Four+Articles+in+the+Davenport+Democrat

Original Author: Mark Hurty, ENG348 FL09 Revision: // Coordinator’s Note: There are images from the newspaper articles to be added // Page Headline: **Davenport a Little Athens?—Local Authors Disagree.** This full page spread features interviews with three prominent local authors (Octave Thanet, Arthur Davison Ficke, and Susan Glaspell) and a letter to the editor from Glaspell’s future husband, George Cram Cook. The spread ponders the extent to which the high concentration of local authors might be attributed to some special feature of the community. The consensus seems to be that it is a “happy coincidence.” Story Title: **Susan Glaspell Tells of Work** Glaspell does not think there is anything special in the way Davenport cultivates writers. From the article: “Do I think Davenport the literary center of Iowa?” and the young woman in brown repeated the query as she lounged easily in a chair before a writing table. “Well, hardly. It isn’t exactly a literary center. It has many cultured people but there is no patronage of writing, no especial encouragement to one who feels an impulse to write but needs help. Take Floyd Dell, for instance, a Davenport boy who is now literary editor of the Chicago Evening Post and recognized throughout the country as a critic of real worth, one whose work has a real constructive force. I don’t believe his talent was ever adequately recognized while here.” Story Title: **More Authors of National Reputation Than Any Other City in the State** George Cram Cook’s letter is satirical and funny. He suggests that Davenport is fully “authorized” with 1 author for ever 3,600 citizens, a statistic which is significantly more concentrated than the national average of 1 author in 15,000 citizens. He goes on to poke fun at the Rock Island and Moline. “Twin-Cities Mute” says one section heading, and in the body of that section he offers: “Those two towns across the river, with a combined population greater than Davenport’s are totally unauthorized. They are dumb little cities in which, so far as one can remember, there has arisen no voice which the world outside—the world of letters—has heard. The case of Rock Island and Moline, bound as they are to Davenport by so many social and commercial ties, but intellectually and artistically unproductive, serves to make more striking the intellectual and artistic fertility of Davenport. What is there in the intellectual history of Scott County to account for it? “Davenport in the pas has never done anything anybody ever heard of to help—by appreciation, by sympathy—even by tolerance of their almost inevitable difference from the average citizen—its writers and literary artists. In no way have they been fostered, shielded, stimulated. Their souls, their creative powers—dependent on some measure upon happiness and peace—could have died within them in Davenport, and Davenport would have felt itself none the poorer. Davenport can say ‘A careless folk we are—careless of precious faculties.’” Cook finishes his letter with “Davenport in the past has produced writers unconsciously, but in happy accidents there is a limit. If she wishes to produce writers in the future she must do it consciously. She must welcome the Weaver of Dreams.” Cook and Glaspell are at this point already friends, and possibly lovers. They will be married 13 months after this article is printed. (See below.) In their responses you can sense their shared views, but also their different styles for sharing those views. Title: **Two Davenport Authors Who Were Married in New Jersey** This is a short notice about the marriage of Susan Glaspell and George Cram Cook. “A telegram was received at noon today by Mrs. E. S. Glaspell, 317 East Twelfth street announcing the marriage of her daughter, Miss Susan Keating Glaspell, the novelist and short story writer, to George Cram Cook, novelist and assistant editor of the literary section of the Chicago Post.” It features photos of both the writers and notes some details about their respective titles. No mention is made of the fact that this was Cook’s second marriage. Immediately to the left of this notice is an interesting article on changes being made to the delivery of mail in Davenport. Title: **Davenport Writer is Honored by Eastern Newspaper Critic.** This is also a short notice, observing that Susan Glaspell has been honored with the placement of three of her stories on a list of the 55 best short stories of the year. “The writings of this Davenporter have always been received with signal recognition. The new honor is one of a long list that has been granted her…” The article goes on to mention that “Mrs. Cook is at present making her home in Provincetown, Mass.” Title: **Gains of Candidates for European Trip** This article explains the standings in a contest sponsored by the Democrat. “The two young women who prove to have the most friends among the readers of the paper” will earn the most votes and will win a free trip to Europe. Girls can improve their chances of winning by selling subscriptions to the newspaper. The article notes that “Miss Susie Glaspell has moved to fourth place from fifth, changing places with Miss Nott.” I did not find an article in a subsequent edition of the paper that listed the ultimate winner of the contest.
 * Four Articles in the //Davenport Democrat// **
 * 1. Davenport Democrat, Page 17. March 10, 1912. **
 * 2. Davenport Democrat, Page 10. April 14, 1913 **
 * 3. Davenport Democrat, Page 9. December 1, 1919. **
 * 4. Davenport Democrat, Page 7. September 29, 1902. **