Robert Lowry papers

Finding Aid

Prepared by Alice Essinger, November, 22, 2002; revised by Shelley Morris, April 2004; Last Updated: March 2022

Inclusive Dates: 1945-1992
Extent: 2.5 cubic feet (2 record storage boxes + oversized scrapbooks)
Physical Location: 11th floor

Biographical Note: Robert Lowry (1919-1994) was a popular author in his younger days, but became relatively unknown towards the end of his life. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio he spent the beginning and end of his life there. An avid writer from very early on, he began publishing his poems and short stories in the "Sunshine Page" of the Cincinnati Times Star, at the age of nine. In his early twenties, he started his own magazine called The Little Man and published several well-known authors. At the age of 23, he served in World War II and upon his return he published several books. Lowry's books were a combinaton of novels and compilations of short stories. In 1952, at the age of 33, he was committed into a mental institution and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He received electric shock treatments, a matter that upset him much throughout the rest of his life. His condition was later reclassified as manic-depressive. Throughout the latter half of his life he was in and out of institutions and while he still wrote, he had experienced difficulty in getting his works published. He struggled financially at the end of his life and spent the last five years in low rent hotels. By the time of his death, all of his books were out of print.

Scope and Content: This collection includes advertising, correspondence, poems and short stories of Robert Lowry. The advertising papers in this collection were sent to Kent State University's Special Collections Department in an effort to sell his material. Correspondence includes letters from Lowry's family, as well as those between Lowry and different publishers and the Kent State University's Special Collections Department. Short stories and poems by Lowry number over 50. News clippings in this collection are related to Lowry's publications, many of these clippings have been compiled in four different scrapbooks. Other items include artwork and personal papers.
 

Arrangement

• Advertising Papers
• Correspondence
• Autobiographical Works
• Poems
• Short Stories
• Miscellaneous Writings
• News Clippings
• Miscellaneous Papers

Box 1
Folder -- Contents

Series 1 -- Advertising Papers

1. Miscellaneous advertising, envelopes, pictures and letterhead paper, undated
2. Advertising, 1979
3. Advertising, March 6, 1984
4. Advertising, January 1989
5. Advertising, May 1989
6. Advertising, April 1992
7. Advertising, June 1992

Series 2 -- Correspondence

Subseries 1 -- Correspondence, undated

8. Miscellaneous correspondence to Robert Lowry
9. Cards for miscellaneous occasions sent to Robert Lowry [Valentines Day, Father's Day, and Birthday]
10. Miscellaneous Christmas cards, Robert Lowry to Kent State University Library
11. Robert Lowry to Kent State University Library

Subseries 2 -- Dated correspondence

12. Robert Lowry to Robert Marshall, October 12, 1945
13. Robert Lowry to Jim Lowell, September 4, 1965
14. Jesse Stuart to Stanley Weintraub, September 27, 1965
15. Samuel S. Vaughan to Stanley Weintraub, October 14, 1965
16. Robert Lowry to Stanley Weintraub, October 18, 1965
17. Robert Lowry to Stanley Weintraub, October 26, 1965
18. Robert Lowry to Stanley Weintraub, November 5, 1965
19. Robert Lowry to D.A. Levy, December 4, 1965
20. Marshall E. Bean to Robert Lowry, September 14, 1966
21. Lou Lowry to Robert Lowry, April 1, 1968
22. Beirne and Giacomo Lowry to Robert Lowry, April 2, 1968
23. Margaret Mills to Robert Lowry, April 23, 1968
24. Ken McCormick to Robert Lowry, May 17, 1968
25. Beirne Lowry to Robert Lowry, July 10, 1968
26. Norma Oneal to Robert Lowry, July 29, 1968
27. Anne Lowry to Robert Lowry, September 19, 1968
28. Richard L. Gordon to Robert Lowry, January 28, 1970
29. Charleen Whisnant to Robert Lowry, March 4, 1970
30. Anne Lowry to Robert Lowry, July 15, 1970
31. Mt. Adams Review to Robert Lowry, August 17, 1970
32. Bobby Crawford to Robert Lowry, September 7, 1970
33. James W. Hamilton to Robert Lowry, September 12,1970
34. Wayne Carver to Robert Lowry, September 30, 1970
35. Robert Lowry to Mari Ayres, October 4, 1970
36. Robert Lowry to Jeanie Warren, October 8, 1970
37. Richard L. Gordon to Robert Lowry, October 9, 1970
38. Robert Lowry to Dean Keller, November 4, 1970
39. Dean Keller to Robert Lowry, November 11, 1970
40. Howard B. Gottlieb to Robert Lowry, November 16, 1970
41. James Laughlin to Robert Lowry, November 16, 1970
42. O.E. Tainter to Robert Lowry, November 19, 1970
43. Robert Lowry to Dean Keller, November 22, 1970
44. Ken McCormick to Robert Lowry, November 23, 1970
45. Raymond J. Mollica to Robert Lowry, November 23, 1970
46. Ken McCormick to Robert Lowry, December 4, 1970
47. James Laughlin to Robert Lowry, December 7, 1970
48. Ken McCormick to Robert Lowry, December 7, 1970
49. Norma Oneal to Robert Lowry, December 10, 1970
50. Howard B. Gottlieb to Robert Lowry, December 17, 1970
51. Eva Newman to Robert Lowry, December 22, 1970
52. Ken McCormick to Robert Lowry, December 28, 1970
53. Christmas cards sent to Robert Lowry, 1970
54. Robert Lowry to Dean Keller, June 1971
55. Robert Lowry to Alex Gildzen and Dean Keller, December 18, 1973
56. Robert Lowry to Dean Keller, January 19, 1974
57. Robert Lowry to Dean Keller. [Contains drawings, newspaper clipping and a receipt], February 18, 1974
58. Robert Lowry to Dean Keller. [Contains a photograph], March 1975
59. Robert Lowry to Dean Keller, May 29, 1976
60. Robert Lowry to Dean Keller, December 16, 1983
61. Dean Keller to Ken McCormick, December 22, 1983
62. Ken McCormick to Dean Keller, February 7, 1984
63. Christmas Card. Robert Lowry to Kent State University staff, Oct 15, 1988
    63A. Robert Lowry to Cincinnati Post Book Review Editor, November 17, 1988
64. Robert Lowry to the librarians of Kent State University, November 25, 1988
65. Nancy Birk to Robert Lowry, January 26, 1989
66. Robert Lowry to Nancy Birk, January 31, 1989

