Hubert Creekmore Collection (Z/0092)

Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Hubert Creekmore Collection (Z/0092).
Creator/Collector: Hubert Creekmore and others.
Date(s): 1916-1967; 1984; n.d.
Size: 11.5 cubic feet.
Language(s): English; French; Italian.
Processed by: MDAH Staff, 1948 & 1966; Reprocessed and described by Laura Heller, 2023.
Provenance: Gift of Hubert Creekmore, of Jackson, MS, in December 1944 (Wardial).
Provenance: Gift of Hubert Creekmore, of New York, NY, and Jackson, MS, on January 15, 1947, and December 28, 1948; Z/0092.
Provenance: Gift of John Schaffner, of New York, NY, in July 1968; Z/0092.001.
Provenance: Gift of Mittie Creekmore Welty, of Jackson, MS, on August 15, 2000; Z/U/2002.006.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Publication rights: Hubert Creekmore, LLC, claims all copyright interest in items created by Hubert Creekmore and Creekmore family members. (Permission to publish is required.)

For all materials in the Hubert Creekmore Collection not created by Hubert Creekmore or his family members, all requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services, with Attention: Manuscripts Head. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. The respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). MDAH asks that each Hubert Creekmore, LLC, image used in a presentation, display, or publication be accompanied by the following credit statement:

Credit: Copyright © Hubert Creekmore, LLC; Courtesy Hubert Creekmore Collection (Z/0092), Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Preferred citation: Hubert Creekmore Collection (Z/0092), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Biography:

Hubert Creekmore

Hiram Hubert Creekmore, Jr., was born on January 16, 1907, in the family home on Panola Street, Water Valley, Yalobusha County, Mississippi, to parents Mittie Bell Horton (1878-1971) and Hiram Hubert Creekmore (1878-1950). He had three siblings: Rufus Horton Creekmore (1900-1987), Wade Hampton Creekmore (1903-1996), and Mittie Elizabeth Creekmore (1917-2004). His father was a prominent Mississippi attorney of the law firm Creekmore and Creekmore and a member of the First Baptist Church.

Hubert Creekmore enrolled as a freshman at the University of Mississippi in 1924 and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1927. He was a member of the professional fraternity Sigma Upsilon’s Scribblers chapter where he held the secretary role. He was active in many clubs, including the Glee Club, the French Players known as Le Petit Theatre Francais, the Four Arts Club, and the Marionettes as a scenic artist officer. During his junior year, Creekmore was Associate Editor of “Scream,” the only college comic published in Mississippi, and he was a member of the yearbook staff his senior year. Due to his love of language, he was an active member of the French, Latin, and Greek clubs throughout his studies. His junior yearbook called him a “literary vagabond” and his senior yearbook called him a “wizard of the piano.”

In 1928, his parents moved from Water Valley to a house at 1607 Pinehurst Street, Jackson, Hinds County, just down the street from Eudora Welty and her family at 1119 Pinehurst. Hubert and Eudora would become literary friends, and years later they would become family when Welty’s brother Walter and Creekmore’s sister Mittie married on November 10, 1939.

Creekmore studied drama at the University of Colorado, followed by studies in playwriting with George Pierce Baker at Yale University between 1928 and 1929. Also in 1928, Creekmore self-published Drolleries, a small chapbook of poems that had an edition of 12 copies numbered and signed, using Hell-Creek Press in New Haven, Connecticut. Creekmore was employed by the Mississippi Highway Department in Jackson in the 1930s before he moved to Washington D.C. to work for the Veterans’ Administration and Social Security Board.

In 1931, Creekmore self-published another chapbook titled Four New Poems at his Pinehurst Press. The book consisted of eight unnumbered typescript pages, including color plates. In 1933, he worked as a photographer with Eudora Welty for the Jackson Junior Auxiliary. His poetry was first accepted for print in a wide-range literary publication in July 1933, when Poetry magazine published “Coincidence of Birds” and “Before a Leyden Jar.” In 1934, his story “Operation” was published in Story magazine, his poems were included in Alice James’s anthology Mississippi Verse, and Oxford Magazine published his poems, “By the Window,” “Four Poems,” and “Lament” in June and his short story “Tension” in November.

Creekmore had ambitious literary interests and was surrounded by other creative individuals, so it made sense in 1934 to embark on publishing a literary magazine he called The Southern Review. Welty worked as a proofreader and ad-seller, and both Nash Burger and Creekmore published writing in the first, and only, issue of the magazine. Frank Lyell, Lehman Engel, Welty, and Creekmore formed the Night-Blooming Cereus Club, of which membership sat up all night to see the beautiful white flower with the yellow feathery center bloom. In 1937, Creekmore’s short stories “The Night You Were Out” and “An Object Lesson” were published in River: A Magazine of the Deep South in the first and third issues.

In 1940, he received a master’s degree in American literature from Columbia University after completing his thesis, “The Relation of Ezra Pound to Contemporary Poets and Literary Movements.” Twice that same year, Creekmore published limited print-run chapbooks of his poetry, the first titled Formula and the second Genealogy: A Poem. Village Press in Prairie City, Illinois, published Creekmore’s first book of poetry, Personal Sun: The Early Poems of Hubert Creekmore, that same year. Also in 1940, Creekmore translated “The First Elegy of Sulpicia” by Albius Tibullis, and it was published by an unidentified press in Norfolk, Connecticut. In 1941, his poem “Formula” was first published in Iconograph magazine. Creekmore began writing book reviews at this time, and one of his more recognizable reviews is “Social Factors in Native Son” published in the University Review from the University of Kansas.

Like Welty, Creekmore worked for the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s. The two authors both had a love of photography.  Welty's photographs were created on her own time, not as part of the WPA, and it is uncertain whether any of Creekmore's photography contributed to any WPA projects. One photograph by Creekmore was used by Henry Miller on the dust jacket of his travelogue The Air-Conditioned Nightmare, the result of his 1941 research trip to Jackson.

