Earlier this year, I decided that as a reward for finishing the winter quarter of school, I'd reward myself with a Spring Break trip to Providence, Rhode Island in order to continue work on my Lovecraft copyright project. Unfortunately, not all information is available online, so an actual physical trip to the city became necessary if I were to move my work forward. I have two main goals: discover the claims advanced by the H.P. Lovecraft estate on any of Lovecraft's written works (the actual Estate has repeatedly declined to answer my queries for this information), and to learn more about the events after Lovecraft's death - in particular, the activities of Robert H. Barlow and Albert Baker immediately following the writer's death.
So, earlier this winter, I booked a stay in the city from yesterday until Thursday. I am staying at the
Cady House Bed & Breakfast situated in Lovecraft's old stomping grounds. I spent some time yesterday exploring the city, including wandering through Brown University and downtown Providence. I didn't take any pictures, but I'll be doing that later today.
In my wandering, I encountered the Providence City Hall much sooner than I anticipated, so I went ahead and visited the probate archives and began searching for the documents I needed. I'd never done this kind of research before, but the probate clerks and city archivists were extremely helpful and assisted me in locating the documents I needed. I went ahead and took some snapshots from the probate dockets that indexed the associated records:
The image above is the index to the public documents associated with the Lovecraft estate. The first lines deal with the immediate activities following Lovecraft's death in 1937, including a $2000 appraisal of the writer's estate. The documents I was particularly interested were those filed in 1974 when Robert C. Harrall was appointed the administrator of the estate. I obtained copies of the indexed documents (for the princely sum of $3) and I now have the documentation describing the succession of the estate, including an inventory of the estate appraised in 1974 for $1000:
Any and all writings of the late Howard P. Lovecraft which are not copyrighted or are not part of the public domain and all letters, photographs, and books whether published or unpublished and other previously unpublished material. All writings which though copyrighted may not have been copyrighted by individuals, companies, corporations or associations who possessed the right or authority to copyright said materials.
I plan on publishing electronic copies of these documents when I return to Chicago, but this one paragraph constitutes what I've needed for the past year or so. It raises some interesting questions, which I plan to address in an update to my work linked above.
My plan for today is to visit the John Hay Library at Brown University and to examine and retrieve copies of the correspondence between Robert H. Barlow and others, in addition to "Instructions in case of decease", the oft-mentioned document where Lovecraft appointed Barlow his literary executor. In addition to my trip to the Library, I also plan to do a bit more walking and to take some photographs of Providence. It's a rather beautiful city and I've been enjoying all of the architecture. If I have time for the walk later today, I may visit Swan Point Cemetery to take some snapshots of the Lovecraft family plots.
Stay tuned...
