Collection ID: LMC 1551
Request
Printable View Printable View
Ead Download EAD

Collection context

Summary

Creator:
Payne, Lesley, 1876?-1976 and James, Louis, 1906-
Abstract:
The James mss., 1911?-1971, consists chiefly of those letters of musician Lesley Payne, 1891-1976, to artist Louis James, 1909-1971, concerning a copy of a life mask of the poet John Keats.
Extent:
2 Boxes (2 standard)
Language:
Materials are in English .
Preferred citation:

[Item], James mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Background

Biographical / Historical:

John Keats, 1795-1821, was a prominent British Romantic poet. He was born on October 31, 1795 in London. As a young man he was apprenticed to a surgeon, but in 1816 he decided to devote himself to poetry (the same year the life mask was completed). His first volume of poems, Poems by John Keats, was published in 1817. He spent much of his brief career as a poet writing long epic poems, such as Endymion (1818), influenced by his reading of Greek myths. 1818-1819 was his most prolific period, cut short by the death of his brother from tuberculosis. His most famous poems include Hyperion (another epic poem, unpublished until 1856), "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "Ode on Melancholy," and "Ode to a Nightingale." Keats contracted tuberculosis himself in 1819, and he died on February 23, 1821 in Rome.

Scope and Content:

The James mss., 1911?-1971, consists chiefly of those letters of musician Lesley Payne, 1891-1976, to artist Louis James, 1909-1971, concerning a copy of a life mask of the poet John Keats. With the material are two framed photographs: one of Lesley Payne and her mother, Mary Elizabeth (Riley) Payne taken sometime during their stay in Paris, 1908-1914, and one of Mary Elizabeth (Riley) Payne taken by James in 1930. Miss Payne, in a letter of February 20, 1971, commented on the recent death of Paul Hadley, who in 1917 had designed the Indiana state flag.

The copy of the Keats mask is present in the collection, along with a magazine clipping and James' information about it. The original of the life mask was made by Benjamin Robert Haydon in December 1816. This copy is presumed to have been the one given by James Whitcomb Riley to the Art Association of Indianapolis and acknowledged by them on October 24, 1911. Louis James, as Louis James Globenskey, attended the Herron School of Art between 1927-1933, during which time he acquired the mask in Indianapolis and at a later date gave it a terra cotta exterior.

A later addition of 7 scanned photo slides of the Paynes and John Keats' life mask completes the collection.

Acquisition information:
Gift: 1979
Arrangement:

This collection is arranged following original order.

Physical location:
Lilly - Stacks

Access

RESTRICTIONS:

This collection is open for research.

Many collections are housed offsite; retrieval requires advance notice. Please make an appointment a minimum of one week in advance of your visit.

TERMS OF ACCESS:

Photography and digitization may be restricted for some collections. Copyright restrictions may apply. Before publishing, researchers are responsible for securing permission from all applicable rights holders, then filling out the Permission to Publish form.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[Item], James mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
1200 East Seventh Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405-5500, USA
CAMPUS:
Indiana University Bloomington
CONTACT:
(812) 855-2452
liblilly@indiana.edu