec. 1961. Including letters from: Myron H. Broomell, Hayden Carruth, E.M. Catich, and James Hearst.

Jan. -- Feb. 1962. Including letters from: Myron H. Broomell, Hayden Carruth, E.M. Catich, and Frank Luther Mott.

Mar. -- Apr. 1962. Including letters from: Myron H. Broomell, Hayden Carruth, James Hearst, and Frank Luther Mott.

May -- June 1962. Including letters from: George Abbe, Myron H. Broomell, James Hearst, and Frank Luther Mott.

July -- Aug. 1962. Including letters from: Myron H. Broomell, Hayden Carruth, and James Hearst.

Sept. -- Oct. 1962. Including letters from: Myron H.Broomell, Hayden Carruth, James Hearst, Frank Luther Mott, and Ethel Blythe Penningworth.

Correspondence (cont.)

Nov. -- Dec. 1962. Including letters from: Hayden Carruth, John T. Frederick, James Hearst, and Frank Luther Mott.

Jan. -- Mar. 1963. Including letters from: Hayden Carruth, Virgil M. Hancher, James Hearst, and Florence Roe Wiggins.

Apr. -- June 1963. Including letters from: Hayden Carruth, John T. Frederick, James Hearst, Frank Luther Mott, and Alan Swallow.

July -- Aug. 1963. Including letters from: Myron H. Broomell, Hayden Carruth, and James Hearst.

Sept. -- Dec. 1963. Including letters from: Hayden Carruth, James Hearst, Frank Luther Mott, and Alan Swallow.

Correspondence (cont.)

Jan. -- Apr. 1964. Including letters from: Walter Hart Blumenthal, Hayden Carruth, James Hearst, Lawrence P. Spingarn, and Florence Roe Wiggins.

May -- Aug. 1964. Including letters from: Walter Hart Blumenthal, Myron H. Broomell, James Hearst, Hayden Carruth, E.M. Catich, Denise Levertov, and Raymond Roseliep.

Sept. -- Dec. 1964. Including letters from: Walter Hart Blumenthal, Myron H. Broomell, and Hayden Carruth.

Jan. -- Feb. 1965. Including letters from: Myron H. Broomell, Hayden Carruth, E.M. Catich, and James Hearst.

Mar. -- Dec. 1965. Including letters from: Walter Hart Blumenthal, Myron H. Broomell, Hayden Carruth, E.M. Catich, and John T. Frederick.

1966 -- 1989. Including a letter from Hayden Carruth.

Letters from Coleman.

1969. To Alan Brilliant.

1964 -- 1988. To Emerson Wulling.

Undated. Including letters from: Frank Luther Mott, Alan Swallow, and George Meason Whicher.

Cunningham, J.V. Exclusions of a Rhyme. Alan Swallow, Publisher. Including typescript draft, front matter and printers proofs.

Derleth, August. Caitlin. Prairie Press, 1969. Including page proofs, front matter and illustrations.

Box 6

Design for stationery.

Donnelley and Sons Company--The Lakeside Press. Including advertising and exhibit flyers.

Eighteenth Annual Fine Art Festival, School of Fine Arts, State University of Iowa, 1956.

Exhibit Materials featured in the North Exhibit Lobby of the University of Iowa Main Library, April - May, 1992.

The Golden Quill (reproduction). Edited by Carroll Coleman, Winter 1925-1926.

Grolier club exhibit of Coleman's works. January -- April 1976. New York City. Announcement.

Hancher, Virgil M. The State of the University and the University of the State, 1962.

Harrison, John. A Tribute to Carroll Coleman, June, 1989.

Hunt, Leigh. On Eight Sonnets of Dante, 1965.

Interview of Carroll Coleman. Conducted by Frank Paluka and Frederick Wezeman, January 11, 1974. Reel-to-reel format.

Jerome Hill. Saint Paul Art Center, 1965.

Journal of the Adventures of Matthew Bunn. Newberry Library, 1962.

Journalism and Mass Communications at Iowa. March 13, 1954. (Photograph of Coleman on page 13.)

Journalism Quarterly, 1963. Including page proofs, printers proofs, and mock ups.

The Lee Papers. Including front matter.

Letters of Stephen Douglas. University of Illinois Press, 1961. Including front matter, page proofs, printing instructions, and mock-ups.

Letters of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. University of Illinois Press, 1961. Including front matter, page proofs, and printing instructions.

Library of Congress catalog cards, 1962. Including Mott, Hearst and Latham.

