Clarine Coffin Grenfell Papers
Scope and Contents
Collection contains personal papers of Clarine Coffin Grenfell. It includes correspondence, 1927-1997, the early part of which consists of love letters to and from suitors and from her future husband, Rev. Jack Grenfell. It also includes a scrapbook and other memorabilia from her time as a student at the University of Maine; family photographs, 1928-1990s; teacher's contracts and other work documents; memorabilia; and information about Grenfell's honorary degree from the University of Maine.
Dates
- 1927-2001
Creator
- Grenfell, Clarine Coffin (Person)
Access Restrictions
Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.
Use Restrictions
Information on literary rights available in the repository.
Biographical Note
Clarine Coffin Grenfell was a poet, teacher, publisher and Methodist minister. She was born Dec. 31, 1910, in Bangor, Maine, the daughter of Millard Fillmore Coffin and Clara B. Kelley Coffin. She was a member of the class of 1932 at the University of Maine, where she belonged to Phi Mu and was class poet, and graduated from the Hartford Seminary in 1938. She taught at various high schools in Maine and Connecticut and worked for Reader's Digest and the state of Connecticut as a consultant and editor. After retiring from teaching in 1980, Grenfell founded a small publishing house, the Grenfell Reading Center, in Orland, Maine. She also served as a supply pastor in Dixmont and Hermon, Maine. Grenfell established the Clarine Coffin Grenfell Poetry Prize at the University of Maine in 1990 and received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from the university in 2002. She married Rev. Jack Grenfell in 1939 and they had three children: John Millard Grenfell, Lornagrace Grenfell Stuart and Pamela Grenfell Smith. Jack Grenfell died July 2, 1980 and Clarine Coffin Grenfell died Sept. 7, 2004.
Extent
3 boxes
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Collection contains personal papers of Clarine Coffin Grenfell. It includes correspondence, 1927-1997, the early part of which consists of love letters to and from suitors and from her future husband, Rev. Jack Grenfell. It also includes a scrapbook and other memorabilia from her time as a student at the University of Maine; family photographs, 1928-1990s; teacher's contracts and other work documents; memorabilia; and information about Grenfell's honorary degree from the University of Maine.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Pamela Grenfell Smith, Bloomington, IN, September 2004.
- Grenfell, Jack, 1908-1980
- Love letters -- Maine Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Methodist Church -- Clergy Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Phi Mu Fraternity
- Poets, American -- Maine -- Orland Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- University of Maine -- Alumni and alumnae
- University of Maine -- History
- University of Maine -- Students
- University of Maine. Class of 1932
- Women college students -- Maine -- Orono Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- Guide to the Clarine Coffin Grenfell Papers
- Status
- Box And Folder List Available
- Date
- 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for uncoded script
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Repository
5729 Raymond H. Fogler Library
University of Maine
Orono ME 04469-5729 United States
207-581-1686
