Collection number: MC 154
Size: 1 box
(0.33 cu.ft.)
About Emil and Mary Tonieri
Emil and Mary Tonieri were caretaker managers of The MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire for many years. The MacDowell Colony, the nation’s oldest and largest artists’ retreat, was founded in 1908 by Marian Griswold Nevins MacDowell (1857-1956) as a tribute to her husband, the noted American composer Edward Alexander MacDowell (1861-1908). Administered by the Edward MacDowell Association with headquarters in New York, the MacDowell Colony was to be a quiet haven “where working conditions most favorable to the production of enduring works of imagination shall be provided for creative artists.” Over the hundred years of its existence, the Colony has gained national and international recognition for its artists and their works. More than 50 Pulitzer Prizes have been won by MacDowell alumni and such works as Thornton Wilder’s Our Town (Grover’s Corners is modeled on Peterborough), Leonard Bernstein’s Mass, and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring were conceived at MacDowell.
About the Tonieri-MacDowell Colony Papers
The Tonieri-MacDowell Colony contains correspondence dating from 1921-1942 written by various colonists to the couple at the MacDowell Colony. There are 53 letters from founder Marian MacDowell, mostly written while she was traveling around the country performing concerts of her husband’s work in order to raise funds for the Colony. Other correspondents include Nina Maud Richardson, Marian MacDowell’s secretary, several officers of the organization, composers Amy Cheney Beach, Arthur Finley Nevin and Anne Shaw Obendorfer, artist Lewis C. Daniel, poets Nancy Byrd Turner and Frances Frost, and writers Mary Antin, Carl Carmer, Virginia Moore, Jules Bois, Sylvia C. Bates and Kathryn White Ryan.
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
This collection is open.
Copyright Notice
Contents of this collection are governed by U.S. copyright law. For questions about publication or reproduction rights, contact Special Collections staff.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Tonieri-MacDowell Colony Papers, 1907-1942, MC 154, Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, NH, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Purchase: Carmen Valentino, August 13, 1996 (Accession number 96.020)
Collection Contents
Series 1: Correspondence, 1926-1942
| Box 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Box 1, Folder 1 | Antin-Brown | |
| Box 1, Folder 2 | Carmer-Goldstein | |
| Box 1, Folder 3 | Hastell-MacConnell | |
| Box 1, Folder 4 | MacDowell, Marian, 1926-1932 | |
| Box 1, Folder 5 | MacDowell, Marian, 1934 | |
| Box 1, Folder 6 | MacDowell, Marian, 1935-Jan 1936 | |
| Box 1, Folder 7 | MacDowell, Marian, Mar-May 1936 | |
| Box 1, Folder 8 | MacDowell, Marian, 1941 | |
| Box 1, Folder 9 | MacDowell, Marian, 1942 | |
| Box 1, Folder 10 | MacDowell, Marian, undated | |
| Box 1, Folder 11 | Mackey-Nevins | |
| Box 1, Folder 12 | Oberndorfer-Ryan | |
| Box 1, Folder 13 | Smith-Swaltow | |
| Box 1, Folder 14 | Titus-Williams | |
| Box 1, Folder 15 | Unidentified | |
| Box 1, Folder 16 | Others to others chronologically arranged | |
Series 2: Miscellaneous, 1907-1934
| Box 1, Folder 17 | Edward MacDowell Association 1907-1928 pamphlet; child’s (L. Ballard) story; article about Beatrice Cuming for Sud Magazine dated Jan 1934; Victory birthday card, etc. |
Series 3: Photographs
| Box 1, Folder 18 | Photos | |
| Envelope 1 | Mary Tonieri, July 1933 | |
| Envelope 2 | Unidentified (M. Tonieri?) |