With the United States entering World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Creekmore found himself enlisting on February 11, 1942, in the United States Navy at the naval station in New Orleans; He had already registered his draft card on October 16, 1940. After attending two months of basic communications naval school, Creekmore worked as a communications officer and rose to the rank of Lieutenant (service number 4079772). He was stationed at Ward Island, Corpus Christi, Texas, where he served as the associate editor on the staff of Wardial from 1942-1944. In 1943, while in Corpus Christi, he self-published another limited-edition chapbook titled Purgative: A Story. His second collection of poetry, The Stone Ants, was published that same year while he was stationed in the South Pacific. Circle published “Formula No. 16” and “The Wild Dogs at Harar” in 1944, and the University of Kansas City Review published “The Sailing” in 1945.

Creekmore separated from the Navy in 1945, however, the following year he made a sojourn in New Caledonia, where he composed most of the poems in The Long Reprieve and Other Poems of New Caledonia, published by W.W. Norton & Company in 1946. Also that year, Kerker Quinn published Accent Anthology: Selections from Accent, a Quarterly of New Literature, 1940-1945, which included Creekmore’s poem “Music in the Rec Hut.” Lastly, he sees his novel The Fingers of Night published by Appleton-Century. The novel is about a southern girl named Tessie Ellard who flees religious fanaticism imposed by her father in north Mississippi in 1925, and the consequences of her flight result in tragedy.

Creekmore begins writing The Welcome in 1946 and 1947, largely while spending time in Oxford, Lafayette County, and in New Orleans, Louisiana. During this time, several of his poems were included in Selden Rodman’s A New Anthology of Modern Poetry and in Portfolio. The Fingers of Night was reissued by London’s Phoenix House, and Berkeley’s Leite Press published Creekmore’s Formula, a collection of his numbered formula poems. Also in 1947, Creekmore was a visiting lecturer in fiction at the University of Iowa. In the spring of 1948, Appleton-Century published The Welcome, Creekmore’s first and only novel to depict same-sex relationships, causing a scandal upon release. The majority of gay fiction prior to The Welcome prioritized tragedy as an expected outcome for homosexuals, however, he created a narrative where the desires of same-sex lovers was not flawed but that context was the central problem.  While living in New York City, Creekmore was able to live authentically as a gay man, however, he tolerated a closeted existence when visiting Mississippi.

After the war, he worked for Creative Age Press for a short time. Having worked for New Directions Books briefly before the war, Creekmore returned to work as an editor and literary agent at the New York office in 1948. Six of his poems are published in James Laughlin’s New Directions in Prose and Poetry 10: An Annual Exhibition Gallery of New and Divergent Trends in Literature. During July 1949, Creekmore taught creative writing at the Iowa Writing Workshop hosted by the University of Iowa. He followed this with a long European tour from July to October 1949 with W. Miller Wilcox. The friends traveled on the ship S.S. America, leaving from Le Havre, France, and arriving at New York City, on October 26, 1949.

From April to June 1950, Creekmore stayed at the writer’s colony Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York, the first of several more visits in 1951 and 1953. Also in 1950, Blue Ridge Mountain Press publishes a first edition run of 200 copies of Creekmore’s translation, No Harm to Lovers: Poems of Albius Tibullus, with a dedication to Mittie and Walter Welty. Bantam Books reprints of The Fingers of Night as a pulp paperback titled Cotton Country.

On December 26, 1950, Creekmore’s father Judge Hiram H. Creekmore, Sr., died at the Baptist hospital after a short illness. Twenty-one years later, his wife and Hubert's mother, Mittie B. Horton Creekmore, died on April 15, 1971, and was buried alongside her husband in Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson.

Creekmore began writing The Chain in the Heart in April and May 1952 while living in New York City, before returning to Jackson in late May. Charles Scribner’s Sons published A Little Treasury of World Poetry: Translations from the Great Poets of Other Languages, 2600 B. C. to 1950 A. D. in June 1952, a work edited and translated by Creekmore. The year 1953 brought travel with friends, including an extended stay in New Orleans with David Smythe in March and April, a Yaddo residency in July, and a trip to Florida in October. That same year Random House published The Chain in the Heart, a novel in which Creekmore addressed the legacy of enslavement, prejudice, and racism. It was reissued in 1954 by Signet Books.

Creekmore’s “Translations from Provençal” was published in the Hudson Review during the summer of 1956. Having worked on the translations for Lyrics of the Middle Ages for some time, Grove Press published the book in 1959, garnering positive reviews. Further books of translation included The Satires of Juvenal in 1963 and The Erotic Elegies of Albius Tibullus in 1966.

Creekmore’s final publication was a work of nonfiction, Daffodils are Dangerous: The Poisonous Plants in Your Garden, by New York publisher Walker and Company in early 1966. The book reveals facts about unsuspected garden poisons, lists antidotes, and discusses the lore of poisonous plants dating back to ancient Egypt. It features illustrations by Helen Spence and acknowledges Eudora Welty.

Having booked travel plans to Portugal and Spain, Hubert Creekmore hailed a taxi on Monday, May 23, 1966, and was en route to the Kennedy International Airport when he suffered a massive heart attack. His death came only a few months after Chestina Welty and Edward Welty, Eudora Welty’s mother and brother, had died, just four days apart. Creekmore’s funeral was held in the chapel of the Wright-Ferguson Funeral Home on May 27, 1966, officiated by a Dr. John Sutphin, with his burial immediately afterwards at Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson.

In New York on February 10, 1967, John and Perdita Schaffner hosted “An Evening to Honor the Memory of Hubert Creekmore” at the Prince George Hotel. The memorial was attended by over a hundred of Creekmore’s friends, family, and acquaintances. John Schaffner was Creekmore’s literary agent, friend, and former employer, and Perdita Macpherson Schaffner, the daughter of the poet Hilda Doolittle, was a writer and philanthropist. Many friends spoke fondly of Creekmore and read some of his poetry for the audience in attendance.

