Library Record

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1 of 1977

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Metadata

Title

Jeanne Robert Foster collection

Author

Foster, Jeanne Robert, 1879-1970

Year Range from

1886

Year Range to

1971

Object Name

Manuscript

Control Number

12079

Call Number

MS 09-343

Physical Description

.42 linear ft. (1 box)

Summary

The collection is comprised of materials related to Jeanne Robert Foster, a poet, journalist, editor, model, and social worker. The bulk of the collection is dated 1959-1970. The collection includes copies of several of Foster's poems, photographs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence from Foster to her cousin, Dora Hayes. The collection also includes a small amount of materials related to Foster's prominent contemporaries, including artist John Butler Yeats, writer Ford Madox Ford, and art collector John Quinn.

See Notes field for full finding aid.

Search Terms

Foster, Jeanne Robert, 1879-1970
Poetry
Women
Correspondence

Imagefile

002\12079.JPG

Notes

Guide to the Jeanne Robert Foster Collection, 1886-1971 (MS 09-343)

Creator: Foster, Jeanne Robert, 1879-1970

Collection Number: MS 09-343

Extent: .46 linear ft. (1 box)

Donated by: Katherine Hayes, October 1992

Inclusive Dates: 1886-1971

Bulk Dates: 1959-1970

Access: Access to this collection is unrestricted.

Abstract:
The collection is comprised of materials related to Jeanne Robert Foster, a poet, journalist, editor, model, and social worker. The collection includes copies of several of Foster's poems, photographs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence from Foster to her cousin, Dora Hayes. The collection also includes a small amount of materials related to Foster's prominent contemporaries, including artist John Butler Yeats, writer Ford Madox Ford, and art collector John Quinn.

Catalog Terms:
Foster, Jeanne Robert, 1879-1970
Poetry
Women
Correspondence

Scope and Content Note:
The collection is comprised of materials related to Jeanne Robert Foster, a poet, journalist, editor, model, and social worker. The bulk of the collection is dated 1959-1970. The collection includes copies of several of Foster's poems, photographs, newspaper clippings, and correspondence from Foster to her cousin, Dora Hayes. The collection also includes a small amount of materials related to Foster's prominent contemporaries, including artist John Butler Yeats, writer Ford Madox Ford, and art collector John Quinn.

Organization Note:
The original order of materials has been maintained.

Biographical and Historical Note:
Jeanne Robert Foster was a poet, journalist, editor, model, and social worker. Born Julia Elizabeth Oliviere in 1879 in Johnsburg, New York, she later adopted the pen name Jeanne Robert Foster. In 1896, she married Matlock Foster, an insurance salesman from Rochester, New York. She graduated from the Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute in Rochester and continued her education in New York City, graduating from the Stanhope-Wheatcroft Dramatic School, and later taking courses at Boston University and Harvard University.

While working as an assistant to the fashion editor of the New York Sunday American, Jeanne was asked to model and began a career posing for the leading fashion artists of the era, including Harrison Fisher and Charles Dana Gibson. From 1910 to 1927, she worked as a contributing editor for American Review of Reviews. Foster wrote on art, education, and women's issues and contributed book reviews, poetry criticism, and theater reviews. While in New York, she made friends with a number of notable artists and writers, including Ford Madox Ford, John Butler Yeats, William Butler Yeats, Ezra Pound, and Aleister Crowley. Between 1918 and 1924 she helped John Quinn, a New York City lawyer and art patron, collect a large amount of contemporary art. During this period she traveled in Europe and met many prominent artists and writers, including Pablo Picasso, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, and T. S. Eliot. After Quinn's death in 1924, Foster edited his correspondence, which was then deposited at the New York Public Library.

In 1932 Jeanne left New York City permanently and relocated to Schenectady to care for her family. Foster served as a tenant-relations counselor for the Schenectady Housing Authority from 1938 until her retirement in 1955. In addition to her work in Schenectady, she was also involved in numerous local organizations, including the Schenectady Poetry Society, the Schenectady County Historical Society, Schenectady Senior Citizens, and the Schenectady chapter of Zonta International.

Foster published her first work, a series of narrative verse stories about early settlers in the Adirondacks entitled Neighbors of Yesterday, in 1916. She published another volume of poetry, Wild Apples, the same year. In 1923, Foster published a third volume of poetry, Rock-Flower. She also wrote a play, Marthe, in 1927. Her unpublished work was edited by Noel Riedinger-Johnson and published as Adirondack Portraits: A Piece of Time in 1986.

Foster was recognized for a number of her accomplishments during her lifetime. She was listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Poetry, and Who's Who of American Women. In 1959 she was named Schenectady Senior Citizen of the Year. In 1961 she received the city's highest honor, the Schenectady Patroon Award. In 1970, Foster was granted an honorary doctorate from Union College in recognition of her contributions to art and literature. She died in September 1970.

Box and Folder Listing:

BoxFolderFolder Title
11Poems - 1937-1968 & n.d.
12John Quinn - 1924, 1968-1969
13J.B. Yeats - 1917, 1919
14Ford Madox Ford - 1927
15Photographs of Matlock Foster and family - 1886 & n.d.
16Amelia Earhart - 1962 & n.d.
17Greeting cards from Jeanne Robert Foster - 1957-1969 & n.d.
18Envelopes from Jeanne Robert Foster - 1965-1970
19Typed poems - 1963 & n.d.
110Newspaper clippings - 1959-1971
111Data on Neighbors of Yesterday - n.d.
112Letters to Dora Hayes - 1961-1970
113Genealogy - 1967-1970
114Photographs - 1919-1964

Collection

Adirondack Experience Library