Guide to the Hetty Burlingame Beatty Papers
1947-1970

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Overview of the Collection

Creator: Beatty, Hetty Burlingame
Title: Hetty Burlingame Beatty Papers
Dates: 1947-1970 ( inclusive )
Quantity: 7 linear feet (7 containers)
Collection Number: Ax 452
Summary: Hetty Burlingame Beatty (1907-1971) was a sculptor and an author and illustrator of books for children. The collection includes manuscripts, illustrations, and correspondence relating to Beatty's interest in animals, especially horses, and travel adventure.
Repository: University of Oregon Libraries
Special Collections & University Archives

1299 University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1299
URL: http://libweb.uoregon.edu/speccoll/index.html

Languages: Collection materials in English. 
Sponsor: Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Biographical Note

Hetty Burlingame Beatty was born on October 8, 1907, in New Canaan, Connecticut, the daughter of Robert C. and Jean (Burlingame) Beatty. She attended the Boston Museum School from 1924-1929, and the University of Maryland from 1960-1963 through extension courses given in Bermuda. On October 11, 1959, she married Lewis F. Whitney, also an artist.

A trained sculptor, Beatty's works were exhibited nationally and won a number of awards. She was given the Mrs. David Hunt Scholarship in Sculpture; the second prize at the International Exhibition of Horses in Sculpture in New York; and a one-woman show of her sculpture and drawings at the Worcester Art Museum in 1941.

Beatty wrote and illustrated fourteen books and contributed to magazines. Her books include Topsy (1947), Little Wild Horse (1949), Little Owl Indian (1951), Bronto (1952), Saint Francis and the Wolf (1953), Droopy (1954), Thumps (1955), Bucking Horse (1957), Voyage of the Sea Wind (1959), Blitz (1961), Moorland Pony (1961), Trumper (1963), Bryn (1965), and Rebel, the Reluctant Racehorse (1968).

Beatty once commented to Contemporary Authors, "I started out as a sculptor and gradually shifted over to the field of writing, becoming so absorbed in it that I devote nearly all my time to it now, along with illustration of most of my own books for children.

"I have lived for two years in Italy, 1929-1931, and have since traveled a good deal in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East, as well as in the United States. I speak French and Italian, after a fashion. Horses, gardening, and square dancing are among my special interests, and I love to plan and build houses. I designed our house in Bermuda, where my husband and I spend the winters.

"I am primarily interested in writing for children, but have become increasingly interested in adult non-fiction. While I am busily writing, my husband is equally busy in his work of handwrought sculpture in lead and other things in pewter, copper, brass, and silver. He founded The Pewter Shop in Rockport, Massachusetts, thirty years ago and was long associated with it."

Hetty Burlingame Beatty died on August 20, 1971.

(Source: Gale Literary Databases. "Hetty Burlingame Beatty." Contemporary Authors. 28 October 2003. 30 June 2005.

Content Description

The Hetty Burlingame Beatty Papers consist of manuscripts, original art and correspondence relating to twelve of Beatty's fourteen books. The only books not included in the collection are Blitz (1961) and Trumper (1963). One interesting feature is the forty Glass printing plates for Saint Francis and the Wolf (1953).

Also included in the collection is a series of correspondence, the majority of which concerns the Houghton Mifflin Publishing Company.

Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Access :  

Collection is open to the public.

Collection must be used in Special Collections & University Archives Reading Room.

Restrictions on Use :  

Property rights reside with Special Collections & University Archives. Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted to the Manuscripts Librarian in Special Collections & University Archives. The reader must also obtain permission of the copyright holder.

Preferred Citation :  

[Identification of item], Hetty Burlingame Beatty Papers, Ax 452, Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information :  

Gift of Hetty Bulingame Beatty in 1968


Detailed Description of the Collection

Box
Solander Case 1 Production materials
Including overlays, paste-ups, and original sketches in color and black and white for: Little Owl Indian. Topsy. Moorland Pony. Little Wild Horse.
Solander Case 2 Rebel, the Reluctant Racehorse
Manuscripts, illustrations, and original artwork.
Solander Case 2 Production materials
Including manuscripts and original sketches in color and black and white for: Droopy. Little Owl Indian. Bronto.
Solander Case 3 Production materials
Including original manuscripts, sketches, layouts, and paste-ups for: Voyage of the Sea Wind. Bucking Horse. Thumps. Bryn.
Solander Case 4 Saint Francis and the Wolf
Glass printing plates.
Solander Case 5 Saint Francis and the Wolf
Glass printing plates.
Solander Case 6 Saint Francis and the Wolf
Glass printing plates.
Solander Case 7 Saint Francis and the Wolf
Glass printing plates.

Subjects

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.

  • Personal Names :
  • Beatty, Hetty Burlingame--Correspondence
  • Corporate Names :
  • Houghton Mifflin Company--Correspondence
  • Subject Terms :
  • Children's literature, American--Authorship
  • Children's literature, American--Illustrations
  • Illustrated children's books--United States
  • Publishers and publishing--Correspondence
  • Women authors, American--20th century
  • Women illustrators--United States
  • Form or Genre Terms :
  • Book illustrations
  • Glass negatives
  • Manuscripts for publication
    • Other Creators :
    • Houghton Mifflin Company

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