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Theodore Cogswell Papers

Call Number

ALBA.020

Dates

1937-1988, inclusive
; 1937-1939, bulk

Creator

Cogswell, Theodore R.

Extent

0.25 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

Theodore Rose Cogswell (1918-1987) went to Spain to join the International Brigades at the age of 19, working as an ambulance driver. He returned to the States in 1938. In World War II, Cogswell flew cargo planes with the U.S. Army Air Corps. After the war, he became a writer of science fiction. This collection consists of documents, clippings, correspondence and ephemera from Cogswell's year in Spain, as well material from after he was back in the States but continuing to support the Republican effort.

Historical/Biographical Note

Theodore Rose Cogswell was born in 1918 in Pennsylvania. In 1937, when he was 19, Cogswell told his parents he was going on vacation to France but instead he crossed the Pyrenees into Spain to join the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. He trained as a signalman with a machine gun company, but when it was discovered that he was under 21 he was transferred off the front lines, first to work as a truck driver, then later as an ambulance driver for the Hospital Pasionaria in Murcia. Cogswell returned to the States on the S.S. Washington in July 1938, and enrolled in Cleveland College. During World War II, he flew cargo planes with the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Asian theater. After the war, Cogswell completed a Master's degree in English and began his career as a writer of science fiction. He published short stories and novellas, and served as national secretary of the Science Fiction Writers of America, occasionally working with fellow writer and Spanish Civil War veteran Arthur Landis. Cogswell died in Pennsylvania in 1987.

Source: Our Fight: Writings by Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Spain 1936-1939, edited by Alvah Bessie and Albert Prago (New York, N.Y.: Monthly Review Press with the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, 1987).

Arrangement

Organized into one series: I. Spanish Civil War Era. Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of documents, clippings, correspondence and ephemera from Cogswell's year in Spain, as well material from after he was back in the States but continuing to support the Republican effort. Notable Spanish Civil War material includes a military note assigning Cogswell to the "Courier service because of his youth"; a sketch for a mural by Jack Carpenter; letters from Cogswell to his family (mostly retyped); a letter from a group of members of the International Brigades to Phil Bard of the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (FALB); a newsletter co-edited by Cogswell (in Spanish); and articles about Cogswell's participation in the Spanish Civil War. Also included are clippings documenting a bitter debate that occurred in Cleveland in 1938 over FALB's intention to hold a "Tag Day" fundraising event to benefit Americans still in Spain; and a pamphlet, The Spanish Conflict, annotated by Cogswell for his father.

Access Restrictions

Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives for more information and to schedule an appointment, tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.

Use Restrictions

Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA), were transferred to New York University in November 2000 by the ALBA Board of Governors. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. For more information, contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.

Provenance

The Theodore Cogswell Collection was donated to Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives by Cogswell's wife, George Rae Marsh Cogswell, in 1988. The collection came to New York University in January 2001 as part of the original acquisition of ALBA collections, formerly housed at Brandeis University.

Separated Materials

Photographs from the Theodore Cogswell Collection have been transferred to the non-print section of the ALBA collection in the Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives.

Related Material at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

ALBA collections at the Tamiment Library.

Arthur H. Landis Papers (ALBA # 66)

Collection processed by

Wendy Scheir, July 2005; Entered into toolkit by Lygia Guimaraes, December 2010

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-20 16:33:34 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Repository

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10012