HISTORY NEBRASKA MANUSCRIPT FINDING AID
RG0912.AM: Louise Pound, 1872-1958
Papers: 1881-1958
Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska: Educator; folklorist, linguist
Size: 15.75 cu.ft.; 1 reel of microfilm [sketchbook].
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Louise Pound was born June 30, 1872, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her parents, Stephen and Laura Pound, had come to Lincoln in 1869; she was the second of their three children. Their mother educated the three children at home until they entered the University of Nebraska preparatory school. Miss Pound graduated from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Arts in 1892 and also earned a Master of Arts degree and a diploma in music there. She then completed a dissertation at the University of Heidelberg, Germany, passing the examination for a doctorate magna cum laude (1900) in two instead of the usual seven semesters.
In 1890, when she was 18, Louise Pound became Lincoln City Tennis Champion. She competed against men for the University of Nebraska title in 1891 and 1892, winning both years. In 1897 she won the Women’s Western Tennis Championship and in 1900 the Championship of Heidelberg. She also played a tie match with the Olympic men’s singles tennis titleholder while at Heidelberg. She won the state golf championship in 1916 and a 100 mile cycling medal in 1906, was a figure skater on ice, introduced skiing to Lincoln, and managed the university women’s basketball team. She is the only woman in the University of Nebraska Sports Hall of Fame.
During World War I Miss Pound served as a staff member of the Women’s Committee of the State Council of Defense; she was acting state head of the National League for Women’s Services in 1918, chairman of Overseas Relief Activities, and a member of the Food for France Committee. She belonged to the DAR, Phi Beta Kappa, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Theta Sigma Phi, Chi Delta Phi, Sigma Tau Delta, Delta Omicron, Alpha Lambda Delta, Delta Kappa Gamma, Pi Gamma Mu, and Mortar Board. She was also a member of the Lincoln Country Club, the Lincoln University Club, Copper Kettle, Wooden Spoons, and the Omaha Press Club. In 1955 she was elected the first woman president of the Modern Language Association.
Miss Pound served 50 years at the University of Nebraska, retiring in 1945. She taught American Literature, Contemporary English, and Comparative Literature. During summer sessions she gave courses at other educational institutions including the University of California, Yale, University of Chicago, Columbia University, and Stanford University. She contributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica, American Speech Quarterly, American Literature, Southern Folklore Quarterly, and College English. Her correspondents included H.L. Mencken and Dorothy Canfield Fisher.
Louise Pound died June 27, 1958, at the family home in Lincoln. She was survived by her brother Roscoe, Dean Emeritus of Harvard Law School, and her sister, Olivia, retired Lincoln High School administrator.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
This collection is arranged in seven series: 1) Biographical and personal information; 2) Correspondence, 1881-1958; 3) Folklore materials; 4) Literature/language materials; 5) Lectures and speeches; 6) Organizations and activities; and 7) Miscellaneous.
Most of the materials reflect Louise Pound’s lifelong research interest in American folklore, folk songs, dialects, and popular language. They provide details concerning her career at the University of Nebraska and the academic, civic and social organizations to which she belonged.
Miss Pound’s biographical materials, including a complete bibliography of her publications and clippings detailing her accomplishments, are in located in Series 1.
Correspondents whose letters appear in Series 2 include H. L. Mencken, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Mari Sandoz, Mamie Meredith, Ben Botkin, and Catherine LeMaster Eckrich. She maintained a lifelong correspondence with Anni Pfister, a Jewish friend whom she met as a student at the University of Heidelburg. Some of those letters poignantly describe Mrs. Pfister’s sojourn in the Philippines during World War II and the isolated life she led in Switzerland in her later years. (A few additional letters on specific research topics are found in Series 3 and Series 4 with the research notes to which they are related, as Miss Pound had filed them.) Note: Due to their condition, some original correspondence has been photocopied and removed. The original correspondence is restricted for preservation. Researchers must use the photocopies in the collection.
