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Henry and Nina Webster Dumont
A Register of Their Papers in the Library of Congress


Prepared by T. Michael Womack 
2000
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress 
Washington, D.C.
Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress 
Manuscript Division, 2003


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Collection Summary

Title:    Papers of Henry and Nina Webster Dumont , 1905 - 1943 (bulk
1930 - 1936 ) 
ID No.:    MSS19117 
Creator: Dumont, Henry, 1878-1942 
Creator: Dumont, Nina Webster, 1887-1953 
Extent:    3,000 items ; 9 containers ; 3.6 linear feet 
Repository:    Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington,
D.C. 
Abstract:    Henry Dumont, poet, writer, and businessman, and Nina
Webster Dumont, statistician. Articles, a biography, correspondence,
novels, plays, and poems relating primarily to Henry Dumont's work as a
poet and writer. Correspondence, instructions, manuals, reports, and
studies relating primarily to Nina Webster Dumont's work as a statistician.

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of
person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed
alphabetically therein. 
Names:
Dumont, Henry, 1878-1942 
Bender, Albert M. (Albert Maurice), 1866-1941--Correspondence 
Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945--Correspondence 
Genthe, Arnold, 1869-1942--Correspondence 
Gregory, Alice Chrystal Sterling--Correspondence 
London, Charmian--Correspondence 
Markham, Virgil, 1899- --Correspondence 
McDevitt, William--Correspondence 
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956--Correspondence 
Routhwaite, Mary Isabelle Sterling--Correspondence 
Seymour, George Steele--Correspondence 
Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968--Correspondence 
Sterling, George, 1869-1926 
Business Men's Art Club of Chicago 
Business Men's Art Club of New York 
Business Men's Art Club of San Francisco 
Pacific Coast Borax Company 
United States. Bureau of Labor Statistics 
Dumont, Henry, 1878-1942. Faun on Olympus 
Dumont, Nina Webster, 1887-1953. Papers of Henry and Nina Webster
Dumont (1905-1943) 

Subjects:
Air--Pollution--Statistics 
Cost and standard of living--Statistics 
Diseases--Statistics 
Medical statistics 
Medical care, Cost of--Statistics 
Occupational mortality--Statistics 
Purchasing power--Statistics 

Occupations:
Authors
Businessmen
Poets
Statisticians

Administrative Information
Provenance:
The papers of Henry Dumont, poet, writer, and businessman, and Nina
Webster Dumont, statistician, were bequeathed to the Library of Congress
by Nina Webster Dumont in 1955.

Copyright Status:
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Henry and Nina Webster Dumont
in these papers and in other collections of papers in the custody of the
Library of Congress has been dedicated to the public.

Preferred Citation:
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following
information: Container number, Henry and Nina Webster Dumont Papers,
Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Notes
Henry Dumont
Date Event 
1878 , Mar. 17 Born, San Francisco, Calif. 
1897 - 1899  Office boy, Pacific Coast Borax Co., San Francisco, Calif. 
1899 - 1901  Clerk, Pacific Coast Borax Co., Alameda, Calif. 
1901 - 1908  Cashier (1901-1902) and secretary (1902-1908), Pacific
Coast Borax Co, San Francisco, Calif. 
1904  Married Eleanor Margaret Larkin (divorced 1930) 
1907  Published The Vision of a City and Other Poems (San Francisco:
The Whitaker & Ray Co. 115 pp.) 
1908 - 1926  Manager (1908-1921) and sales promotion manager
(1921-1926), Pacific Coast Borax Co., Chicago, Ill. 
1910  Published A Golden Fancy and Other Poems (Boston: Chapple
Publishing Co. 114 pp.) 
1911  Published The Average Man (Chicago: Merle B. Haver. 52 pp.)
Published Shined in Chicago (novelette) with Charles M. Weil in Top
Notch magazine 
1926 - 1930  Assistant sales manager, Pacific Coast Borax Co., New York,
N.Y. 
1930  Married Nina Webster Smith 
ca. 1931  Established Dumont-LeVene Advertising Service with Nate Le
Vene, San Francisco, Calif. 
ca. 1935  Established Henry Dumont Advertising, San Francisco, Calif. 
1942  Died 

