mnsss286 Lola Ridge Papers, 1900-1941 Finding Aid Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College
Northampton, MA
© 2005

Smith College. All rights reserved.

 Finding aid exported into EAD from InMagic DB/Textworks 7.01. Encoded by Margaret Jessup and Jennifer Smar. 2006-04-07 Finding aid written in English. Sophia Smith CollectionSmith College Lola Ridge Papers, 1900-1941 Finding Aid MS 131 2005 Encoding funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

© 2005 Smith College. All rights reserved.

 Collection Overview Ridge, Lola, 1883-1941 Lola Ridge Papers1900-1941 MS 131 11 boxes (5.5 linear ft.) English Sophia Smith Collection
Smith College Northampton, MA
Poet. Papers include manuscripts of poetry published in Firehead (1929); correspondence, art work, biographical material, clippings, diaries, memorabilia, photographs, reviews, and published works. Biographical Note

Lola Ridge and David Lawson, undated

American poet Lola Ridge was born Rose Emily Ridge in Dublin, Ireland in 1873. At age three she and her mother moved first to Sydney, Australia and then to New Zealand. She took classes through Trinity College (England) and studied art under Julian Ashton at the Academie Julienne in Australia. She moved to New York in 1908. Her radical poetry appeared in The Ghetto and Other Poems (1918), Emma Goldman's monthly, Mother Earth, as well as in more mainstream periodicals. She wrote poetry on radical themes, and about her anarchist friends Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. After World War I, Ridge revived Alfred Kreymborg's magazine, Others, and served as the American editor of Broom. In 1923 she won Poetry magazine's Guarantor's Prize. During her lifetime, Ridge published five books of poetry, including Firehead, about the Crucifixion. She completed Firehead in 1929 at the Yaddo retreat. In the 1930s she visited Paris and Baghdad, and a Guggenheim fellowship enabled her to travel to Taos, New Mexico, and parts of Mexico. She received the Shelley Memorial Award in 1934 and 1935. Lola Ridge died of cardiomyopathy in 1941.

 Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Lola Ridge Papers consist of manuscripts, correspondence, art work, biographical material, clippings, diaries, memorabilia, photographs, reviews, and her published works. The manuscript material consists of drafts of the poems published in Firehead (1929). There is substantial correspondence to Louise Adams Floyd and with Ridge's husband David Lawson.

NOTE: The container list for this collection is available in the Sophia Smith Collection. Please contact us to request a copy.

 Information on Use Terms of Access and Use

The papers are open to research according to the regulations of the Sophia Smith Collection.

This collection has not been fully processed.

Copyright to unpublished materials may be owned by the creator, or their heirs or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights. Permission to publish reproductions or quotations beyond "fair use" must also be obtained from the Sophia Smith Collection as owners of the physical property.

 Preferred Citation

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

Lola Ridge Papers, Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College, Northampton, Mass.

 Additions to the Collection

Periodic additions to collection are expected and may not be reflected in this record.

 Search Terms Poets, American--20th century--Biography--Sources Ridge, Lola, 1883-1941 Yaddo (artists' colony)--History Radicalism--United States--History--20th century--Sources