Folklore publications and resource files are in Series 3. In addition to two major works, a section of the Dictionary of Regional Folklore titled “Pioneer Days in the Midwest” and the book Origins of the Ballad, Miss Pound published dozens of short articles on Nebraska and Western folklore topics throughout her life. A number of her articles dealt with tall tales or with the legends recounted about generic sites like lovers’ leaps.
In Series 4 are Louise Pound’s articles and typed presentations on literary and language topics. Some discuss general subjects including contemporary fiction, American speech, and American slang. Others analyze more specific subjects like dream language or patterns of word formation related to a particular part of speech. Still others, generally very brief, demonstrate the uses of a single word or expression (“it,” “darn,” “OK”). Miss Pound stored in her language resource files a lifetime’s clippings from magazines and newspapers in which she had marked examples of popular speech; she continued collecting examples all her life.
Series 5 includes Miss Pound’s files for course lectures and the note cards for her lectures and speeches. The complete text of most of her speeches was handwritten on 3″ x 5″ cards. Her most frequent topics were her folklore and language research interests; in addition, she spoke on several occasions about women’s roles and university life.
Fascinating comments on student activities and groups at the University of Nebraska at the end of the nineteenth century and in the early years of the twentieth century appear in Series 6. Louise Pound took pride in her achievements in tennis and cycling and her involvement in the national social sorority Kappa Kappa Gamma. She took equal pleasure in her participation in Golden Fleece, a group of red-headed University of Nebraska women; and in NUTT (Nu Epsilon Tau Tau), a short-lived honorary society for women created to satirize traditional honorary groups.
Also in Series 6 are materials related to the professional organizations to which Louise Pound belonged: the Nebraska Writers Guild, the American Dialect Association, the Modern Language Association, and Chi Delta Phi.
Series 7 houses miscellaneous materials including social and political articles and clippings. There are a few popular magazines from the 1920s and catalogs from various universities, as well as 1954 centennial sections of the Lincoln Journal-Star.
RELATED COLLECTIONS IN THE ARCHIVES:
RG0909: Pound Family
RG0910: Laura Biddlecombe Pound
RG0911: Roscoe Pound
RG0913: Olivia Pound
INVENTORY
Series 1 – Biographical and personal information
Box 1
Folder
- Vita materials
- Vita materials, cont., including “Pound family legends”
- LP’s early creative writings
- Documents: passports, transcript
- World War I relief work
- Financial records, 1925-1958
- LP bibliography on file cards
- Reviews of LP’s writing, primarily Origins of the Ballad
- Kiwanis Award, 1947
- Tributes to LP
- Scrapbook A of clippings re LP
- Scrapbook B of clippings re LP (see oversize volume #1)
- Scrapbook C of clippings re LP
Box 2
Folder
- Loose clippings re LP
- Loose clippings re LP, cont.
- Scrapbook re. LP’s performance in sports (labeled “personal”)
- Sports materials, mostly re Wimbledon 1927 (LP attended)
- University of Heidelburg materials
- Miscellaneous biographical material
- Miscellaneous biographical material, cont.
- Miscellaneous biographical material, cont.
Box 3
Folder
- Autograph book (University of Nebraska classmates, 1892)
- Sketchbook, 1889-1892
- Sketchbook, 1894
- Sketchbook, 1894
- History notebook 7134-857
- History notebook 7134-858
- Composition/rhetoric notebook 7134-859
- English literature notebook 7134-860
- Philology notebook 7134-861
- History notebook 7134-862
- Phonetics notebook 7134-863
- Greek notebook 7134-865
- History notebook 7134-866
- Exam booklets
Series 2 – Correspondence, 1881-1958
Box 4
Folder
- Correspondence, 1881-1899
- Correspondence, 1900 (account of a friend’s European walking trip)
- Correspondence, 1900-1909
- Correspondence, 1910-1915
- Correspondence, 1916-1920
- Correspondence, 1921-1929
- Correspondence, 1930
- Correspondence, 1931
- Correspondence, 1932, Jan. – June
- Correspondence, 1932, July – Dec.
