John G. Neihardt Collection
Title: John G. Neihardt
Collection
Creator: Neihardt, John Gneisenau,
1881-1973
Dates: 1912-1982
Quantity: 1 box (0.5 linear feet)
Collection Number: MS 0026
Language: English
Restrictions: Folder 2 is marked "No reproduction may be made without permission of the
Huntington Library" [San Marino, Ca.]
Access and Use: For information on access or copyright, please see our guidelines
or email archives@unl.edu.
Historical Records Statement: Please see our statement on historical records and materials.
Preferred Citation: John G. Neihardt Collection (MS 0026). Archives & Special Collections,
University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries.
Biography:
John Gneisenau Neihardt was born to Nicholas Nathan and Alice Culler Neihardt on 8
January 1881 near Sharpsburg, Illinois. In 1891 the family relocated to Wayne,
Nebraska. Neihardt completed the scientific course of studies at Nebraska Normal
College in 1897. He obtained a Litt. D. from the University of Nebraska in 1917, an
LL. D. from Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, and a Litt. D. from the
University of Missouri at Columbia in 1947. He served as a professor of poetry at
the University of Nebraska beginning in 1923. In 1959 he was named a Fellow of the
International Institute of Arts and Letters in Lindau, Germany. He received the
citation and title "Prairie Poet Laureate of
America" from the United States Poets Laureate International in 1968.
Neihardt became Nebraska's poet laureate in 1921, an honor he held until 1973. He
authored dozens of books between 1900 and 1972, including the successful Black Elk Speaks (1932), which has been translated into
several languages. Neihardt died in Columbia, Missouri, on 3 November 1973.
Scope and Content:
The collection includes a typed manuscript of a Neihardt poem; original and
photocopied pieces of correspondence, including a folder of letters to author George
Sterling; typed transcripts of published Neihardt essays; miscellaneous essays;
brochures; and newspaper clippings about Neihardt. Photographic and audio materials
of and about Neihardt are also included in the collection. The materials written
about Neihardt include Lucile F Aly's "John G. Neihardt
And The American Epic" and Slade M. Kendrick's "Letters of John Neihardt to a Friend."
Subjects:
Neihardt, John Gneisenau, 1881-1973
Sterling, George, 1869-1921
Container List:
Box 1. Folder 1. Correspondence, Neihardt to Charles N. Dietz, 1921, Nov. 18
Box 1. Folder 2. Correspondence, Neihardt to George Sterling
(photocopies), 1912-1925
Box 1. Folder 3. Christmas card, inscribed by Neihardt, 1972
Box 1. Folder 4. Typescript poem,"Wounded Knee" by
Neihardt, undated
Box 1. Folder 5. Typescript poem, autographed,"The Song of
Hugh Glass," 1935
Box 1. Folder 6. Typescripts, essays, by Neihardt Kansas City
Journal Post, 1926
Box 1. Folder 7. "The Song of the Hoe," limited
edition, copy no. 76, Vagabond Press, 1981
Box 1. Folder 8. Excerpt, "Song of the Messiah"
Box 1. Folder 9. Neihardt bibliography, 1951
Box 1. Folder 10. Typescript essay, by Slade M. Kendrick, 1977(?)
Box 1. Folder 11. Typescript essay, by Lucile F. Aly, 1978
Box 1. Folder 12. Booklets, clippings, about Neihardt, 1920-1982
Box 1. Folder 13. Photographs, postcard, of Neihardt
Box 1. Folder 14. Cassettes, by and about Neihardt, 1969-1978
Related Material and Resources: Additional Neihardt materials appear in many of the Record Groups contained in the
University Archives. A list of these materials is available in the repository.The UNL Archives & Special Collections also has books authored by Neihardt, which
can be located through the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Libraries on-line
catalog.Other Neihardt materials are held by the Nebraska State Historical Society. The majority of Neihardt's papers are located at the Western Historical Manuscript
Collection, University of Missouri-Columbia Libraries. |