Clarence Bulliet letters to Katherine Adams, 1902-1904
A Guide to the letters at the Indiana University Archives
Finding aid prepared by Cara Vukusich.
Summary Information
Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives
Creator
Bulliet, C. J. (Clarence Joseph),
1883-1952.
TitleClarence Bulliet letters to Katherine
Adams, 1902-1904
Collection No.
C552
Extent
0.2 cubic feet (1 box)
Language
Materials are in English.
Abstract
Clarence Joseph Bulliet (later Bulleit)
was born March 16, 1883 and died October 20, 1952. An American author, art critic
and poet, this small collection consists entirely of correspondence sent to his
fiancee Katherine Adams during his time as a student at Indiana University,
1902-1904.
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research. Advance notice required.
Biographical Note
Clarence Joseph Bulleit (later Bulliet) was born on March 16, 1883. During World War
I he changed the spelling of his last name to Bulliet to avoid any connection to
Germany. He grew up in Corydon, Indiana, and went on to study at Indiana University.
While at the University, he was a writer for the Daily Student and became editor in
chief in 1904. He often wrote poems that were published in the paper. After
graduating in 1904, he pursued a career in journalism in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Eventually he became a press agent for Robert Mantell, who was the Head of the
Shakespearean Touring Theater Company. This job involved touring the United States
and Canada, which he did for a period of nine years. One year was spent as a
regional "advance man," or publicist, which involved traveling ahead of the company
to promote the silent film, The Birth of a Nation, released in 1915. He briefly
returned to his career in journalism in Louisville, Kentucky, until relocating
shortly after to Chicago, Illinois, to work as an editor of the Magazine of the Art
World, a weekly journal published by the Chicago Evening Post (later The Chicago
Daily News in 1932).
Bulliet played a key role in popularizing modern art in the Midwestern United States
and over the course of his career he published six books on the subject. Bulliet
married his first wife, artist Katherine Adams, on October 22, 1905. They had one
son named Leander Jackson. After Katherine’s death in 1946, Bulliet remarried but
died shortly thereafter, in 1952.
Arrangement
Collection is organized in a single series of Correspondence arranged
chronologically.
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists entirely of letters written by Bulliet to fiancee Katherine
Adams while he was a student at Indiana University. The letters span the period from
October of 1902 through December of 1904. Many of the letters include clippings of
Bulliet's poems that were published in the Daily Student, the IU student newspaper,
as well as other items such as a ribbon (or badge) from a "Mock Democratic
Election," and a card from a men's clothing company. Much of what Bulliet wrote was
about everyday life and life at the University.
Besides coursework, campus visitors and events, Bulliet wrote of his experiences with
different student elections, noting that certain fraternities on campus, as well as
the sophomore class at the time he was a freshmen, tried to sabotage elections. In
one of his letters, he wrote about his apprehension in running for Editor-in-Chief
of the Daily Student, saying that he was nominated and did not want to run. Campus
sporting events and pranks were other topics about which Bulliet wrote. He noted the
brutality of football games and writes regularly about the strife and scraps between
the freshmen and sophomore classes, including "The Big Freshmen/Sophomore Scrap"
that took place February 23, 1904, in which the freshmen president was kidnapped by
sophomores.
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Indexing Terms
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The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
IUCAT, the IU Libraries'
online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by
searching the catalog using these terms.
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Related Material
Related photographs may be available in the University Archives Photographs
Database:
http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/archivesphotos/
The bulk of Bulliet’s papers are held by the Archives of American Art:
http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/c-j-bulliet-papers-5443
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Accession 2014/021
Usage RestrictionsThe donor(s) of this collection have transferred their copyrights for the materials to the Trustees of Indiana University
through a Deed of Gift. For more information, please contact the Indiana University Archives staff.
The Indiana University Archives respects the intellectual property rights of others and does not claim any copyrights for
non-university records, materials in the public domain, or materials for which we do not hold a Deed of Gift. Responsibility
for the determination of the copyright status of these materials rests with those persons wishing to reuse the materials.
Researchers are responsible for securing permission from copyright owners and any other rights holders for any reuse of these
materials that extends beyond fair use or other statutory limitations.
Digital reproductions of archival materials from the Indiana University Archives are made available for noncommercial educational
and research purposes only. If you are the copyright holder for any of the digitized materials and have questions about its
inclusion on our site, please contact the Indiana University Archivist.
Preferred Citation
[Item], Clarence Bulliet letters to Katherine Adams, Collection C552, Indiana University Archives, Bloomington.
Provenance
Donated to the Archives in 2014 by grandson Richard Bulliet.
Processing InformationProcessed by Cara Vukusich.
Completed in 2014
Container List
Series:
Box 1
Correspondence,1902-1904