Guide to the Merton G. L. and Lula Bailey Papers, 1904-1967, undated
Merton G. L. and Lula Bailey papers, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library
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Merton G.L. Bailey (1888-1969), of Bowdoin's class of 1911, was circulation manager, managing editor, and director of Vickery & Hill Publishing Co. of Augusta, Maine, 1911-1941. From 1930 to 1941, Bailey was also director of Needlecraft Publishing Co. After leaving Vickery & Hill, Bailey worked for Williams Realty in Augusta (1941-60), serving as Vice-President from 1946-48. He was also active in city government and in the state and national Unitarian associations.
In 1931, Bailey, a book collector, married Lula Barber (d.1969), an avid bookplate collector who corresponded actively with other collectors and with celebrities from whom she hoped to obtain bookplates.
The collection contains correspondence, notes, drafts, photographs, and clippings. There are letters relating to Lula Bailey's bookplate collection, to Merton Bailey's Bowdoin classmates and colleagues, and his efforts to get books signed by authors, such as Booth Tarkington, Edna Ferber, Stephen Vincent Benet, Pearl Buck, and Upton Sinclair, as well as an extensive exchange with illustrator Edward C. Caswell. There are notes concerning Louis Adamic, and a fragmentary draft of Thames Williamson's Hunkey. The papers are supplemented by Lula Bailey's extensive bookplate collection.
The correspondence of Lula Bailey and the correspondence of Merton G. L. Bailey. Lula Bailey's letters mostly relate to her bookplate collection and include correspondence with libraries, other collectors, and celebrities, such as the wives of political figures. There are extensive exchanges with and about bookplate artists Elisha Bird, Edwin Davis French, John William Jameson, Arthur Nelson MacDonald, Sidney L. Smith, and J. Winfred Spenceley. Merton G. L. Bailey's letters are mostly correspondence with his Bowdoin classmates and colleagues and with authors such as Booth Tarkington, Edna Ferber, Stephen Vincent Benet, Pearl Buck, and Upton Sinclair. Also included is correspondence with illustrator Edward C. Caswell and the president of the Kennebec Historical Society.
Organized in two sub-series: Lula Bailey Correspondence, 1930-1967, undated and Merton G. L. Bailey Correspondence, 1914-1948, undated.
No restrictions.
There is an index card file (Box 1a) arranged alphabetically by correspondent that is cross-referenced to a tablet (Box 1, folder 1a) that has the date of the correspondence.
Arranged chronologically.
No restrictions.
Tablet with dated correspondence that is referenced in the index card file, Box 1a
1930 Mar 31-1937 Oct 12
1937 Oct 13-Oct 30
1937 Nov
1937 Dec
1938 Jan 4-14
1938 Jan 17-31
1938 Feb 1-13
1938 Feb 14-28
1938 Mar 1-15
1938 Mar 16-30
1938 Apr 4-9
1938 Apr 11-30
1938 May
1938 Jun 6-Jul 29
1938 Aug 4-Sep 30
1938 Oct 2-24
1938 Nov 1-28
1938 Dec 1-14
1938 Dec 15-30
1939 Jan
1939 Feb
1939 Mar 1-15
1939 Mar 16-29
1939 Apr 1-18
1939 Apr 19-29
1939 May 1-15
1939 May 19-29
1939 Jun 5-16
1939 Jun 18-28
1939 Jul 2-15
1939 Jul 17-Aug 28
1939 Sep 10-28
1939 Oct 17-Nov 28
1939 Dec 4-11
1939 Dec 12-31
1940 Jan
1940 Feb 1-27
1940 Mar 8-31
1940 Apr 1-25
1940 May 1-Sep 14
1941 Jan 28-1958 Sep 7
1965 Apr 27-1966 Mar 1
1967
Undated
Undated
There is an index card file (Box 1a) arranged alphabetically by correspondent that is cross-referenced to a tablet (Box 1, folder 1a) that has the date of the correspondence.
Arranged chronologically.
No restrictions.
1914-1918
1919-1923
1924-1948, Kennebec Historical Society, Levi Williams correspondence
1925-1948, Edward C. Caswell correspondence
1928-1930
1931 Jul-Dec
1932 Jan-1933 Jun
1933 Jul-Dec
1934
1935
1936
1937 Jan-Aug
1937 Sep-Dec
1938
1939
1947-1948
Undated
Notes, newspaper clippings, miscellaneous printed material, and ephemera related to the activities of Lula and Merton G. L. Bailey. The bulk of the printed material and newspaper clippings concern bookplates. Ephemera includes a photograph of Lula Bailey's ninth grade class, Merton Bailey's high school graduation program, and the announcement of the Bailey's marriage. There is an incomplete collection of galley sheets from Louis Adamic's book "My America," an incomplete typescript of Thames Williamson's "Hunky," and a print of a sketch by Edward C. Caswell.
Arranged alphabetically.
No restrictions.
Adamic, Louis - clippings, 1938, 1951, undated
Adamic, Louis - "My America," galley sheets (incomplete), undated
Bookplates - list of plates exhibited at opening of M.I.T. buildings in Cambridge, undated
Caswell, Edward C. - clipping, printed sketch, program, and review, 1937, 1943, undated
Marriage announcement - Lula to Merton G. L. Bailey, 1913
Newspaper clippings, 1939-1943, undated
Notes by Merton G. L. Bailey re: Louis Adamic and others, undated
Notes - miscellaneous, undated
Photographs - group class picture, 1904 and unidentified ship, undated
Printed ephemera - Merton G. L. Bailey, 1906-1936, undated
Printed material re: bookplates, 1937-1960, undated
Realia - leather book cover and World War I victory medal, undated
Williamson, Thames - partial typescript for "Hunky," 1930 Jun 16
Compiled by Lula Bailey of Augusta, Maine, in the 1930s and 1940s, it was bequeathed to Bowdoin by her husband, Merton G. L. Bailey (Bowd. 1911). Although most of the more than two thousand pieces are American and British, some early Japanese bookplates and correspondence concerning her collection are included.