Series 3 -- Autobiographical Works

67. "A Chronology of My Life Since 1952"
68. "Introduction"
69. "A Moment in Rome"
70. Résumé
71. "Robert Lowry"
72. "Robet Lowry" [1975?]
73. "Robert Lowry: Nothing But the Truth and the Creative Mind
74. "The Story Behind My Movie"
75. "Up Here"
76. Untitled 1
77. Untitled 2

Series 4 -- Poems

78. "Hey There-outing Girl"
79. "I Feared That You Were Gone Within and Other Poems"
80. "New Poems"
81. "This is a House"
82. "To My Love From a Desolate Room"

Series 5 -- Short Stories

83. "The American Writer", published in Esquire, May [no year]
84. "Andy" copy 1
85. "Andy" copy 2
86. "Asst. Mgr. Bafinkin" , published in Retort, December 1942
87. "The Boarder"
88. "The Boy"
89. "Brother Brother-in-Law" copy 1
90. "Brother Brother-in-Law" copy 2
91. "The Creedon Murder Case"
92. "The Cube" copy 1
93. "The Cube" copy 2
94. "Days, Even Weeks, Later..."
95. "Fast Ride to Denver"
96. "The Girl of My Saks Fifth Avenue Dreams"
97. "The Girl with the Big Pocketbook"
98. "I Have Drawn This"
99. "Jones" copy 1
100. "Jones" copy 2
101. "The Love of Fools" copy 1
102. "The Love of Fools" copy 2
103. "Mary is Bankrupt..." [Incomplete]
104. "The Midway Stop"
105. "Monocle Night on Bleeker Street", published in Nightwatch, December 1961
106. "Murder" copy 1
107. "Murder" copy 2
108. "Numbers are So Nice"
109. "Obituary"
110. "The Operation"
111. "Possessed" , published in Esquire, April [no year]
112. "Revolt in the Desert"
113. Royal Portfolio [contains 7 short stories]
114. "A Secret Society"
115. "The Spring That It Was Spring in Philadelphia" copy 1
116. "The Spring That It Was Spring in Philadelphia" copy 2
117. "The Subject was Women"
118. Wartime: 2 Stories Originally Published Overseas in Pinpoints ["Noo Year's is When You Deny Yourself" and "Soldier From Another Country"]
119. "What I Wouldn't Do" copy 1
120. "What I Wouldn't Do" copy 2
121. "What the Room Knew" copy 1
122. "What the Room Knew" copy 2
123. "Wherever My Love Will Lead Me"

Series 6 -- Miscellaneous Writings

124. "Conversations" copy 1
125. "Conversations" copy 2
126. Fragments of stories
127. "Ghosts"
128. "Issue One...Grey Eyes" [a monthly magazine]
129. "The Lost Colony"
130. "Mushcluck, Tweekletoes, Snugpuss, and Copperplate" copy 1
131. "Mushcluck, Tweekletoes, Snugpuss, and Copperplate" copy 2
132. "The Shapes of Things"
133. "The Other Side of Dreams of Glory"
134. "Boy to Be All Things" [2 copies]
135. "A Fine Fellow"
136. "The Difference"
137. "Process"
138. "This Side of Suicide" copy 1
139. "This Side of Suicide" copy 2
140. "The State of the Nation" [Interludes]
141. "The Terror in the Streets" [typescript with handwritten notations]
142. "Trip to the Bloomin Moon"
143. "The Truth of Art" copy 1
144. "The Truth of Art" copy 2
145. "Two Dreams" copy 1
146. "Two Dreams" copy 2
147. "Vine Street"
148. "What is Art"

Series 7 -- News Clippings

149. Clippings about "Casualty", 1957
150. Clippings about "Party of Dreamers", 1962
151. Clippings about "That Kind of Woman", 1959 (See also oversized folder)
152. Clippings about other writings, 1948-1968
153. Clippings written by Robert Lowry, 1963
154. Clipping about Robert Lowry, March 25, 1991

Series 8 -- Miscellaneous

155. Press release, July 31, 1971
156. Business papers
157. Correspondence [regarding veteran affairs]
158. Correspondence [regarding recognition]
159. Mark Twain Society Certificate of Membership, August 28, 1953
160. Correspondence from New Thought Unity Center
161. Christ Church Bulletins, Cincinnati, Ohio
162. Decision, December 1970
163. Artwork
164. [Title pages for various works]
165. Corespondence [various envelopes and notes]
166. Time magazine, November 30, 1970
167. [Various article clippings, no date]
168. Correspondence [related to publication subscriptions]
169. Galley proofs and typescripts for Casualty [sold as a set in labeled box] [located in oversized box]
170. Scrapbook [1959?] [located in oversized box]
171. Scrapbook 1959-1961 [located in oversized box]
172. Scrapbook 1956-1961 [located in oversized box]
173. Scrapbook 1948-1956 [located in oversized box]