Creekmore was immortalized in William Jay Smith's “To Hubert Creekmore: Who died in a taxi on his way to the airport on his way to Spain.” In 2015, a historical marker was erected in front of the Creekmore family home on Panola Street, Water Valley, Yalobusha County. And lastly, Hubert Creekmore’s 1948 novel The Welcome was reissued by the University Press of Mississippi in February 2023 with an introduction by scholar Phillip Gordon.

Collection History:

Hubert Creekmore donated a significant portion of his manuscripts and collected magazines to MDAH on January 15, 1947, and again nearly two years later on December 28, 1948. He had previously donated his copies of Wardial in 1944. These papers were broadly described and accessioned as the Hubert Creekmore Papers (Z/0092), however the description lacked depth and arrangement. This portion included the drafts, typescripts of The Fingers of Night, including the earlier short story "God’s Tenant Farmer;” many short stories, plays, articles, and book reviews by Creekmore. It also included the bound unpublished novel manuscripts of Green Sunset and The Elephant’s Trunk. In July 1968, John Schaffner sent a typescript copy of “An Evening to Honor the Memory of Hubert Creekmore (January 16, 1907 - May 26, 1966), King George Hotel, New York City, on February 10, 1967,” which was accessioned as an accretion (Z/0092.001) to the Hubert Creekmore Papers.

On August 11, 2000, Mary Alice Welty White called MDAH, on behalf of Mittie Welty, concerning a trunk containing more of Hubert Creekmore’s papers. The additional papers were donated by Mittie Welty, accessioned on August 15, 2000, and assigned the temporary accession number (Z/U/2002.006). This portion of the collection remained unprocessed and undescribed until 2023. This part consisted of a draft of “God’s Tenant Farmer;” draft and revision typescripts of The Chain in the Heart; manuscript of The Outlaws of the Natchez Trace; Creekmore’s thesis on Ezra Pound; numerous drafts and typescripts of poems, short stories, and plays; all of Creekmore’s translations of Stéphane Mallarmé’s poetry; original musical compositions by Creekmore; a garden notebook; travel journals; and collected books, magazines, newsletters, and newsclippings.

In 2023, the collections were merged to provide a thorough and detailed arrangement of the many creative works of Hubert Creekmore into a searchable and accessible collection.

Related Collections:

Eudora Welty Collection (Z/0301), MDAH: See Series 29a: Correspondence by Eudora Welty, Box 124.
Eudora Welty Collection (Z/0301), MDAH: See Series 29b: Select Correspondence, Boxes 159, 212.
Subject Files for Judge H.H. Creekmore; Hubert Creekmore, MDAH.
Hubert Creekmore Collection (MUM01790), Archives & Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, The University of Mississippi.
Mississippi Authors SMMSS (MUM00299), Archives & Special Collections, J.D. Williams Library, The University of Mississippi.
Hubert Creekmore Collection on Ezra Pound (MS 262), Special Collections & University Archives, University of California, Riverside.
Hubert Creekmore Collection, Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, Boston University.
William Jay Smith Papers, Special Collections, Washington University - St. Louis.

Scope and Content Note:

The Hubert Creekmore Papers contain the many manuscripts and typescripts of novels, short stories, essays, poetry, and book reviews of poet, novelist, translator, editor, and critic Hubert Creekmore, a native of Water Valley and Jackson, Mississippi, most known for his novels The Fingers of Night, The Welcome, and The Chain in the Heart. He garnered a lot of positive interest in publishing his poetry, as well as his translations of Stéphane Mallarmé’s poetry, much of which is included in the collection. Additionally, there are original handwritten musical compositions, unpublished novel and poetry manuscripts, newsclippings, a garden notebook, and correspondence centered on the business of publishing A Little Treasury of World Poetry. Lastly, there is a copy of the typescript “An Evening to Honor the Memory of Hubert Creekmore” provided by John Schaffner.

Click here for the Hubert Creekmore Collection (Z/0092) Box and Folder List.

Series Identification:

Series 1: Correspondence, 1928-1929; 1947-1948; 1950-1952; 1964; 1984; n.d. 
This series primarily contains correspondence between Creekmore and John Hall Wheelock pertaining to the publication of A Little Treasury of World Poetry. Of particular interest will be the letters between Margaret Marshall, Diana Trilling, Hubert Creekmore, and the editors of The Nation in 1948 in review of The Welcome release. One brief letter from playwright David Belasco pertains to Creekmore’s engagement as part of the company for Mima, a play by Belasco put on at the Belasco Theatre in New York City. There are also letters from George Pierce Baker, George Healy, Jr., Charles Scriber, Jr. Frank Lyell, and Howard Gotlieb. One letter, from Dorothy "Dottie" Abbott to Eudora Welty dated July 9, 1984, concerns page proofs of Mississippi Writers: Reflections of Childhood and Youth, which anthologized an excerpt from The Chain in the Heart.

Box 1, folders 1-18

Series 2: Biographies, n.d. 
This series consists of a photocopy of a lengthy biographical sketch of Hubert Creekmore written by L. Moody Simms, Jr., and published in Notes on Mississippi Writers.

Box 1, folder 19

Series 3: Education, circa 1925; n.d.
This series consists of a theatre program for the production by the Ole Miss Marionettes of “You and I” by Philip Barry. Creekmore, a student at the University of Mississippi, is listed playing the role of Geoffrey Nichols. Additionally, an undated fire-charred program is included for The Saint Andrew’s Players production of “The Canterville Ghost,” a play by Hubert Creekmore.

Box 1, folders 20-21 

Series 4: Military, n.d. [circa 1942-1945].
This series consists of one muster book for the Seventh Battalion, Twelfth Platoon, First Company, of the United States Navy.

Box 1, folder 22 

Series 5: Travel, 1939; 1943-1944; n.d.
This series consists of two small travel journals and a transportation card and receipt from 1939. One hand-stapled journal begins “To Bourail - November 29, 1943” and contains Creekmore’s writing in pencil for several pages. However, this writing ends, followed by blank pages. Flipping the book over, writing dated January 30, 1944, begins on the last page moving toward the inside of the book. The second journal, undated, begins with a typed list, which may represent a “table of contents” for the journal, but it is uncertain how well the writing matches the list.

