Morrill Cody (AC 1921) Papers
Scope and Contents
Incoming and some outgoing correspondence with American writers, mostly concerning social affairs, editorial work, and publishing. Correspondents include Sylvia Beach, e. e. cummings, Marcel Duchamp, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound, Raymond Queneau, Eleanor Roosevelt, Edith Sitwell, Alice B. Toklas, and William Carlos Williams.
Dates
- Creation: 1930-1969
- Creation: Majority of material found within 1958-1962
Creator
- Cody, Morrill, 1901-1987 (AC 1921) (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
There is no restriction on access to the Morrill Cody Papers for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.
Conditions Governing Use
Requests for permission to publish material from the Morrill Cody Papers should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.
Biographical / Historical
Morrill "Bill" Cody was born in Lake Forest, Illinois on April 10, 1901, the son of Sherwin Cody (AC 1889) and Marian Hurley. He attended secondary school in France. After graduating from Amherst College in 1921, he returned to Paris as a journalist, living and working with the American artists and writers of the "Lost Generation." In the 1930s, Cody worked as a magazine editor and writer in New York, contributing to the Literary Digest among other publications. He published This Must Be the Place, a memoir of Montparnasse, in 1934, and Passing Stranger, a novel, in 1936. At the time of his marriage to Marion Holbrook in 1935, he had a son, Malcolm Peter (b. 1925). His daughter, Judith Alden, was born in 1936. Cody joined the Foreign Service in 1941, holding diplomatic posts in Paraguay, Argentina, Mexico, Washington, Paris, Stockholm, and Madrid. In 1960 he married Jane Hoster, and had another daughter, Gabrielle Hamilton Cody. Before retiring from the Service in 1963, he served as assistant director of the United States Information Agency under Edward R. Murrow. In his later years, Cody headed the Paris bureau of Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe, and wrote two more books, The Favorite Restaurants of an American in Paris (1966) and The Women of Montparnasse (1984). Morrill Cody died in Maryland on November 23, 1987.
Extent
0.5 Linear feet (1 archives box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Journalist, editor and diplomat. The collection consists mostly of incoming correspondence, concerning social affairs, editorial work, and publishing. Among the correspondents are a number of literary figures, including Sylvia Beach, e. e. cummings, Marcel Duchamp, Ernest Hemingway, Langston Hughes, Marianne Moore, Ezra Pound, Raymond Queneau, Eleanor Roosevelt, Edith Sitwell, Alice B. Toklas, and William Carlos Williams.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Morrill Cody, 1965.
Processing Information
The collection originally formed part of the Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection but was removed to form its own collection in 2011.
Subject
- Cody, Morrill, 1901-1987 (AC 1921) (Person)
- Author
- Miranda Marraccini (AC 2012), Peter A. Nelson
- Date
- 2012
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Amherst College Archives and Special Collections Repository
Amherst College Archives & Special Collections
Robert Frost Library
61 Quadrangle Drive
Amherst MA 01002-5000
(413) 542-2299
archives@amherst.edu