Guide to the Papers of Margaret Deland, 1890-1925
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Papers of Margaret Deland
- Creator
- Deland, Margaret
- Collection Number
- MSS#177
- Extent
- .25 cubic feet (1 box)
- Date
- 1890-1925
- Abstract
- Margaret Deland had a long and prosperous writing career that was at the heart of the changing concerns of women from the 19th to the 20th century. Margaret Deland (Margaretta Wade Campbell Deland) is known for her creation of Old Chester, where most of her stories were set, a fictitious village with generations of characters and small town atmosphere that readers could imagine existed somewhere in Pennsylvania. These papers include photocopies of hand written and typed letters by Margaret to her cousin Madeleine Poindexter, a few letters from Margaret's secretary to Madeleine when Margaret had pneumonia, an article written by Theodocia Walton commenting on Deland's literary career that was published in The New York Times Book Review and Magazine (1922), and a postcard.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Biographical Sketch of Margaret Deland (1857-1945)
Margaret Deland had a long and prosperous writing career that was at the heart of the changing concerns of women from the 19th to the 20th century. Margaret Deland (Margaretta Wade Campbell Deland) is known for her creation of Old Chester, where most of her stories were set, a fictitious village with generations of characters and small town atmosphere that readers could imagine existed somewhere in Pennsylvania. Margaret Wade Campbell was born on February 23, 1857 in Allegheny, a suburb of Pittsburgh, now Pittsburgh's North Side. Her mother died in childbirth, and her elderly father shortly thereafter, leading Margaret to her Uncle Campbell's family estate of Maple Grove on the Ohio River in southwestern Pennsylvania. There, Margaret established close ties with her cousins, including Madeleine Wade Poindexter. In 1880, Margaret married Lorin Fuller Deland of Boston, who introduced her to various social and literary circles. After her husband died in 1917, Margaret went to France for war relief work, representing the Author's Fund for the Relief of Wounded Soldiers of the Allied Nations, which she organized and directed. This organization of American authors offered donations and services to assist the Allies and joining her in this effort were important writers such as William Dean Howells and Edith Wharton, as well as British author and statesman Winston Churchill. Margaret Deland died January 13, 1945 in Boston and left behind a legacy of writing that documents the changing concerns of women and depicts the middle-class values and attitudes of her contemporary society.
Poetry, nonfiction, and fiction constitute the diverse forms of Margaret Deland's literary talents. She began her career by writing verses for a greeting card manufacturer in Boston. Several of her poems were published in Harpers New Monthly Magazine and in the collection The Old Garden and Other Verses (1886). Deland also wrote reviews, pamphlets, and essays that were published in such magazines as Harpers Bazaar, the Independent, Ladies Home Journal, and Woman's Home Companion. The Common Way (1904), was a collection of Deland's essays, and two autobiographies titled If This Be I, As I Suppose It Be (1935) and Golden Yesterdays (1941) make up the section of nonfiction that composes Deland's extensive writing career. These various forms of writing styles record not only her life but also her era.
Although she also wrote poetry and nonfiction, Margaret Deland's reputation rests primarily on her fiction. She wrote thirty-eight short stories for magazines, such as Harpers Weekly and Cosmopolitan and approximately thirty-nine novelettes and novels that demonstrate the reoccurring themes of her rejection of religious orthodoxy and her moderate views on women's issues. Her stories offer a sense of nostalgia for the quaint social customs of a simpler time in history and often embody the struggle to maintain standards, manners, and beliefs of the 19th century in the midst of great change at the turn of the 20th century. Her moderate view on women's issues presents the need for change and the fear that too much change would destroy society. Deland believed that marriage is the cornerstone of a woman's life and opposed divorce. She has been criticized for creating mothers who neglect their children and women who stifle their own sexuality. At the same time, Deland attacked religious fanaticism and advocated sex education and birth control. Some critics believe that her writing depicts strong, intelligent, and independent women creating a new type of heroine. Her writing documents the changing attitudes and perceptions of the traditional images of women and illustrates the changing "feminine ideal" and the emergence of the "new woman". Her work is most impressive for the way it reflects the conflicts she witnesses and experiences between the old and the new. Deland's controversial writing career is fore grounded in her rejection of Presbyterianism while expressing both Anti-Suffragist and Suffragist views and mirroring the social and moral crises of her time. Deland was also active in lecturing to clubs, schools, and societies.
Scope and Content Notes
These papers include photocopies of hand written and typed letters by Margaret to her cousin Madeleine Poindexter, a few letters from Margaret's secretary to Madeleine when Margaret had pneumonia, an article written by Theodocia Walton commenting on Deland's literary career that was published in The New York Times Book Review and Magazine (1922), and a postcard. This correspondence covers historical events including the attempted assassination of Theodore Roosevelt, the passage of the Woman's Suffrage law in the state of California, the Great Panic of 1907, the Japanese-Russian War, and the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Personal memories, family holidays, marriages and births as well as the illnesses and deaths, and Margaret's opinions about the contemporary writers of her time are also included. Margaret's letters probe and discuss problems of religion, women's issues, and the changing attitudes of the 20th century, which is reflected in the various forms of her writing. The ongoing development of Old Chester in her novels and Margaret Deland's increasing success and popularity is also discussed. For example, letters from 1911 reveal publishers notified Deland that The Iron Woman was the best selling novel in the United States. Of note are the letters from March and October of 1912 in which Margaret describes President Taft and Theodore Roosevelt after personal meetings with them. This correspondence makes specific reference to the attempted assassination of Roosevelt and expresses Roosevelt's position on women's suffrage. Margaret had numerous operations and at one-point states that she had eight operations in the past fourteen years. Interestingly, the dates and the types of operations are briefly mentioned and left ambiguous. These papers document the growth of Margaret Deland's literary career as reflected in her correspondence with her cousin Madeleine Poindexter and illustrate the various obstacles Margaret encountered and overcame with publishers to leave behind the diverse legacy of Margaret Deland's literary talents.
Arrangement
The Margaret Deland Papers are housed in one archival box and are arranged chronologically.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials were received in one accession in 1983.
Acc# 1983x Gift of Robert W. Poindexter, (Papers. Mr. Poindexter is the grandson of Madeleine Wade Poindexter.).
Preferred Citation
Papers of Margaret Deland, 1890-1925, MSS# 177, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Deborah Hile on February 17, 1995.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Doug MacGregor on May 12, 2001.(1 box)
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Subjects
- Poindexter, Madeleine Wade (?-1925)
- Roosevelt, Theodore (1858-1919)
- American literature -- Women authors
- Career development
- Literature and morals
- Women -- Suffrage
- Women in war
- Women Novelists -- Pennsylvania