Box 1, folders 23-25

Series 6: Photographs; n.d.
There are fourteen black-and-white 8x10 inch copy prints of Hubert Creekmore, alone and with friends or family. Many of these, but not all, are copy prints of images located in the Eudora Welty Collection (Z/0301).

Box 1, folder 26

Series 7: Drawings, n.d.
Four sketches, drawings, and doodles, some presumably by Creekmore, were found in the collection. One small sketch features two abstract faces and has a title, “The Adulterers” and possibly signed “Grs, ’47.” Another small sketch is titled “Roadside scene” in Creekmore’s writing, but not dated. A third sketch features a male figure reaching upward and standing among flames and smoke. Lastly, a large sketch looks like festival storefronts with items for sale for 5 and 10 cents.

Box 1, folder 27 

Series 8: Garden Notebook, 1960; n.d.
This garden notebook, presumably compiled by Creekmore, contains a number of magazine and newspaper clippings pasted onto notebook paper pertaining to gardening and flower arrangements. The notebook also includes a handwritten recipe called “Mr. Crisler’s dust formula” for roses. Glued to the inside cover of the notebook is a newsprint photo of the Creekmore house at 1607 Pinehurst Street.

Box 1, folders 28-39
Box 8, Folder 7 (notebook cover)

Series 9: Self-Produced Magazines.

Subseries 9.1: River: Magazine in the Deep South, March 1937.
A photocopy of the table of contents of River: A Magazine in the Deep South (Volume 1, Number 1; March 1937). Both Hubert Creekmore and Eudora Welty have prose fiction published in this issue.

Box 1, folder 40

Subseries 9.2: Southern Review, n.d.
Budget pages recording expenses, subscriptions, and refunds concerning the Southern Review, edited by Hubert Creekmore.

Box 1, folder 41

Series 10: Articles, Essays, Reviews, and Thesis Manuscripts.

Subseries 10.1: Articles, 1941; n.d.
Articles authored by Hubert Creekmore include one about the Annual Meeting of the Southern Literary Festival in May 1941, and three undated drafts of “Social Factors in Native Son,” in which Creekmore comments on Richard Wright’s novel.

Box 1, folders 42-45

Subseries 10.2: Essays, n.d.
Essays authored by Hubert Creekmore include an introduction to Faulkner’s Light in August, and several drafts of an essay titled “The Relation of Society to the Writer.” Among other essays are ones commenting on Memphis, Vicksburg, and the Oxford-Lafayette County Press.

Box 1, folders 46-53
Box 2, folders 1-7

Subseries 10.3: Reviews, 1930; 1941-1942; 1945; 1964.
This series consists of book reviews authored by Hubert Creekmore. Titles reviewed include Five Young American Poets: Second Series, Flight into Darkness by Arthur Schnitzler, Heat Wave, a play by Roland Pertwee, Reflections in a Golden Eye by Carson McCullers, Satan’s Sergeants by Josephine Herbst, The Satires of Juvenal, and The Selected Poems (1912-1944) of Alfred Kreymborg.

Box 2, folders 8-13

Subseries 10.4: Thesis Manuscript, December 1939. 
This series includes the typescript copy on onionskin paper, “The Relation of Ezra Pound to Contemporary Poets and Literary Movements” by Hubert Creekmore, December 1939, submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of English and Comparative Literature, Faculty of Philosophy, Columbia University.

Box 2, folders 14-21

Series 11: Fiction Manuscripts.

Subseries 11.1: The Chain in the Heart.

Subseries 11.1.1: “This Dark Chrysalis,” n.d.
This series is consists of Creekmore’s original short story “This Dark Chrysalis,” from which his novel The Chain in the Heart was expanded into novel form.

Box 2, folder 22

Subseries 11.1.2: Research for The Chain in the Heart, n.d.
This subseries consists of research notes, historical references, news clippings, timelines, and even minstrels and songs related to the writing of The Chain in the Heart.

Box 2, folders 23-28

Subseries 11.1.3: Notes and Revisions for The Chain in the Heart, n.d.
Several pages of edits and revisions for particular portions of The Chain in the Heart are included in this series.

Box 2, folders 29-30

Subseries 11.1.4: Typescript carbon copy of The Chain in the Heart, n.d.
This series includes the 713 typescript carbon pages of The Chain in the Heart, as well as a photocopy of the binder cover that was labeled “First Full Draft Before Final Revisions.”

Box 2, folders 31-41
Box 3, folders 1-27

Subseries 11.2: The Fingers of Night.

Subseries 11.2.1: “God’s Tenant Farmer,” 1933.
This series consists of Creekmore’s original short story “God’s Tenant Farmer,” from which his novel The Fingers of Night was expanded into novel form. Included is a handwritten original of the story dated November 5, 1933, and a typescript version of the story with the same date. Some research notes used to write the story are included in the third folder.

Box 3, folders 28-30

Subseries 11.2.2: Handwritten Manuscript of The Fingers of Night, 1933; 1937-1938; 1940.
The original manuscript of The Fingers of Night in Creekmore’s cursive handwriting. He often notes in the margins the date he either begins or finishes a portion of the novel, with chapter one beginning on October 26, 1937 ,and chapter 23 ending on November 7, 1940. The archivist divided the manuscript by chapters across the folders in this series.

Box 3, folders 31-42
Box 4, folders 1-9

Subseries 11.2.3: Typescript carbon copy of The Fingers of Night, n.d.
This carbon typescript copy of The Fingers of Night begins with “God’s Tenant Farmer” as the heading on the first page. The typescript is divided by chapters across the folders in this series. When the manuscript was donated, page 145 was missing from the typescript. There are 265 numbered pages.

Box 4, folders 10-32

Subseries 11.2.4: Notes and Revisions for The Fingers of Night, n.d.
There are several notes and revisions for specific portions of The Fingers of Night. The original folder included a sheet in Creekmore’s handwriting stating “revised pages of second typescript and added material, after signing contract for publication.” These consist of carbon copies with handwritten editorial marks and additional material.

