Guide to the Louis Bromfield Collection

Biography of Louis Bromfield

Louis Bromfield was born on December 27, 1896, in Mansfield, Ohio. After studying agriculture at Cornell University and journalism at Columbia University, Bromfield served in the American Field Service during World War I and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Legion of Honor medals. After a brief post-war stay in the United States, Bromfield and his wife returned to Europe where they lived in France until 1938. In the early 1920s, Bromfield began to publish his fiction writing, and was an instant critical success with his first book, The Green Bay Tree, in 1924. Bromfield enjoyed continued, popular success over the next three decades, and won the 1927 Pulitzer Prize for Early Autumn.

Bromfield returned to central Ohio in 1938, where he turned his attention to sustainable farming and soil management. At his Malabar Farm, Bromfield put into practice many of the theoretical principles of scientific farming. In his later life, despite his fame as a writer of fiction, Bromfield continued to shift his focus to sustainable agriculture, conservation, and related political issues effecting these endeavors. Much of Bromfield's writing in these areas has become a permanent addition to the study of agriculture.

Louis Bromfield died in 1956; after his death, Malabar Farm was sold by the Bromfield family to the Friends of the Land organization, who in turn donated the property to the state of Ohio in 1972. In 1976, the site formally became Malabar Farm State Park.

Scope and Content

The Louis Bromfield Collection is comprised of materials from Bromfield's career as a noted literary writer, as well as his later career as a farmer, conservationist, and spokesperson for sustainable agriculture. The majority of this collection focuses on Bromfield's later endeavors (those related to farming and agriculture), though researchers interested in Bromfield's literary career will find drafts, unpublished, and published versions of some of his literary works in this collection, as well as materials (primarily correspondence) between himself and other literary figures and organizations.

Materials present in the Louis Bromfield Collection include: drafts of fiction and non-fiction writings, speaking notes and transcripts, correspondence, financial records, administrative files, photographs, recordings, publications, and other assorted items. Materials range in date from circa 1850s and 1906 through 1986.

For more specific information about the contents of this collection, see the descriptions of each series and/or subseries below.

Statement of Arrangement

Restrictions on Access

The Louis Bromfield Collection is available for research.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Subjects:

Persons:

Organizations/Corporations:

Family Names:

Places:

Material Types:

Preferred Citation

[identification of item], [box number, folder number], Louis Bromfield Collection, SPEC.RARE.CMS.95, The Ohio State University Rare Books and Manuscripts Library

Acquisition Information

The Louis Bromfield Collection was officially deposited at the Ohio State University at Mansfield on June 20, 1977, as witnessed in "The Custody Agreement for Documentary Materials of the Late Louis Bromfield," as expedited by the "Trustees under the Will of Louis Bromfield, Messrs. Chauncey Belknap and Richard G. Moser." The collection includes: (1) the papers, manuscripts and letters, records and files pertaining to the books and publications of Louis Bromfield and writings and reference to his personal business, the management of his property, business affairs and personal writings between the members of his family and friends; (2) the books by Louis Bromfield in his library at Malabar Farm which are not necessary to provide the State of Ohio with a representative collection of his works; and, (3) files and correspondence which the Trustees obtained from Harper & Row, Inc.

The Collection was relocated to the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library of The Ohio State University Libraries in July 1998.

Processing Information

The preliminary finding aids for boxes 1-63 were compiled by John Frederick, M.L.S., Autumn 1998.

The Photograph series (Series 5) was processed by Thomas Shannon, 2013 October; finding aid for Series 5 written by Thomas Shannon, 2013 October.

The remainder of this collection was processed by Cate Putirskis, 2013 October; finding aid written by Cate Putirskis, 2013 October.

Other Finding Aids

A portion of this collection was previously described in the following inventory:

The contents of this typed inventory (below; divided into eight parts due to length) have been integrated into this finding aid and are primarily located in Series 1 (Writing) and Series 2 (Speaking).

In most instances, the description in this current finding aid is a condensed version of the description available in the inventory linked below.

Researchers should note that the eight parts linked below list materials in strict alphabetical order by title; in this current finding aid, the same content has been incorporated in the chronological order that Bromfield created these items (to coincide with the arrangement of the rest of the materials in the collection). Therefore, researchers consulting both the original inventory and the current finding aid will find the same items listed in different locations within the two documents.

Boxes 1-10
Boxes 11-20
Boxes 21-30
Boxes 31-40
Boxes 41-49
Boxes 50-53
Boxes 54-56
Boxes 57-63

Detailed Description of The Collection