Robert Bright Papers
Collection
Identifier: MSS-1039-BC
Scope and Content
The collection consists of a variety of prepress materials, such as mock-ups, original book illustrations and acetate overlays. Also included are original artwork, many family letters, and other papers collected by Bright over the course of his career as a journalist and children's author. Some letters found in the collection are from Frieda Lawrence, from Adlai Stevenson, and one from Buckingham Palace to Dorothy Brett.
Dates
- 1830s-1979
- Majority of material found within 1888-1970
Creator
- Bright, Robert, 1902-1988 (Person)
Language of Materials
English
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Copy Restrictions
Limited duplication of CSWR material is allowed for research purposes. User is responsible for compliance with all copyright, privacy, and libel laws. Permission is required for publication or distribution.
Biographical Information
Robert "Bobby" Bright (August 5, 1902 – November 21, 1988) was an American author and illustrator of children's literature who wrote and illustrated over 20 books in his 40-year career. He is best known for Georgie (1944), a children's classic about a friendly and shy little ghost.
Bright was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts. His father, Edward Bright, Jr. was a journalist, a magazine publisher, a mathematician, and a prolific correspondent. The archive includes many letters between Edward and his fiancee/wife Blanche Denio Wright, as well as correspondence and reminiscences from earlier and later generations.
His family lived in Germany from 1903 to 1914, returning to the US during World War I. in 1926 he graduated from Princeton University with a major in English. He became a columnist and journalist for various periodical publishers, including The New York World, The Baltimore Sun, and Conde Nast.
In 1938 Bright, his wife, Katherine, and their two children relocated to Taos, New Mexico at the urging of their friend Frieda Lawrence. There, the Brights lived in a simple adobe house in Rio Chiquito on four acres of land where they produced their own food. The Brights became friends with many of the writers and painters who established a colony there in the 1930s, among them W.H. Auden, Andrew Dasburg and Georgia O'Keeffe. Life in New Mexico inspired Bright's second novel, The Life and Death of Little Jo, which inspired John Donald Robb’s folk opera, Little Jo.
Robert Bright died in San Francisco, California in 1988.
Bright was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts. His father, Edward Bright, Jr. was a journalist, a magazine publisher, a mathematician, and a prolific correspondent. The archive includes many letters between Edward and his fiancee/wife Blanche Denio Wright, as well as correspondence and reminiscences from earlier and later generations.
His family lived in Germany from 1903 to 1914, returning to the US during World War I. in 1926 he graduated from Princeton University with a major in English. He became a columnist and journalist for various periodical publishers, including The New York World, The Baltimore Sun, and Conde Nast.
In 1938 Bright, his wife, Katherine, and their two children relocated to Taos, New Mexico at the urging of their friend Frieda Lawrence. There, the Brights lived in a simple adobe house in Rio Chiquito on four acres of land where they produced their own food. The Brights became friends with many of the writers and painters who established a colony there in the 1930s, among them W.H. Auden, Andrew Dasburg and Georgia O'Keeffe. Life in New Mexico inspired Bright's second novel, The Life and Death of Little Jo, which inspired John Donald Robb’s folk opera, Little Jo.
Robert Bright died in San Francisco, California in 1988.
Extent
2 boxes (1.35 cu. ft.)
Abstract
Letters, manuscripts, book mock-ups, and original drawings pertaining to author Robert Bright and his family.
Processing Information
Inquire with reference staff for access to unprocessed material, 3 boxes, B3-9A (Added 4/21/2023).
Creator
- Bright, Robert, 1902-1988 (Person)
- Title
- Finding Aid of the Robert Bright Papers, 1868-1988
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Wendy Pedersen
- Date
- © 2019
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is in English
Revision Statements
- Monday, 20210524: Attribute normal is missing or blank.
Repository Details
Part of the UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections Repository
Contact:
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu
University of New Mexico Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections
University Libraries, MSC05 3020
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque NM 87131
505-277-6451
cswrref@unm.edu