Library Trends, July 1952.

Menger, Carl. Problems of Economics and Sociology. University of Illinois Press, 1963. Including mock ups, printers proofs, printing instructions and typescript draft.

Midwestern Book Competition, 1958 -- 1963.

Miscellaneous printed material.

Box 7

Mott, Frank Luther. Five Stories. Prairie Press, 1962. Including binding instructions, front matter, and page proofs.

National Genealogical Society. Program of meetings.

Nevins, Allan. The Origins of Land-Grant Colleges and State Universities. University of Illinois Press. Including front matter, paste-ups, and printing specifications.

Nevins, Allan. State Universities and Democracy. University of Illinois Press, 1942. Including printers proof, mock ups, front matter, and printing specifications.

Newspaper clippings, 1946 -- 1989.

Pearce, Floyd. Carroll Coleman & The Prairie Press. Wapsipinicon Almanac, no.3 (1990).

People Watcher. An amateur journal contributed to by Coleman, 1975, 1976, 1977.

Photographs.

Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, 1955.

Prairie Bookshop. Book ticket.

Prairie Press

Advertising.

Miscellaneous. Including: instructions for binding, jacket copy, illustrations, front matter, and mailing list.

Miscellaneous ephemera printed by Prairie Press.

Miscellaneous materials printed by Prairie Press.

Title pages of books printed by Prairie Press.

XII Poems

American Medley (includes dust jacket)

Atmosphere of Houses

A Cherokee Daughter of Mount Holyoke

The Ego and the Centaur

Elegy on a Flake of Snow

For the Unlost

The Friends

The Judge is Fury

Last Parade

The Long Night

Poems from Several Wldernesses

Renewal

Some Natural Things

Speaking for Scotland

The Time by Dialing

To a Faulty Lover

What Laughing God

Pitzer, Robert Claiborne. Three Frontiers. Miscellaneous printed pages.

Programme for Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony, 1970. Including front matter and page proofs.

Ridge, Martin. Ignatius Donnelly. University of Chicago Press, 1962. Including front matter, printing instructions, printers proofs, and mock-ups.

Roper, Elmo. The Public's Attitudes Toward Television and Other Media, 1962.

Rosenberger, Coleman. Francis Coleman Rosenberger: A List of Published Writings 1938 -- 1958, 1959. Including galley proofs and page proofs.

The Rumford Press. Brochure.

Seitlin, Percy. Love of Apples, 1960.

Society of Typographic Arts. Including directories, exhibit announcements and booklets.

Speeches.

Typeface samples.

University of Illinois. Brochures.

Wulling, Emerson G. Prairie Press: First Decade. The Book Collector's Packet, vol. 4, no. 8 (1946).

WSUI Radio flier. Iowa's Small Presses featuring Carroll Coleman and other Iowa Printers. May 5, 1976.

 Box 8

Bruncken, Herbert. Hue and Cry. Prairie Press, 1941.

Johnson, Donald. Johann Amerbach. The Prairie Press, 1956.

Van Doren, Mark. Mortal Summer. Prairie Press, 1953.

Van Doren, Mark. In That Far Land. Prairie Press, 1951.

Wagners Midwestern Landmarks.

West, Herbert. The Coronary Club. Westholm Publications, 1956. Including binding instructions, paste-up, front matter, and page proofs.

West, Herbert. For a Hudson Biographer. Westholm Publications, 1958. Including typescript draft, page proofs, illustrations, front matter, and galley proofs.

Box 9

Prairie Press logo stamp.

Derleth, August. By Owl Light. Page proofs. 1967.

Derleth, August. Walden Pond. Page proofs. 1968.

Galland, Isaac. Galland's Iowa Emigrant. Page proofs.

Hearst, James. Limited View. Page proofs. 1962.

Hearst, James. A Single Focus. Page proofs, incomplete. 1967.

Hodgson, Ralph. Poets Remembered. Page proofs. 1967.

Klinefelter, Walter. A Small Display of Old Maps and Plans. Page proofs. 1962.

Miller, Mary Owings. Wheel of Paper. Page proofs.

Scott, Louis. Announcement for Divining Rod. Page proofs.

West, Herbert Faulkner. The Coronary Club. Page proofs. 1962.

Index to Coleman Correspondence: [Arranged alphabetically by author and then chronologically by date of each letter]

Abbe, George: 5-17-62.