Box 4, folders 33-43

Subseries 11.2.5: Printer’s Copies of The Fingers of Night, 1946.
Two bound printer’s copies, one with a blue cover and one with a red cover, of The Fingers of Night are in this series. These copies have editorial marks by Creekmore as well as tipped-in or pasted pages into the bound volumes. The bound volume with blue cover, includes on the second page: “The Fingers of Night, First typescript and some new pages, as ‘God’s Tenant Farmer’.” The bound volume with red cover, includes some handwritten pages adhered to book’s pages, as well as some typescript pages adhered to book’s pages. The bulk of it are manuscript pages with editorial marks.

Box 5, folders 1-2

Subseries 11.3: The Elephant’s Trunk, n.d. 
This series consists of one bound volume with black cover, printer’s copy, of an unpublished novel manuscript typescript, titled The Elephant’s Trunk by Hubert Creekmore.

Box 6, folder 2

Subseries 11.4: Green Sunset, n.d. 
The series consists of one staple-bound volume with purple cover, of an unpublished novel manuscript typescript, titled Green Sunset by Hubert Creekmore.

Box 6, folder 1

Subseries 11.5: Summer Night, n.d.
This series includes 155 index cards with Creekmore’s handwriting, consisting of references to characters Keith and Jane, and are possibly notes for a novel or story. Also includes two additional pages of handwritten notes for Summer Night, possibly about the character Keith.

Box 7, folders 1-4

Series 12: Nonfiction Manuscripts.

Subseries 12.1: The Outlaws of the Natchez Trace, n.d. 
This series includes research, notes, newsclippings, and a proposal for a nonfiction work by Creekmore titled The Outlaws of the Natchez Trace. Included are the first typescript of about 26 pages and pieces, and a second typescript of 18 pages.

Box 4, folders 44-49

Subseries 12.2: The Stage in Mississippi, n.d.
This series consists of several pages of notes concerning playwriting and theater drama in Mississippi, including a list of productions in Water Valley from 1902 to 1908. The original envelope was photocopied to preserve the label The Stage in Mississippi. Notecards include subjects on “Plays, musicals, opera, and minstrels,” “Circus and carnival,” “Amateur,” “Lectures, Lyceum concerts, etc.,” “Related material,” and “Moving Pictures.”

Box 4, folders 50-51

Subseries 12.3: Research notes, n.d. 
This series consists of miscellaneous writing ideas, notes, research, lists, and material that does not appear related to other series. The lists include one of Mississippi writers and one of Mississippi books in the Library of Congress, however, neither are comprehensive even in Creekmore’s era. One folder contains American folk songs and ballads, and the research notes concern early American literature.

Box 8, folders 1-5

Series 13: Poetry Manuscripts.

Subseries 13.1: Drolleries, n.d. [1928]. 
This series includes an eleven-page typescript of Creekmore’s poetry manuscript Drolleries, which includes the poems “A Man in the Rain,” “Webs,” “Flirts and Oaths,” “The Petticoat,” “Leaves to J.H.T.,” and “Memoria.” Creekmore self-publishes Drolleries in 1928 as a small chapbook that had an edition of 12 copies numbered and signed, using Hell-Creek Press in New Haven, Connecticut.

Box 8, folder 6

Subseries 13.2: Formula, 1940; 1942. 
There are two partial folios for Formula, as well as one draft of the poem “Formula” dated August 11, 1942. Eventually, Berkeley’s Leite Press would publish Formula, a collection of Creekmore’s numbered formula poems.

Box 8, folders 7-9

Subseries 13.3: The Long Reprieve, And Other Poems from New Caledonia, 1942; n.d.
This series does not include a manuscript for the published book, The Long Reprieve, but does include several of Creekmore’s early drafts of individual poems that are later included in the book. Poems include “Ave, ad Infinitum,” “Concert at Sea,” “Countryside,” “Ecole Communale - Bourail,” “Garden of War,” “The Long Reprieve,” “Night at Sea,” “Stage, Actors, Audience,” and “Where No Bombs Fell.”

Box 8, folders 10-18

Subseries 13.4: Personal Sun, 1932-1935; 1937; n.d.
This series does not include a manuscript for the published book, Personal Sun, but does include several of Creekmore’s early drafts of individual poems that are later included in the book. Of particular interest may be “Boxcar 388146,” “Genus Homo,” “The Heart’s Illusion,” “Instructions to the Soul,” “Spit Fire,” “To the Very Late Mourners of the Civil War,” and “Wasserman Test.”

Box 8, folders 19-31

Subseries 13.5: The Stone Ants, 1935-1936; 1938.
This series does not include a manuscript for the published book, The Stone Ants, but does include a few of Creekmore’s early drafts of individual poems that are later included in the book. These poems are “The Mirror Man,” “New Year’s Eve by Radio,” and “Southern Night.”

Box 8, folders 32-24

Subseries 13.6: Erotic Elegies of Albius Tibullus, n.d. 
This series consists of only the notes from Ward Allen possibly regarding translations from an early draft of the Erotic Elegies of Albius Tibullus, which Creekmore published in 1966.

Box 8, folder 35

Subseries 13.7: A Little Treasury of World Poetry, 1952; n.d. 
Creekmore’s work to compile an anthology of world poetry also included acquiring the needed copyright notices and acknowledgements, identifying free permissions of works in public domain, and determining poems that will not make the final print. This series also includes some suggestions from Oscar Williams regarding the publication of The Little Treasury of World Poetry.

Box 8, folders 36-41

Subseries 13.8: Theatrical Songs Manuscript, n.d. 
This series includes one typescript manuscript by Creekmore, possibly unpublished, of thirteen poems under the heading Theatrical Songs focus on the individual roles of theatre actors and stage personnel.