Nina Webster Dumont
Date Event 
1887 , Dec. 29 Born, near Hudson, Wis. 
1913  B.A., Beloit College, Beloit, Wis. 
before 1917  Married Leslie D. Smith (divorced before 1930) 
1920 - 1922  Statistical clerk, occupation data, Bureau of Census,
Washington, D.C. 
1923 - 1924  Statistical clerk, influenza investigations, Metropolitan Life
Insurance Co., New York, N.Y. 
1924 - 1927  Statistical clerk, influenza investigations, dust studies, and
morbidity studies, Public Health Service, Washington, D.C. 
1927 - 1930  Statistician, study of loss of light due to air pollution, Laura
A. Cauble, consultant, Public Health Service, New York, N.Y. 
1930  Married Henry Dumont 
1933 - 1934  Clerk, Accounting Department, San Francisco Emergency
Relief Administration, San Francisco, Calif. 
1934 - 1935  Supervisor, "Study of Medical Care and Costs in California
Families in Relation to Economic Status," Federal Emergency Relief
Administration, San Francisco, Calif. 
1935  Technical director, "Cost of Living Study," Bureau of Labor
Statistics, Sacramento, Calif. 
1935 - 1936  Area supervisor, "Occupational Morbidity and Mortality
Study," Public Health Service, San Francisco, Calif. 
1936 - 1937  Assistant and later acting director, "Consumer Purchases
Study," Bureau of Home Economics, Seattle, Wash. 
1937  Assistant director, "Consumer Purchases Study," Bureau of Home
Economics, Minneapolis, Minn. 
1953  Died 

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Henry and Nina Webster Dumont, husband and wife, span
the years from 1905 to 1943 with the bulk of the items concentrated in the
period 1930-1936. The collection consists of two series: the Henry
Dumont Papers and the Nina Webster Dumont Papers. 
The Henry Dumont Papers are composed of three sections:
correspondence, miscellany, and writings. Henry Dumont was a friend of
George Sterling, an American poet in the latter part of the nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries and resident of the artists colony at
Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, along with Jack London, Robinson Jeffers,
and Upton Sinclair. Sterling encouraged Dumont to write poetry, and the
collection contains numerous poems by Dumont with Sterling's comments
and suggestions. Following Sterling's death in 1926, Dumont decided to
write a biography of his friend and mentor. He used his own
correspondence with Sterling in addition to correspondence he exchanged
in 1935 and 1936 with Sterling's friends and acquaintances.
Correspondents include two of Sterling's daughters, Alice Chrystal
Sterling Gregory and Mary Isabelle Sterling Routhwaite; the photographer
Arnold Genthe; and writers and publishers, such as Albert M. Bender,
Theodore Dreiser, Charmian London, wife of Jack London, Virgil
Markham, William McDevitt, H. L. Mencken, Upton Sinclair, and George
Steele Seymour. A small file of family correspondence from some of
Dumont's relatives on the Isle of Guernsey deals primarily with
genealogical matters.

A miscellany section contains material relating to Dumont's career in
advertising and marketing, such as advertising prospectuses and
information on the Pacific Coast Borax Company for which he worked for
many years. Dumont's interest in the visual arts is reflected in files
referring to the Business Men's Art Clubs of Chicago, New York, and San
Francisco, and a file containing drawings and etchings by him. There are
also subject files on George Sterling and Ambrose Bierce. A scrapbook
contains material relating to Dumont's published works, letters from poets
and publishers, newspaper and magazine clippings, and numerous
autographed poems by George Sterling.

The writings section, composed of works by Dumont or others, consists
principally of notes and drafts of "Faun on Olympus," Dumont's biography
of Sterling. Drafts of novels include "Inflexible Optimist" and "The Taking
of Desert Joe"; plays, including "His Baronial Highness," "An Old
Republican," "Santa in Blunderland," and "Teddy's Burglars"; and a
nonfiction work entitled "Adventures in Advertising." The poetry portion
contains drafts of individual poems together with a list from the 1920s
providing titles, publishers, and dates as well as drafts of poetry
collections, including "Pilate to Jesus and Other Poems" and a collection
with two working titles: "Children of the World" and "Kingdoms of the
World." There are also articles, short stories, and speeches. Included
among the writings by others is an essay by the sculptress Gertrude Boyle
Kanno describing her creation of a bust of Albert Einstein and a file
containing poems by George Sterling, many of them autographed.

The Nina Webster Dumont Papers represent five of the federal and state
agencies for which she worked: the Bureau of Home Economics, Bureau
of Labor Statistics, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, Public
Health Service, and Social Welfare Department. The papers consist
primarily of material relating to her work as a statistician and conductor of
surveys for various studies. Topics include air pollution, consumer
purchases, cost of living, health conservation, medical care and costs, and
occupational morbidity and mortality. A miscellany contains biographical
material, employment applications, personal correspondence, and
information on Henry Dumont's divorce from his first wife with Nina
Webster as correspondent.

Organization of the Papers
The collection is arranged in two series:

Henry Dumont Papers, 1905-1943, n.d. 
Nina Webster Dumont Papers, 1924-1939, n.d.


April 15, 2004