Guide to the Paul Nixon Papers, 1904-1956, undated
Paul Nixon Papers, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine.
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Paul Nixon was born May 23, 1882, in Des Moines, Iowa, and prepared for college at Thayer Academy. In 1904 he was graduated from Wesleyan University, where he majored in classics. Nixon was selected as the first Rhodes Scholar from Connecticut (1904) and studied at Oxford University in England for three years. Before coming to Bowdoin College in 1909 he taught at Princeton University and Dartmouth College. From 1909-1952 Nixon taught classics, history and Latin at Bowdoin and was named Winkley Professor of Latin Language and Literature in 1946. He also served as dean at Bowdoin from 1918 until 1947. During this time he worked closely with the admissions program until the Admissions Office was established in 1935, and he was informal director of placement until the Placement Bureau was established in 1944. Nixon served in the military during World War I, first with the Maine National Guard and then with the United States Infantry. As dean at Bowdoin he corresponded with Bowdoin students and graduates serving in World War II (see Kenneth C.M. Sills Administrative Records for President Sills' and Dean Nixon's World War II correspondence). Nixon received many honorary degrees including a Doctor of Humane Letters from Bowdoin in 1943. In 1966 a room in Bowdoin's Hawthorne-Longfellow Library was dedicated in his memory. Nixon was the author of a number of books, most of them well known and widely used translations of Latin works. His translations of Plautus and Martial were especially popular.
Nixon married Dorothea Thompson on July 30, 1907. She died October 3, 1917. On July 7, 1919, he married Mathilde Spengler. Nixon died on October 27, 1956, at his home in Brunswick. He was survived by his wife, Mathilde, and his children, Philip and Katrina.
The collection contains Nixon's speeches and writings, including his Bowdoin College Chapel talks, Bowdoin Latin class materials and a journal of his travels in England and Europe, 1904-1906. Also included are business and personal letters to and from Nixon; Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Robert Peter Tristram Coffin, and Mary Ellen Chase are among the correspondents. Other materials include a signed typescript poem about Paul Nixon by Robert Peter Tristram Coffin.
This series contains addresses and Bowdoin College Chapel talks given by Nixon. Also included are a typescript journal of his travels in England and Europe as a young man, his Bowdoin College Latin class lecture notes, and published articles.
Arranged alphabetically, then chronologically.
Addresses, 1919-1937
Addresses, 1940-1947
Chapel talks, 1932-1933
Chapel talks, 1934-1935
Chapel talks, 1936
Chapel talks, 1937
Chapel talks, 1938
Chapel talks, 1939
Chapel talks, 1940
Chapel talks, 1941
Chapel talks, 1942
Chapel talks, 1943 Jan-May
Chapel talks, 1943 Aug-Dec
Chapel talks, 1944
Chapel talks, 1945
Chapel talks, 1946-1950
Chapel talks, miscellaneous notes
Essay "Los Angeles or Thereabouts," manuscript w/marked newspaper clippings
Journal typescript re: travel in England and Europe, 1904-1906
Lecture notes for Bowdoin College Latin class
Lecture notes for Bowdoin College Latin class
Lecture notes for Bowdoin College Latin class
Magazine articles, 1905-1906
Magazine articles, 1908-1950
Material for alumni talks
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles
Miscellaneous addresses and articles -- alumni association
Miscellaneous addresses and articles -- notes
Miscellaneous addresses and articles and skits
Notes
Notes
Notes -- alumni lists
Notes -- for football rallies
Notes -- for freshman day
Notes -- on Petronius
Notes -- on Tucker, Fererro, Fairchild, and Davis
Veni Vidi Wacky (poems)
Verses -- Latin translation / parody
Verses -- Latin translation / parody
Verses -- Latin translation / parody -- Virgil
Verses -- non-classical
Verses -- (some re: flagpole incident)
This series contains business and personal correspondence to and from Nixon. Included are letters from British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Robert Peter Tristram Coffin, and Mary Ellen Chase, as well as letters of recommendation written by Nixon for former students.
Arranged chronologically, then alphabetically.
1918-1932
1933
1934-1937
1938
1939-1941
1942
1943
1944-1946
1947
1948-1949
1950-1956
n.d.
New England Council search for Bowdoin president, 1951
Re: books Nixon wrote --including correspondence from Stanley Baldwin, R.P.T. Coffin, Mary Ellen Chase
Re: Eclectic Fraternity Campaign, 1952-1953
Recommendations, 1927, 1945-1949, n.d.
Recommendations, 1949-1954, n.d.
This series includes Christmas cards sent to Nixon and printed ephemera, including a memorial to Nixon. There is also a signed typescript poem about Nixon by Robert Peter Tristram Coffin, and newspaper clippings.
Arranged alphabetically.
Christmas cards (some with photographs) sent to Nixon
Memorials (from other people) for Bishop Andrews, 1908
Newspaper clippings
Poem, "Dean Paul," typescript, signed by Robert Peter Tristram Coffin
Printed ephemera
Printed ephemera (including a memorial to Nixon)