Blumenthal, Walter Hart: 2-15-64, 2-24-64, 2-25-64, 2-27-64, 3-12-64, 3-14-64, 3-19-64, 4-4-64, 4-7-64, 4-17-64, 5-11-64, 5-18-64, 5-27-64, 8-18-64, 8-19-64, 10-12-64, 12-14-64, 3-12-65

Broomell, Myron H.: 11-22-61, 11-30-61, 12-22-61, 1-7-62, 3-14-62, 4-15-62, 6-24-62, 8-6-62, 10-1-62, 7-3-63, 5-22-64, 6-3-64, 8-14-64, 10-15-64, 10-17-64, 10-24-64, 10-29-64, 11-64, 12-15-64, 12-27-64, 1-13-65, 5-9-65

Carruth, Hayden: 10-14-61, 10-22-61, 11-28-61, 12-23-61, 12-29-61, 1-5-62, 1-13-62, 1-20-62, 4-18-62, 7-9-62, 7-12-62, 7-18-62, 9-12-62, 9-24-62, 10-24-62, 12-1-62, 12-10-62, 12-20-62, 12-27-62, 1-2-63, 1-9-63, 1-18-63, 1-28-63, 4-12-63, 4-23-63, 5-18-63, 5-23-63, 6-10-63, 7-2-63, 7-20-63, 8-19-63, 12-22-63, 1-3-64, 1-22-64, 3-5-64, 3-6-64, 3-23-64, 3-25-64, 4-9-64, 4-17-64, 5-25-64, 6-12-64, 7-2-64, 7-7-64, 7-21-64, 7-22-64, 7-31-64, 8-7-64, 8-13-64, 8-22-64, 9-9-64, 9-10-64, 9-17-64, 9-24-64, 9-26-64, 10-6-64, 10-12-64, 10-28-64, 11-2-64, 11-22-64, 11-23-64, 11-29-64, 12-4-64, 12-10-64, 1-2-65, 1-7-65, 1-19-65, 2-6-65, 2-7-65, 2-11-65, 3-13-65, 5-10-65, 10-17-76

Catich, E.M.: 11-10-53, 11-11-61, 12-61 (2), 1-62, 2-7-62, 2-9-62, 8-19-64, 2-23-65, 2-27-65, 3-31-65

Derleth, August: 3-23-53, 9-23-53, 6-8-55, 10-28-55, 12-5-55, 1-16-56, 11-30-56, 12-15-56, 12-21-56, 12-27-56, 1-2-57, 1-14-57, 1-26-57, 3-7-57, 9-16-57, 10-17-57

Frederick, John T.: 12-1-62, 4-4-63, 4-4-65

Hancher, Virgil M.: 12-2-55, 6-27-61, 6-30-61, 2-5-63, 2-14-63, 6-25-63

Hearst, James: 7-6-61, 9-17-61, 9-25-61, 11-5-61, 12-23-61, 12-28-61, 3-19-62, 3-29-62, 5-18-62, 5-23-62, 7-29-62, 9-7-62, 9-11-62, 9-30-62, 10-24-62, 11-13-62, 12-9-62, 3-7-63, 4-16-63, 4-25-63, 5-10-63, 7-15-63, 7-19-63, 7-26-63, 10-2-63, 10-11-63, 2-21-64, 6-15-64, 8-17-64, 1-29-65

Holmes, John: 11-17-57

Kreymborg, Alfred: 5-15-57

Levertov, Denise: 7-15-64

Mott, Frank Luther: 1-3-57, 5-11-61, 2-8-62, 3-30-62, 5-26-62, 10-7-62, 10-19-62, 10-30-62, 1962, 4-22-63, 5-7-63, 1963, and 3 undated

Penningroth, Louis P.: 6-30-61

Penningworth, Ethel Blythe: 10-62

Roseliep, Raymond: 7-9-64

Spingarn, Lawrence P.: 2-23-64

Swallow, Alan: 10-19-50 (2), 10-29-50, 4-19-54, 9-27-56, 12-3-56, 12-12-56 (2), 3-19-57, 9-29-61, 5-25-63, 10-31-63, and four undated

Swenson, May: 4-30-53

Whicher, George Meason: undated

Wiggins, Florence Roe: 1-10-63, 1-26-63, 2-18-63, 2-22-64, 3-24-64

Brilliant,Alan: 3-28-69.

Thompson, Robert: 2-26-64, 6-64, four items with no dates.

Wulling, Emerson: 9-24-64, 11-19-64, 1-11-65, 6-19-75, 7-6-75, 8-6-75, 4-1-81, 3-23-82, 7-112-85, 1-15-88.

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