Guide to the Coffin, Robert Peter Tristram Coffin Family Correspondence , 1915-1954, undated
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Robert P. Tristram Coffin Family Correspondence, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine.
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Robert Peter Tristram Coffin (Bowdoin 1915) was a Bowdoin College english professor (1934-1955), writer, and Pulitzer Prize winning poet. He was the sixth child in a family of ten children. His brothers were Levon, John, Ben, and Franck. His sisters were Alma, Annie, Alice, Arline, and Virginia. He married Ruth Phillip in 1918; they had four children, Mary-Alice, Margaret (Peggy), Robert Peter Tristram, Jr., and Richard. Coffin was a Pulitzer prize winning poet, writer, and English professor. He was graduated from Brunswick Highschool and Bowdoin College (Class of 1915), then attended Princeton (A.M. 1916), and as a Rhodes Scholar, Oxford University (A.B. 1920). While in Emgland he served to 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S Army. Coffin began his teaching career as instructor, and then professor of English at Wells College in Aurora, New York (1921-1934). He returned to Bowdoin as Pierce Professor of English (1934-1955), was a visiting lecturer at several colleges and universities from the 1930's through 1950's, and a Fulbright scholar at the University of Athens in 1953-1954. Robert P. Tristram Coffin died January 20, 1955. He was predeceased by his wife, Ruth Coffin, on April 5, 1947.
Letters from Robert P. Tristram Coffin to his mother, Alice M. Coffin, and his sister, Annie Coffin (Mrs. Harold Sanborn). Some letters include a page from Ruth Coffin. There is also a 1954 postcard from Coffin to his niece, Mary Margaret Sandborn [Ewert]. The letters describe family matters and aspects of daily life including descriptions of Coffin's travel, comments on the world events, news of exams taken, lectures attended, and poems sold. There are also seven photographs of Coffin dating from 1915 to the 1940s. For additional Coffin material in Bowdoin College Special Collections & Archives, see the href="rptcg.shtml" Robert Peter Tristram Coffin Collection and the href="rcgg.shtml" Robert Parent-Teacher Editorial Staff.
Arranged chronologically.
1915 Sep 25, postcard, RPTC, Princeton, New Jersey, to Annie F. Coffin, Brunswick
1916 Oct 5, RPTC, steamship Andania in the Atlantic, to Alice M. Coffin, n.p
1916 Oct 29, RPTC, Oxford, England, to Annie F. Coffin, Brunswick
1916 Nov 19, RPTC, Oxford, England, to Annie F. Coffin, n.p.
1916 Dec 12, RPTC, Chester, [England], to Annie F. Coffin, Brunswick
1916 Dec 23, RPTC, Capel Curing, N. Wales, to Alice M. Coffin, Brunswick
1917 Mar 27, RPTC, Oxford, England, to Annie F. Coffin, Brunswick
1917 Jun 11, RPTC, Oxford, England, to Annie F. Coffin, Brunswick
1917 Aug 23, RPTC, Plattsburg, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, n.p.
1917 Sep 9, RPTC, Plattsburg, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, Brunswick
1918 Aug 28, postcard, RPTC, [Winchester, England], to Annie F. Coffin, Brunswick
1918 Aug 29, RPTC, Winchester, England,to Alice M. Coffin, Brunswick
1918 Oct 28, RPTC, St. Leonard, France, to Annie F. Coffin, Brunswick
1919 Nov 2, RPTC, Oxford England, to, Alice M. Coffin, n.p., (letter incomplete)
1919 Dec 4, RPTC, Oxford, England, to Annie F. Coffin, Alton, New Hampshire
1920 Feb 8, RPTC and Ruth Coffin, Oxford, Englang, to Annie F. Coffin, Alton, New Hampshire
1920 Aug 30, RPTC, Oxford, England, to Alice M. Coffin, Brunswick
1920 Nov 15, RPTC and Ruth Coffin, Oxford, England, to Annie F. Coffin, Alton, New Hampshire
1921 Jan 10, RPTC, Oxford, England, to Alice M. Coffin, Brunwick
1921 Feb 27, RPTC, Oxford, England, to Alice M. Coffin, Brunswick
1921 May 10, RPTC, Oxford, England, to, Alice M. Coffin, n.p.
1922 Feb 12, RPTC, Aurora, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, n.p.
1922 May 15, RPTC, Aurora, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, n.p., (letter incomplete) together with [1922] May 15, Ruth Coffin, Aurora, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, n.p., (letter incomplete)
1924 Nov 30, RPTC, Aurora, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, n.p.
1925 May 3, RPTC, Aurora, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, n.p.
1925 Oct 11, RPTC, Aurora, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, Brunswick
1925 Oct 17, RPTC, Aurora, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, n.p.
1928 Jan 8, RPTC, Aurora, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, Brunswick
1928 Oct 16, postcard, RPTC, Oxford, England, to Mrs. Harold Sandborn (Aniie F. Coffin), Alton, New Hampshire
1929 Jan 3, Ruth Coffin, S.S. Patria, to Mrs. Harold Sandborn (Annie F. Coffin), Alton New Hampshire
1933 Sep 17, RPTC, Aurora, New York, to Alice M. Coffin, n.p.
1940 Jan 21, RPTC, Brunswick, to Annie Coffin Sandborn, n.p.
1944 Jul 11, RPTC, Brunswick, to Annie Coffin Sanborn, n.p.
1954 Mar 6, RPTC, Athens, Greece, to Annie Coffin Sandborn, n.p.
1954 Mar 7, portcard, RPTC, Athens, Greece, to Marry Margaret Sandborn, Alton, New Hampshire
[Photographs] ca. 1915, RPTC, Bowdoin yearbook photograph by Webber, Brunswick ca. 1917-1918, RPTC in uniform, 1920-1921, RPTC, passport photograph 1920-1921, Ruth Coffin, passport photograph ca. 1928-1930, RPTC at Wells College, Aurora, New York ca. 1930s, RPTC portrait by Underwood and Underwwod, New York ca. 1930s-1940s, RPTC, photograph of painted portrait ca. 1939-1940, RPTC, conducting outdoor class in Pennelwille, Brunswick