Collection is open to the public. Collection must be used in Special Collections and University Archives Reading Room. Collection or parts of collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Special Collections and University Archives in advance of your visit to allow for transportation time.
Paper finding aid with additional information is available in Special Collections & University Archives.
Lowell Brentano (1895-1950) was born in New York City on April 18, 1895. He graduated with honors from Harvard in 1918 and joined the family publishing firm in an editorial capacity, later becoming vice-president. He was also writing plays, and in 1926 authored with Fulton Oursler, "The Spider," which enjoyed a long New York run and was performed in seven European countries. Other Brentano plays include "Zepplin," "Family Affairs," "Danger - Men Working," and "Great Lady." Brentano married Frances Hyams, an editor and literary scout who received her PhD in English from Radcliff in 1917.
In 1933, the Brentanos left the family business and concentrated on their writing careers. Lowell Brentano continued writing plays, movie scripts, articles and novels. Francis Brentano aided her husband critically and editorially and wrote magazine articles and fiction during the 1930s and 1940s. Lowell Brentano died in 1950 and Francis Brentano continued his activities with the New York League for the Hard of Hearing and as a publishing scout for several major publishers.
The collection consists of correspondence, manuscripts, tearsheets, copyright and registration material, court records, publisher and author permissions, reviews, biographical material, memorabilia, and a scrapbook.
The correspondence is divided between incoming (1917-1952) which is organized alphabetically buy sender's last name or organization title, and outgoing (1926-1952), which is organized chronologically.
The Brentano collection includes extensive correspondence with Fulton Oursler, who after becoming editor of Liberty Magazine in 1931 left the business end of their collaborative efforts in the hands of Lowell Brentano. Other correspondents include George Bernard Shaw, George Moore, Lord Dunsany, Jerry Wald, J. Frank Dobie, James Geller, the William Morris Agency, and John Benn of the English publishing house, Ernest Benn, Ltd.
The manuscripts section includes book, short story, and article-length manuscripts as well as play and movie scripts, synopses, by Lowell Brentano. There are also manuscripts, notes, research, publisher and author information for works by Frances Hyams Brentano (referred to as FHB in the paper finding aid). Also included are magazine tearsheets with articles by Lowell and Francis Brentano.
The collection also contains, copyright and registration material, court records, theatre bills and schedules, reviews, biographical material for both Lowell and Frances Brentano, memorabilia, and a scrapbook.