Papers of the American author, lecturer, novelist, and literary critic. Correspondence, 1929-80, with Harriette Arnow, Newton Arvin, Van Wyck Brooks, Baker Bromell, Malcolm Cowley, Robert Cantwell, Robert Gorham Davis, Henry Christman, George Cole, James T. Farrell, Joseph Freeman, Herbert Gold, Corliss Lamont, Lucy Robbins Lang, John Lydenburg, Georgia McKinley, Fulmer Mood, Walter Ripton Morris, Wright Morris, Richard Rovere, Evelyn Scott, Lincoln Steffins, and Ella Winter, among others. Also correspondence and editorial reader's reports for Macmillan Publishing Company. Writings include articles, book manuscripts, a journal (1942-1973), lectures, as well as research notes, correspondence, and memorabilia relating to the production of Hicks' biography of John Reed. Large collection of printed material includes book reviews, clippings, and an assortment of Leftist pamphlets and periodicals from the 1930s.
Incoming correspondence from literary figures (Zane Grey, Edgar Lee Masters, H.L. Mencken, Mary Roberts Rinehart); politicians (Fred O’Connor, James Phelan); artists (Frederick MacMonnies, Frank O. Salisbury, Herb Roth), and various notables from the turn of the century through the 1930s, most of whom Davis photographed or wrote about in his New York Sun column. Two manuscript items: a typescript ’Synopsis of the Amazing Quest of Mr. Ernest Bliss’ by E. Phillips Oppenheim, and typescript notes of a story to be called ’The Latchkey,’ attributed to A.E.W. Mason.
