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Papers of Merle Armitage

Merle Armitage was an American author, publisher, book designer, graphic artist, and impresario.

The collection contains an assortment of correspondence, books, some published by his Manzanita Press, typescripts of books and short stories, advertisements, illustrations, clippings, photographs and photographic plates, articles, speeches, catalogs, and miscellaneous original art work. The majority of the correspondence, 1958-60, is with George Mason regarding the book Stella Dysart, and with Ida Whitsett concerning the book Success Is No Accident. Typescript drafts and items relating to the publication of the books are also present.

Another set of correspondence is with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad, 1958- 1973. Background materials relating to Armitage's book Homage to Santa Fe include the typescript draft, illustrations and advertisements, as well as railroad articles, timetables, and train photographs. Travel photographs from 1955 depict mainly the landscapes, monuments, and Native Americans in Arizona, New Mexico, California, and Oklahoma. Eighteen copper photographic plates are from the book Edward Weston: Fifty Photographs, and 22 more photographic plates are from other publications. Miscellaneous original art work is by Henrietta Shore, his daughter Chama Armitage, and Frank O'Brien. Other items are articles written by and about Armitage, speech typescripts, family mementos, material from his work as an impresario, and some of his original graphic designs.