H. P. Lovecraft was renowned during his lifetime as a prolific correspondent, ranging from simple postcards from his travels to voluminous letters that sometimes reached 70 or 100 handwritten pages. His correspondents included family, friends, fans, fellow writers at Weird Tales, amateur journalists, and revision clients. The publication and study of Lovecraft’s letters has formed a major interest for pulp scholars for decades.
Lovecraft’s correspondents included a number of women—more than many will commonly think, as misconceptions regarding Lovecraft’s interactions with women continue to this day. This series of posts on Deep Cuts will focus on those exchanges, and seek to answer the questions: Who were the women that Lovecraft corresponded with? What effect did that correspondence have on their lives? How and when were her letters from Lovecraft published?
List of correspondents (date range of correspondence):
- H. P. Lovecraft’s Other Aunts (1905?-1921)
- Anne Tillery Renshaw (1914-1936?)
- Winifred Virginia Jackson (1915-1922?)
- Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft (1919-1921)
- Henriette Ziegfield (1920-1921?)
- Myrta Alice Little (1920-1937?)
- Lillian Delora Phillips Clark (1921?-1932)
- Annie Emeline Phillips Gamwell (1921?-1936)
- Sonia Haft Greene (1921-1933?)
- Lillian M. Galpin (1925)
- Wilhelmina Beatrice “Bess” Houdini (1927)
- Zealia Brown Reed Bishop (1927-1937)
- Elizabeth Toldridge (1928-1937)
- Georgina de Castro (1928/1929?)
- Unnamed Salem Witch descendant (1929-1933?)
- Josephine Evalyn Crane Blossom (1930?-1937?)
- Hazel Heald (1932-1937)
- Mayte E. Sutton (1933?-1937)
- Genevieve K. Sully & Helen V. Sully (1933-1937)
- Natalie H. Wooley (1933-1937)
- Bernice Nette (Leach) Barlow (1934)
- Margaret Sylvester (1934-1937)
- Ella Larson Nelson (1935)
- Catherine Lucille Moore (1935-1937)
- Jennie K. Plaisier (1935-1937?)
- Marian F. Bonner (1936)
- Jonquil Leiber (1936-1937)
- Kathleen Compere Hughes (1936-1937?)
Her Letters To Clark Ashton Smith:
- Her Letters To Clark Ashton Smith: Ina Donna Coolbrith (1925)
- Her Letters To Clark Ashton Smith: Catherine Lucille Moore (1935)
- Her Letters To Clark Ashton Smith: Margaret St. Clair (1933?-1940?)
Her Letters To Robert E. Howard:
- Her Letters To Robert E. Howard: Hester Jane Ervin Howard (1926-1927)
- Her Letters To Robert E. Howard: Catherine Lucille Moore (1934?-1936?)
- Her Letters To Robert E. Howard: Novalyne Price (1934-1936)
Forthcoming:
- Muriel Eddy
- Eunice French
- Alice Hamlet
- Clara L. Hess
- Edna Hyde
- Edith Miniter
- Florence Radcliffe
- Bertha Rausch
- Eola Willis
This is not an exhaustive list, as many correspondents are no doubt lost or remain unpublished.