Box 5
Folder
- Correspondence, 1933
- Correspondence, 1934
- Correspondence, 1935
- Correspondence, 1936
- Correspondence, 1937
- Correspondence, 1938
- Correspondence, 1939
- Correspondence, 1940
- Correspondence, 1941
- Correspondence, 1942
- Correspondence, 1943
- Correspondence, 1944
- Correspondence, 1945
- Correspondence, 1946
- Correspondence, 1947, Jan. – Oct.
- Correspondence, 1947, Nov. – Dec.
- Correspondence, 1948
Box 6
Folder
- Correspondence, 1949
- Correspondence, 1950
- Correspondence, 1951
- Correspondence, 1952
- Correspondence, 1953-1954
- Correspondence, 1955
- Correspondence, 1956
- Correspondence, 1957-1958
- Correspondence, n.d.
- Correspondence, n.d.
- Correspondence and verses, Catherine LeMaster Eckrich, 1950-1955
- Correspondence and verses, Catherine LeMaster Eckrich, 1956-1959
- Correspondence, Guy H. Williams, Sr., 1953-1957
- Correspondence to Benjamin Botkin, 1929-1958 (published in Prairie Schooner)
- Correspondence to Frederick Cassidy, 1947-1954
- Correspondence to Ruth (Moore) Stanley, 1927-1956
- Correspondence re. LP’s book contracts, 1920-1949
- Notebook of addresses
Series 3 – Folklore materials: LP’s published/presented folklore research
Box 7
Folder
- Published folklore articles, A-Nebraska Legends
- Published folklore articles, Nebraska Rain-Y
- Book reviews on folklore topics
- Typescript and manuscript addresses on general folklore
- Address on Nebraska folklore
- “Pioneer Days in the Midwest” from Regional American Folklore
- “Pioneer Days in the Midwest” cont.
- “Pioneer Days in the Midwest” cont.
- “Pioneer Days in the Midwest” cont.
- Typescript articles on ballads/folksongs
- Typescript and addresses on ballads/folksongs
- Typescript article on Joe Bowers
- Typescript article on John Maher’s hoaxes
Box 8
Folder
- Page proofs and typescript on tall tales
- Text on lovers’ leaps
Series 3 – Folklore materials: LP’s notes and resource files
- Play-party game texts provided by others
- Joe Bowers folksong
- Ozark folksongs
- Folksong/ballad texts
- Folksong/ballad texts, cont.
- Folksong/ballad texts, cont.
- Folksong/ballad texts, cont.
- Folksong/ballad texts provided by Tom A. Little
- Folksong/ballad texts provided by other collectors
- Miscellaneous folksong/ballad materials
- Miscellaneous folksong/ballad materials, cont.
- Miscellaneous folksong/ballad materials filed as “scrapbook”
- Sources for recorded folksongs
Box 9
Folder
- LP notes for article on John Maher’s hoaxes
- Correspondence and clippings re John Maher
- Olof Bergstrom
- Buffalo Bill, Yellowhand, Wild Bill Hickok
- Tall tales
- Drought, rainmaking
- Popular superstitions and sayings
- Cowboy legends
- Indian legends
- Folk customs
- Specific Nebraska sites
- Specific Nebraska sites, cont.
- Specific Nebraska sites, cont.
- Lovers’ leap legends
- Cave legends
- Butte legends
- Buried treasure legends
- Wyoming place names
Series 3 – Folklore materials: other scholars’ work
Box 10
Folder
- Folklore bibliographies
- Articles on play-parties
- Typed articles on folklore topics
- Offprints of folklore articles, alphabetical by author, Bancroft – Smith
- Offprints of folklore articles, alphabetical by author, Thompson-Van den Bark
- Student papers on folklore topics
- Journal of American Folklore, 1922 (with additional manuscript and typed materials re folksongs originally stored in it)
Series 3 – Folklore materials: general resources
Box 11
Folder
- W.P.A. guidelines for folklore studies
- Folklore Institute of America lectures, part 1
- Folklore Institute of America lectures, part 2
- Materials from folklore conferences
- Brochures from folklore conferences
- Folklore materials available for sale
- Folklore materials available for sale, cont.
- Folklore scrapbook
- Folklore scrapbook
- Miscellaneous folklore materials
- Miscellaneous folklore materials, cont.