Box 8, folder 42

Subseries 13.9: Untitled Unpublished Poetry Manuscript, n.d.
This series includes a lengthy list of poem titles arranged into subheadings, possibly for inclusion in an unpublished poetry manuscript. The entire manuscript of these poems follows the initial list, and many have several drafts of the same poem. Poems are also numbered 1-70 and arranged in this order.

Box 8, folders 43-87
Box 9, folders 1-26

Subseries 13.10: Individual Published and Unpublished Poetry Manuscripts, 1924-1925; 1932-1934; 1937; 1939-1940; 1945; 1948-1949; 1953; 1955; n.d.
This series consists of both published and unpublished poems, some of which include several drafts and other revisions. These are arranged in alphabetical order, and do not include the poems published in Creekmore’s books of poetry, however some were published in magazines such as Voices, Trend, The North American Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry, Accent, and Contemporary Poetry.

Box 9, folders 27-107
Box 10, folders 1-33

Subseries 13.11: Poetry Notebooks, 1924-1926; 1934-1938; n.d.
This series includes four notebooks compiled and owned by Hubert Creekmore. Two notebooks, one dated May 3, 1934, and one dated October 28, 1935, appear to list poems and stories submitted, accepted, or rejected to named literary magazines and publications. A notebook, with a black cover, begins with a title page: “Poems - Hubert Creekmore” and the poems are marked with dates. The book includes a review titled "Post War Impressions" of Soldier’s Pay by William Faulkner, published by Boni and Liveright in 1926. Also includes an essay titled “Jazz from a Casual Point of View,” and a review of Show Boat by Edna Farber. The fourth “notebook” consists of pages removed from a composition notebook and titled "Sections of 'Bats at Twilight.'" Many handwritten drafts of poems and prose are included in this notebook.

Box 10, folders 34-37

Subseries 13.12: Published Poetry (tearsheets), 1930; 1932-1935; 1941; 1944-1945; 1948-1949; n.d.
This series consists of pages torn from magazines, books, and newspapers in which Hubert Creekmore’s poetry was published. In some instances, the copy is a photocopy, however, most include the original publication. Often Creekmore types in the top left corner the name, volume, issue, and date of the publication.

Box 10, folders 38-63

Series 14: Plays, n.d.
Hubert Creekmore enjoyed theater and drama, as is demonstrated in this series in which there are several manuscripts, some handwritten originals and some typescripts, of plays, comedies, and operas authored by Creekmore. Titles include “The Family Meets Itself: A Comedy in Three Acts,” “Herodiade: Libretto for an Opera in One Act,” “Sensitive Paper: A Play in Three Acts,” and several untitled plays.

Box 10, folders 64-70
Box 11, folders 1-15

Series 15: Short Story Manuscripts.

Subseries 15.1: Short Story Manuscripts, 1925-1926; 1933-1934; 1937; 1941-1942; n.d.
Creekmore was also a prolific short story writer, as evidenced by this series of his handwritten drafts and typescript copies of his stories. Some that have several drafts include “Body and Soul,” “Greetings from Pascagoula,” “Hayes,” “In the Depot,” “Miss Turnipseed and the Artist,” “The Photographer’s Cat,” “The River,” and “The Sign in the Desert.” There is also a draft of “A Word from Jones County,” which is later published in the Columbia Review Spring 1940 issue.

Box 11, folders 16-40
Box 12. Folders 1-33

Subseries 15.2: Notes and Ideas for Short Stories, 1926; n.d.
This series consists of some pages regarding story titles, characters, and plot ideas. There is a notebook containing notes on poetry and short story submissions. One notebook contains handwritten drafts of “Body and Soul” and “The Depot” from 1926, while a second undated notebook has drafts of “Memphis Scenes” and American Fairy Tales.”

Box 12, folders 34-38

Subseries 15.3: Published Short Stories, March 1934.
This series consists of two copies of Creekmore’s short story “Operation” torn from Story magazine in which it was published in March 1934.

Box 12, folder 39

Series 16: Translation Manuscripts.

Subseries 16.1: Stéphane Mallarmé.

Subseries 16.1.1: Notes about Stéphane Mallarmé, n.d.
This series features biographical notes and research on Stéphane Mallarmé, as well as notes for a compilation of Mallarmé work translated by Hubert Creekmore. There are also several published translations of Mallarmé’s poems by Creekmore.

Box 12, folders 40-43

Subseries 16.1.2: Poems and Prose of Stéphane Mallarmé translated by Hubert Creekmore, circa 1926; n.d. 
This series consists of seventy-one of Stéphane Mallarmé’s poems translated by Hubert Creekmore. The collection has no documentation concerning if any of these translations were published individually or as a volume. These drafts and revisions may show Creekmore’s process and interpretation of Mallarmé’s poems.

Box 13, folders 1-71

Subseries 16.1.3: A Throw of Dice Will Never Abolish Hazard, by Stéphane Mallarmé, translated by Hubert Creekmore, n.d. 
This series consists of one typescript manuscript of Creekmore’s translation of Stéphane Mallarmé’s long poem, Un coup de dés jamais n'abolira le hasard. The poem’s incorporation of free verse and unusual typographic layout preceded the 20th-century interest in graphic design and concrete poetry.

Box 13, folder 72

Series 16.2: "Lyrics from the Provencal," n.d. 
This series consists of the introduction and the typescript manuscript for "Lyrics from the Provencal," which was later published by the Hudson Review in its Summer 1956 issue. The poems are later in Lyrics of the Middle Ages, published in 1959 by Grove Press.

Box 14, folders 1-2

Series 16.3: Other Translations, circa 1947; n.d.
Creekmore’s translations included poetic works by Guillaume Apollinaire, Joachim du Bellay, Guido Cavalcanti, and Charles Baudelaire’s poem, “A Voyage to Cythera.”

