Guide to the Harold Chapin Letters, 1910-1934 (bulk 1915)

Accession number: 1981-0003R

University Libraries
The Pennsylvania State University
Special Collections Library
Rare Books and Manuscripts

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Descriptive Summary

Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged with Harold Chapin's letters first, followed by letters received by Calypso Chapin grouped alphabetically by major correspondent, thereunder chronologically.

Biographical Note

Harold Chapin was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1886 but moved to England two years later for the rest of his life. His mother, actress Alice Chapin, encouraged his stage acting at age seven. He joined the Glasgow Repertory Theatre in 1910 as a producer. He began his playwriting career with Augustus in Search of a Father (1910), and subsequently wrote the comedies The Autocrat of the Coffee Stall (1911), The Dumb and the Blind (1911), and Art and Opportunity (1912).

Chapin married Calypso Valetta before serving in the British army in World War I. He was killed during the war in France in 1915.

His plays were collected in The Comedies of Harold Chapin (1921) and his letters by journalist Sidney Dark in Soldier and Dramatist (1916).

Scope and Content

The collection contains letters from Harold Chapin to his wife Calypso before and during World War I and letters to Calypso expressing condolences upon his death. Chapin writes to his wife about theatrical matters, play productions and tours in Scotland, and from the Front during the war describing the conditions there. He also writes to his mother-in-law.

Among the correspondents writing to Calypso about Harold and expressing condolences are musician Henry Ainsley, playwright J. M. Barrie, Chapin's mother Alice Chapin Browning, actress Sybil Thorndike Casson, playwright Jerome K. Jerome, and actor/director/playwright Conal O'Riordan. There are letters to Sidney Dark from drama critic and playwright William Archer and actor/manager Gerald du Maurier about a memorial production of Chapin's work.

Index Terms

These materials are indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Pennsylvania State University. Researchers wishing to find related materials should search the catalog under these index terms.

Series Description