Originally laid in a copy of Jackson's
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MSS 099, F896, Lucy R. Jackson letters to Elizabeth Shippen Green Elliott, Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, Newark, Delaware.
Processed and encoded by Anita Wellner, October 2011.
Lucy R. Jackson was a resident of Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who wrote a book of poems titled
Lucy Jackson had established a friendship with Huger and Elizabeth Elliott, which is evident in the affectionate inscription in
American illustrator Elizabeth Shippen Green Elliott (1871–1954) illustrated children's books and worked for many years for
Elliott studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1889 to 1893, and then began study with Howard Pyle at Drexel Institute, where she met Violet Oakley and Jessie Willcox Smith. The three artists would form a lifelong friendship and at times shared a common residence. They lived together first at the Red Rose Inn, which caused Howard Pyle to call them "the Red Rose girls," and later at Cogslea, their home in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia.
In 1911, Green married Huger Elliott, an architecture professor, and moved away from Cogslea. In 1920 the Elliotts returned to the Philadelphia area until 1925, when Huger Elliot accepted a position at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Following Huger's death in 1948, Elizabeth Elliott returned to live in the area of Cogslea near her artist friends and remained there until her death in 1954.
These three letters, written by Philadelphia poet Lucy R. Jackson to American illustrator Elizabeth Shippen Green Elliott, together with two of her poems, were originally laid in a copy of Jackson's book,
Jackson's letters were written to accompany poetry, to inquire of the Elliott's well being, and generally to continue a friendship. With her letter dated February 24th, Jackson enclosed a printed copy of her poem, "Willowgate Speaks," mentioning that she heard Elizabeth Elliott want a copy of it. In the same letter, she sent word to Huger Elliott that she was working on a poem based on seeing the "The Rospigliosi Cup," which belonged to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York where Huger worked in 1930.
The March 27th letter regarded Jackson's poem, "Portrait od [of?] a Ten-year-old," which remains in the back of
On April 2, Jackson wrote to note a change to her poem, "Portrait od [of?] a Ten-year-old" and to suggest that the last phrase might be changed in a later edition.
Although another Jackson poem, "To Mira: In Memoriam," (dated March 21, 1926) accompanied these letters, it is not mentioned in any of the letters.
Arranged in chronological order.
This item forms part of MSS 099 Miscellaneous Literary and Historical Manuscripts.
Page proof of a poem written by Lucy Jackson.
Enclosed with the letter is a printed poem, "Willowgate Speaks," dated September 26, 1929.