Olive Tilford Dargan and Rose Pastor Stokes Correspondence
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Abstract
Olive Tilford Dargan (1869-1968), was an Appalachian poet and novelist. Under the pseudonym Fielding Burke, she wrote two novels about the Gastonia, North Carolina textile workers' strike of 1929, Call Home the Heart (1932) and A Stone Came Rolling (1935). Rose Pastor Stokes (1879-1933) was a widely published socialist and communist, and author of proletarian plays and poetry. Born in Russian Poland in 1879, Stokes immigrated to the United States where she worked in a cigar factory. In 1903 she became an assistant to the editor of the Jewish Daily News in New York. In 1905 she married James Graham Phelps Stokes, a wealthy socialist and reformer. In 1918 she was sentenced to ten years in prison under the Espionage Act but the conviction was overturned on appeal. During this period she became a member of the Communist Party and in 1922 was a delegate to the Fourth Congress of the Communist International in Moscow. In 1925 she and James were divorced and two years later she married Jerome Isaac Romaine. She died in 1933 of cancer. The collection contains forty-one letters from Olive Tilford Dargan to Rose Pastor Stokes, two letters from Stokes to Dargan, a letter from the Tallahassee Power Company regarding the possibility of a reservoir covering some property owned by Dargan, and a telegram to Dargan from "John and Mary." The letters between Dargan and Stokes are largely personal in nature, and indicate a close friendship. There is also some discussion of literary and political matters, and the letters from 1930-1931 are concerned with Stoke's final illness.
Historical/Biographical Note
Olive Tilford Dargan (1869-1968), was an Appalachian poet and novelist, who lived in North Carolina from 1906 until her death. Under the pseudonym Fielding Burke, she wrote two novels about the Gastonia, North Carolina textile workers' strike of 1929, Call Home the Heart (1932) and A Stone Came Rolling (1935). Rose Pastor Stokes (1879-1933) was widely published socialist and communist. Born in Russian Poland in 1879, Stokes immigrated in 1882 to England and in 1890 to the United States where she worked in a cigar factory. In 1903 she became an assistant to the editor of the Jewish Daily News in New York. In 1905 she married James Graham Phelps Stokes, a wealthy socialist and reformer. By 1912 Stokes was an active socialist participating in labor actions in New York City and writing proletarian poetry and plays, including The Woman Who Wouldn't (1916). In 1918 she was sentenced to ten years in prison under the Espionage Act but the conviction was overturned on appeal in 1921. During this period she became a member of the Communist Party and in 1922 was an American delegate to the Fourth Congress of the Communist International in Moscow. In 1925 she and James were divorced and two years later she married Jerome Isaac Romaine. She died in 1933 of cancer in Germany, where she had sought treatment. I Belong to the Working Class: The Unfinished Autobiography of Rose Pastor Stokes, was published in 1992.
Arrangement
The folders are arranged chronologically.
The files are grouped into one series:
Missing Title
- I, Letters to Rose Pastor Stokes
Scope and Content Note
Contains forty-one letters from Olive Tilford Dargan to Rose Pastor Stokes, two letters from Stokes to Dargan, a letter from the Tallahassee Power Company regarding the possibility of a reservoir covering some property owned by Dargan, and a telegram to Dargan from "John and Mary." Dargan's letters to Stokes (and Stokes's two letters to Dargan) are largely personal in nature, and indicate a close friendship. There is also some discussion of literary and political matters, and the letters from 1930-1931 are concerned with Stokes's final illness.
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
The Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Archives has no information about copyright ownership for this collection and is not authorized to grant permission to publish or reproduce materials from it. Materials in this collection, which were created in 1917-1931, are expected to enter the public domain in 2039.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Pearl and Arthur Zipser, 1990. The accession number associated with this gift is 1990.006.
Custodial History
Arthur and Pearl Zipser sent a gift of Olive Tilford Dargan's correspondence in 1990. The accession number associated with this gift is 1990.006. The letters may have been given to Arthur and Pearl Zipser by Cecil Befrage, who in turn had received them from J. J. Jerome.