Box 12
Folder
- Miscellaneous folklore materials, cont.
- Miscellaneous folklore materials, cont.
- Miscellaneous folklore materials, cont.
Series 4 – Literature/language materials: LP’s published and presented work
Box 13
Folder
- Various literary topics
- Contemporary fiction
- “Dialect in American literature”
- Dream language
- “American English After Two Wars”
- “American English Today”
- American English (various articles)
- “The Spoken Word” 1948
- “The Spoken Word” 1953
- “Chlorophyll Contagion”
- “On the Meaning of Humanism”
- “Darn”
- “It”
- “OK”
- “Shall We Drop Our R’s?”
Box 14
Folder
- Plurals-singulars
- Articles re parts of speech and word formation
- Various short pieces on slang and popular language
- Short articles, 1922-1955, mostly published in American Speech
- Notes and reviews, 1915-1956
- Journals: LP review, 1906; section edited by LP, 1942
Series 4 – Literature/language materials: resource files of others’ work
- Chaucer
- Melville
- Medieval literature
- Poetry materials
- Poetry materials, cont.
- Various literary materials
Box 15
Folder
- Manuscript on 20th century literature, author not known
- Manuscript on literature, author unknown
- Manuscript fragments, authors unknown
- “The Ride to Crooked Pine,” by Marguerite Cameron McPhee (short story)
- Clippings on literary topics
- Clippings on literary topics, cont.
- Clippings on literary topics, cont.
- Articles on language topics
- American Speech articles, notes, guidelines
- Articles by Virginia Samuels submitted for American Speech
- Artemisia Baer Bryson, “Linguistic Invasions of Texas”
- Margaret Cannell, “Graveyard Language”
- Henry Cremer, “Factors Involved in the Study of Humor”
- W. Powell, “American Speech: The Language of Literary Critics”
- Gertrude Rulkoetter, “Phraseology Peculiar to Seventh-Day Adventists”
- E.H. Thomas, “Chinook Dictionaries”
- “Norwegian American in Southern Minnesota” (author not given)
- Article and student paper on secret languages (authors not given)
- Student papers, Stanford summer session, 1931
- Student papers, Stanford summer session, 1931, cont.
Box 16
Folder
- Student papers, Stanford summer session, 1931, cont.
- Student papers, University of Nebraska
- Student papers, University of Nebraska, cont.
- Student papers, University of Nebraska, cont.
- Clippings on dream language
- Clippings on euphemisms for death
- Language clippings categorized by geography
- Language clippings categorized by meaning
- Language clippings categorized by grammar
- Language clippings re pronunciation variants
- Miscellaneous language clippings
Box 17
Folder
- Miscellaneous language clippings, cont.
- Miscellaneous language clippings, cont.
- Miscellaneous language clippings, cont.
- Miscellaneous language clippings, cont.
- Miscellaneous language clippings, cont.
- Miscellaneous language clippings, cont.
- Miscellaneous language clippings, cont.
- Language clippings originally labeled “dialects, language, and expressions”
- Reviews of works on popular language
- Bibliographies of slang
Box 18
Folder
- Alphabet, spelling, pronunciation materials
- Spelling reform
- Webster’s New World Dictionary, 1953 (LP review)
- Funk and Wagnalls Editorial Advisory Board materials, 1956
- Language surveys (Cassidy and NCTE)
- London Times clippings re conference on English, 1927 (LP attended)
- H.L. Mencken
Box 19
Folder
- Correspondence re language, 1932-1955
- Language scrapbook 1
- Language scrapbook 1, cont.
- Language scrapbook 2
- Language scrapbook 3
- Language scrapbook 4
- Language scrapbook 5
- Language scrapbook 6
- Language scrapbook 7 (also includes section re rainmaking)
Series 4 – Literature/language materials: students’ note cards
Box 20
Folder
- Language topics arranged phonetically
- Miscellaneous language topics
Series 4 – Literature/language materials: complimentary copies of other scholars’ offprints
Box 21 Alexander – Malone
Box 22 Marchand – Zachrisson
Series 5 – Lectures and speeches: files for literature/language courses taught
Box 23
Folder
- Chaucer materials
- Pedagogical materials re literature
- Old and Middle English
- Old English/Phonetics scrapbook
- Phonetics
- Phonetics, cont.