Box 14, folders 3-6

Series 17: Sheet Music Composed by Hubert Creekmore, 1932; n.d.
This series contains several creative works by Hubert Creekmore of musical scores, songs, and operas. All compositions are written by hand, with some including song lyrics by Creekmore or featuring the words of Willa Cather, as in “The Hawthorn Tree,” or words of James Joyce, as in “On the Beach at Fontana.” One song, “If We Start All Over Again,” is co-authored with Joseph Gerson. One composition is untitled but appears to be able Casey Jones, about which there is also a newspaper clipping in the Newsclippings series. One work, “Oil Well Swep Taylor,” may be about the former Jackson mayor Swepson “Swep” J. Taylor (1862-1947). Another musical score is titled “Farish Street,” named after a famous street in Jackson’s historic African American community. Lastly, one work titled “U.S.S. Texas,” refers to the former United States Navy battleship which in 1944 provided naval gunfire support during the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa during World War II. The ship was decommissioned in 1948, and its involvement in the Pacific Theater around the time Creekmore was a serviceman may have inspired this piece of music.

Box 29, folders 1-20

Series 18: Memorial, February 10, 1967.
This series contains two copies, one original and one photocopy, of the compiled and edited typescript, “An Evening to Honor the Memory of Hubert Creekmore (January 16, 1907 - May 26, 1966), King George Hotel, New York City, on February 10, 1967.” John Schaffner, a dear friend of Creekmore’s and editor of New Directions Books, planned the memorial and wrote the preface of the typescript. Attendees who spoke at the memorial included Barbara Howes, William Jay Smith, David McDowell, Charles Simmons, Robert Wilbur, Edward Field, Phillip Flayderman, Melitta del Villar, and Edward Burlingame. Schaffner also read letters from those who could not attend, including Walter Edge, Louis Biancolli, and Eudora Welty. Schaffner was also the executor of Creekmore’s estate.

Box 13, folders 73-74

Series 19: Publication Publicity, 1934; 1940; 1946; 1948; n.d.
This series consists of a few items pertaining to the publicity and promotion of Creekmore’s creative works. This includes a review of Personal Sun by Thomas Howells in Poetry (September 1940), brochures by the Ward Ritchie Press for The Stone Ants, and a magazine clipping of a letter-to-the-editor by Creekmore in Time Magazine about feeling ashamed of Mississippi and the actions of Theodore Bilbo. Lastly, there are two Appleton-Century catalogs, one from 1946 listing A Stranger and Afraid (early title of The Fingers of Night), and one from 1948 listing Strangers and Friends (early title of The Welcome).

Box 13, folders 75-81

Series 20: Print Materials.

Subseries 20.1: Magazines.
This series consists of magazines and literary journals collected by Hubert Creekmore. There is one issue of Chimera, which was a New York-based literary quarterly from 1942 to 1947. There are several issues of A Critical Supplement to Poetry, which accompanied Poetry magazine. Creekmore likely acquired the single issue of Design in the Theatre due to his interest in the theater and participation in theatre in school and university. Two issues of Gismo, a magazine that included articles, stories, and poetry by servicemen in the Pacific Theater, published two poems (“Conducted All Expense Tour” and “Music in the Rec Hut”) and one story (“On the Beach”) by Creekmore. The Mentor was an American eclectic educational magazine published in the early 20th century, with issues having a distinct theme and written by a guest author. The Summer 1946 issue of Rocky Mountain Review features “Canto LXXVII” by Ezra Pound and translated letters of Charles Baudelaire, both authors of interest to Creekmore. In the issue of The Saturday Review of Literature are several letters from readers commenting on a controversy centered on Ezra Pound. The two issues of Two Worlds Monthly include the sixth and seventh installments of Ulysses by James Joyce, and poetry such as “Fragment of a Prologue” by T.S. Eliot, “The Little Girl Continues” by Djuna Barnes, “The Christmas Furs” by Thomas Hardy, and three poems by D.H. Lawrence. The Surrealist magazine View, by Mississippian Charles Henri Ford, which printed from 1940 until 1947, is among the collected magazines of Creekmore. Lastly, there is the 1931 Yale Illustrated issue of Yale Alumni Weekly.

Subseries 20.1.1: Chimera, 1945.
Box 15, folder 1

Subseries 20.1.2: A Critical Supplement to Poetry, 1947-1948.
Box 15, folders 2-6

Subseries 20.1.3: Design in the Theatre, 1927.
Box 15, folder 7

Subseries 20.1.4: Gismo, 1944.
Box 15, folders 8-10

Subseries 20.1.5: The Mentor, 1916.
Box 15, folders 11-17 

Subseries 20.1.6: Rocky Mountain Review, Summer 1946.
Box 15, folder 18

Subseries 20.1.7: The Saturday Review of Literature, March 16, 1946.
Box 15, folder 19

Subseries 20.1.8: Two Worlds Monthly, 1927.
Box 15, folders 20-21

Subseries 20.1.9: View, 1940-1945.
Box 16, folders 1-7
Box 17, folders 1-8

Subseries 20.1.10: Yale Alumni Weekly, July 31, 1931.
Box 18, folder 1

Subseries 20.2: Newsletters.
This series consists of newsletters and bulletins collected by Creekmore. Both the U.S. Army on Leave in Biloxi and the U.S. Army Pascagoula Weekend were weekly bulletins, usually 2-3 pages each and only published in 1941, written and compiled by the Works Progress administration (WPA) and sponsored by the U.S. Army. For several years, Creekmore was an associate editor for the production of Wardial and may be why he had these issues printed during his wartime service. Having studied drama at Yale, he was added to the mailing list of alumni and received the Yale Drama Alumni Newsletter. The newsletters are arranged alphabetically by title, then by date.

