Colwell Family Papers
Scope and Contents
Family papers, calendars, correspondence, unpublished manuscripts, literary notes, photographs, and clippings of Maine author Miriam Colwell and her partner, the artist Chenoweth Hall. Cole family papers include business records of the Deasy and Handy Country Store, several Cole family businesses, journals, correspondence, photographs, and genealogical information for the community of Prospect Harbor.
Dates
- Creation: 1817-2012
Creator
- Colwell, Miriam, 1917- (Person)
- Hall, Chenoweth, 1908-1999 (Person)
- Cole, Fred W. (Person)
- Cole, John B. (Person)
Restrictions on Access
Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.
Restrictions on Use
Information on literary rights available in the repository.
Biographical Note
Miriam Colwell was born in Prospect Harbor, Maine. She attended the University of Maine in Orono for a year, then moved to New York City. She returned to Prospect Harbor to become the town's postmaster at the age of 23. She published three popular novels set in Maine: Wind off the Water (1945), Day of the Trumpet (1947), and Young (1955). Contentment Cove, written in the 1950s, was published in 2006.
Chenoweth Hall was born and raised in New Albany, Indiana. She left to attend the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin where she received her degree in musicology. After graduation she moved to New York City. Her first job was teaching music in New Jersey elementary schools but she went on to become a copywriter in New York City advertising agencies. In 1939 she moved to the small coastal town of Prospect, Maine to devote her time to writing, painting and sculpture. There she became a noted art teacher, sculptor, and painter of landscapes in a modernist style influenced by John Marin and Marsden Hartley. Her paintings and sculpture soon began to be shown in numerous Maine exhibits, and eventually included exhibits in Boston, New York City and Philadelphia.
Miriam Colwell's mother's family, the Cole family, settled in the area of Prospect Harbor in the late 1700s.
Extent
18 linear feet (18 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Organization of the Collection
This collection is arranged in four series with subseries: I. Cole and Colwell Family papers; II. Miriam Colwell papers; III. Chenoweth Hall papers; IV. Later accession, cataloged 2018. Series I is divided into three subseries: 1. Correspondence, 2. Papers, and 3. Photographs. Series II is divided into five subseries: 1. Correspondence, 2. Daily planners, 3. Manuscript material, 4. Papers, and 5. Photograph albums. Series III is divided into six subseries: 1. Clippings, 2. Correspondence, 3. Daily planners, 4. Manuscript material, 5. Papers, and 6. Publications.
- Series I, Cole and Colwell family papers
- Series II, Miriam Colwell papers
- Series III, Chenoweth Hall papers
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Colwell Family Papers came to the Special Collections Department, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine in three major gifts from Miriam Colwell in 2011, 2013, and 2015.
- Title
- Guide to the Colwell Family Papers
- Status
- Box And Folder List Available
- Author
- Elizabeth Russell
- Date
- 2014
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- 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