- Phonetics, cont.
- “Old phonetics”
- Euphonetic drill charts
Box 24
Folder
- Pedagogical materials on language, Anderson-Hadley
- Pedagogical materials, Hollingsworth-Malone
- Pedagogical materials, Mencken-von Erhardt-Siebold
- General reference materials on pedagogy
Series 5 – Lectures and speeches: texts on note cards on academic and general topics
Box 25
Folder
- Folk songs
- Literature
- Language
Box 26
Folder
- Women’s roles
- Higher education
- Miscellaneous
Series 5 – Lectures and speeches: typed/handwritten texts and resource files on general topics
Box 27
Folder
- Liberal education
- Liberal education, cont.
- Liberal education, cont.
- Women’s rights
- A.A.U.P.
- “Town and gown”
Series 6 – Organizations and activities: University of Nebraska
Box 28
Folder
- Sombrero (literary yearbook with LP article and illustrations), 1895
- English Club membership and minutes, 1912-1914
- Women basketball players, 1896-1906
- Kappa Kappa Gamma publications, 1909-1936
- Kappa Kappa Gamma publications, cont., 1945-1956
- Golden Fleece Dinner of Doubles, 1913
- Golden Fleece dinners, 1917-1924
- Golden Fleece clippings, 1917-1926 (includes LP article on Golden Fleece in Nebraska Alumnus, 1954)
- Golden Fleece correspondence, 1924-1925
- NUTT (Nu Upsilon Tau Tau), 1924
Box 29
Folder
- Valkyries, 1917-1920
- Canfield dinner, 1903 (Class of 1895)
- University of Nebraska publications, 1918-1954
- Tributes to University of Nebraska professors, 1900-1952
Series 6 – Organizations and activities: state level
- Nebraska Writers’ Guild publications, 1931-1932
Series 6 – Organizations and activities: national level
- American Dialect Society correspondence and mailings, 1936-1941
- American Dialect Society correspondence and mailings, 1942-1956
- Modern Language Association notebook of congratulations to LP, 1956 (includes additional correspondence)
- Modern Language Association printed materials, 1954-1955
- Modern Language Association printed materials, 1955
Box 30
Folder
- Bulletins of Modern Language Association meetings, 1912-1956
- Bulletins of Modern Humanities Research Association, 1921-1957
- Chi Delta Phi (literary sorority) “Minute Record” book, 1934-1937
Box 31
Folder
- Chi Delta Phi correspondence and submissions, 1917-1927
- Chi Delta Phi publications, submissions, correspondence, 1928-1937
- Chi Delta Phi scrapbook, 1921-1937
- Miscellaneous Chi Delta Phi materials originally stored in scrapbook (F3), 1926-1938
- Other miscellaneous Chi Delta Phi materials, 1931-1933
- Phi Beta Kappa materials, 1938-1940, primarily national level
- Miscellaneous materials from other organizations, 1945-1958
Series 7 – Miscellaneous
Box 32
Folder
- Periodical publications re social studies, politics
- Political pamphlets
- Political columns by Phillips, Pegler
- Clippings on social/political topics
- Popular magazines, 1920-1930
- University catalogs and bulletins
- Non-English publications
Box 33
Folder
- Centennial sections from Sunday Journal and Star, 30 May 1954
- Scrapbook of miscellaneous clippings
- “The Ideal Scrapbook”
- Miscellaneous clippings
- Miscellaneous clippings
Subject headings:
Ballads, English — United States
English language — Phonetics
English language — Study and teaching (Higher)
Fisher, Dorothy Canfield, 1879-1958
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956
Pound, Louise, 1872-1958
Sandoz, Mari, 1896-1966
Songs, English — United States
University of Nebraska
01-07-1970 DDS/cr
03-24-1972 DDS/pmc
06-05-1975 APD/ct
07-25-2005 BQ/kfk/tmm
11-09-2020 TMM