Series II:

Jay Leyda left a box of papers with a friend during his peripatetic life. The contents of this collection comprise a wide assortment of materials and subjects of interest to Jay Leyda. One folder, labeled “Melville Log,” contained material concerning Leyda’s research and planning of that work, but also contained a variety of unrelated material. The rest of the papers range over a variety of subjects and were apparently packed randomly into this box.

In creating this finding aid, I have kept the papers in the “Melville Log” folder separate simply because Leyda labeled them in that manner. Scholars seeking information on Leyda’s research into Melville’s life and work should therefore seek it in both the “Melville Log” folder and the other Melville categories.

Much of the material contained herein is difficult or impossible to date with any certainty. Many of the individual sheets of paper have notes on several very different subjects related only by Leyda’s interest in them. I have categorized each piece according to its predominant subject, but those seeking minutia are encouraged to explore the entire collection carefully.

Detailed Container List

BOX 6: The Melville Log (9 folders)

6: Folder 1

Original file folder labeled “For the Log”

6: Folder 2

Organization of The Melville Log        

Sub-folder 6.2.1 Notes on organization (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.2.2 Notes on problems documenting Melville’s life (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.2.3 Notes on surviving manuscripts (6 items)

Sub-folder 6.2.4 List of Melville diaries (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.2.5 Reference calendar (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.2.6 Research at Abraham Lincoln Association (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.2.7 Quotations relating to organization of The Melville Log (3 items)

6: Folder 3

Printing Process                                                         

Sub-folder 6.3.1 Images (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.3.2 Lists of images, various notes (3 items)

Sub-folder 6.3.3 Timeline of periodical sources (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.3.4 Notes on galley; source for Mardi (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.3.5 Notes on galleys (2 items)

Sub-folder 6.3.6 Changes to galleys (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.3.7 Lists of pages, dates, 1 on back of script (3 items)

Sub-folder 6.3.8 Notes and questions for proofs (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.3.9 Notes, questions, corrections (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.3.10 Various notes (1 item)

6: Folder 4

Melville in the South Pacific

Sub-folder 6.4.1 Note on Medical Journal of Frigate UNITED STATES (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.4.2 Crew lists for UNITED STATES, LUCY ANN, ACUSHNET, Notes (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.4.3 Transcript of ACUSHNET’S final cargo 1845 (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.4.4 List of logbooks to be found (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.4.5 Notes on CHARLES AND HENRY logbooks (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.4.6 Transcripts of articles in South Pacific periodicals 1843-1853 (3 items)

6: Folder 5

Plates for The Melville Log

(4 items)

6: Folder 6

Articles on Melville     

(15 items)

6: Folder 7

Melville Society Newsletters

(21 items)

6: Folder 8

Copies of Herman Melville Correspondence

Sub-folder 6.8.1 Wiley and Patterson (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.2 John Romyn Brodhead (5 items)

Sub-folder 6.8.3 Richard Bentley (4 items)

Sub-folder 6.8.4 Evert Duyckinck (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.5 Haveland Ellis, notes (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.6 Professor McLanahan (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.7 Unidentified: Duyckinck? (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.8 Ben W. Austin (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.9 George Putnam (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.10 Excerpts from Melville/Duyckinck letters (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.11 Melville/Duyckinck social notes (4 items)

Sub-folder 6.8.12 Calendar of Melville letters in Duyckinck collection (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.13 Duyckinck (5 items)

Sub-folder 6.8.14 Editors of Literary World (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.15 Bentley Brodhead (1 item)

Sub-folder 6.8.16 Notes on Melville letters (2 items)

6: Folder 9

Various unrelated items found in The Melville Log folder

(6 items)