Subseries 20.2.1: Four Pages, February 1948.
Box 18, folder 2

Subseries 20.2.2: Mississippi Poetry Society Bulletin, March 1937.
Box 18, folder 3

Subseries 20.2.3: U.S. Army on Leave in Biloxi, 1941.
Box 18, folders 4-6

Subseries 20.2.4: U.S. Army on [Leave in Pascagoula] Pascagoula Weekend, 1941.
Box 18, folders 7-8

Subseries 20.2.5: Vital Statistics Monthly, October 1, 1962.
Box 18, folder 9

Subseries 20.2.6: Wardial, 1942-1944.
Box 18, folders 10-26

Subseries 20.2.7: Yale Drama Alumni, December 29, 1954.
Box 18, folders 27

Subseries 20.3: Books, 1929-1930; 1938-1940; 1942-1944; 1946-1947; 1949; 1951; 1953; 1960; n.d.
There are several books collected by or given to Creekmore and these also reflect his interests and literary connections. Of note, is Odelbar varld: dikter, by Martin S. Allwood, with an inscription on title page and page 25 from Allwood, dated December 31, 1952. It is assumed Creekmore was friends with member of the Memphis literary community and anthropologist Kenneth Lawrence Beaudoin because this series contains several hand-crafted self-published volumes of his books: Incunabula and Other Poems (1942); The First Encrustation (1949); Poems 1951 (1951); and This Man (1951). Also of note is a small booklet titled Jim Crow’s Last Stand by Langston Hughes, for the Race and Culture Series published by Negro Publication Society of America, in 1943. Creekmore also possessed a copy of Buying a New World with Old Confederate Bills by activist and writer Lillian E. Smith and her lifelong partner Paula Snelling, a reprint from South Today (1942). There is also a small booklet titled The Time of the Toad published in 1949 by American screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.

Box 19, folders 1-27
Box 20, folders 1-5

Subseries 20.4: Catalogs, 1939-1942; 1948; 1950-1951; 1955; n.d.
As an author and collector of books, Creekmore possessed several catalogs from book publishers and dealers, namely Banyan Press, Philip C. Duschnes Catalogue, House of Books, Ltd., Kirgo’s, New Directions Books, and Penguin Books.

Box 20, folders 6-22

Subseries 20.5: Ephemera, circa 1940; 1946; n.d.
This series primarily includes advertisements for books, performances, and galleries. Of special note are advertisements for The Overturned Lake by Charles Henri Ford, for Renaissance to Baroque by A. Lehman Engel, and for The Journal of Albion Moonlight by Kenneth Patchen. One invitation for The Waltz Series mentions Creekmore on the committee.

Box 20, folders 23-31

Subseries 20.6: Programs, 1927; 1946; 1948; 1952; 1955.
Creekmore was active and interested in the literary arts, and likely attended many theatrical performances. The programs in this series include ones for a production of The Autumn Garden by Lillian Hellman at the Jackson Little Theatre in May 1955, and a production of him by e.e. cummings by The Interplayers at the Provincetown Playhouse in New York City on July 22, 1948. There is also a program for the The Singing Minute by Maude Humphrey as part of the 47 Workshop at Yale University from November 8-12, 1927. Additionally, there is a ceremonial program from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and National Institute of Arts and Letters, honoring Eudora Welty, on May 28, 1952.

Box 20, folders 32-36

Subseries 20.7: Travel Books, 1929; 1930; 1933; 1938-1939; 1941; 1943; 1949; n.d.
Hubert Creekmore loved to travel, and he collected these books either during or in preparation for his travels to France and Italy. Several books are printed in French and Italian languages; however, a few are in English. Several books contain maps on the back page. Of special note is a list of tourist class passengers on the S.S. America for October 20-21, 1949, and a bill from the Gritti Palace-Hotel, in Venice, Italy, dated September 1949 and misspelling Creekmore’s name as “Shubert.”

Box 20, folders 37-41
Box 21, folders 1-17

Subseries 20.8: Poems and Prose from books, n.d.
This series consists of pages torn from books of poems and prose by anthologized authors. It is unclear what was the purpose of collecting these writings, however one may speculate Creekmore was planning an anthology of many of these works or used them for inspiration. They are arranged in alphabetical order by author’s surname.

Boxes 22-24

Subseries 20.9: Newsclippings, 1935; 1940-1941; 1943-1946; 1948-1953; 1960; 1966; n.d.
This series consists of newspaper clippings collected by Creekmore of his published writing, publicity, and commentary, as well as on subjects and persons of interest to him. The first several folders focus on articles about Hubert Creekmore, including the publication of his letters-to-the-editors and his obituary in 1966. There are several book reviews by Creekmore from 1948-1952, as well as articles about the production of his unfortunately short-lived Southern Review magazine. Folders 9-17 contain book reviews of Creekmore’s published books of poetry and fiction. Two folders contain serial gossip columns “Chatterbox” and “Miss Quote” from the 1940s. Creekmore was interested in retaining articles about fellow authors William Faulkner, W. Somerset Maugham, Carson McCullers, and Tennessee Williams.

Box 25

Series 21: Writing by Other Authors, 1938; 1948; n.d.
Writers often support each other through peer reviews, and this often leads to manuscripts by others being part of one’s personal papers. This series includes the play typescript River Gambler dated July 1938 by South African playwright and film actor Walter Armitage (1906-1953). A fellow Mississippian and New York City transplant, A. Lehman Engel’s typescript carbon copy of "The Cats and the Mouse” is included. Andrew Pedersen’s partial manuscript "Levels of Trees: Poems and parables of the hills of Colorado" features constructive commentary and editorial recommendations by Creekmore. Lastly, likely because of Creekmore’s interest in Pound’s poetic works, the series has seventeen never-bound folios of The Cantos of Ezra Pound from New Directions Books, circa 1948.

Boxes 26-27

Series 22: Genealogy, 1951; n.d.
This series contains genealogical notes compiled by Creekmore pertaining to family ancestry and important birthdates and anniversaries of family members. Additionally, there is one program for a Memorial Day Resolution by the Mississippi State Bar, dated September 10, 1951, listing H.H. Creekmore, Sr. among the honorees.

Box 28, folders 1-3

Series 23: Ephemera, 1940; n.d.
The ephemera series contains items that otherwise didn’t seem to fit in another series. These include the business cards of D.F. Cleveland and Norma Wallace, a press release for A Twentieth Century Nordic Anthology, noting Martin S. Allwood as chief editor, a souvenir-catalogue from Julien Levy Gallery, cards containing bible verses, and a French language New Testament.

Box 28, folders 4-9