Permanent URL: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/hm50tr76w
Brooks Bowman Papers, 1914-1971: Finding Aid
AC165
65 Olden Street
Princeton, New Jersey 08540 USA
Phone: 609-258-6345
Fax: 609-258-3385
mudd@princeton.edu
http://www.princeton.edu/~mudd
Published on December 18, 2007
©2007 Princeton University Library
Summary Information
- Creator:
- Bowman, Brooks, 1913-1937.
- Title and dates:
- Brooks Bowman Papers, 1914-1971
- Abstract:
- Brooks Bowman '36 is best remembered as the composer of the songs "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" and "Love and a Dime." The Brooks Bowman Papers consist of correspondence and photographs that document his school years and his foray into the music industry. The bulk of the papers consist of Bowman's correspondence with his mother, sister, and numerous friends.
- Size:
- 4.91 linear feet (11 boxes)
- Call number:
- AC165
- Location:
- Princeton University Library. Department of Rare Books and Special Collections.
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library.
Princeton University Archives.
Princeton, New Jersey 08540 USA - Language(s) of material:
- English
- Storage note:
- This collection is stored onsite at the Mudd Manuscript Library.
Biography of Brooks Bowman
Brooks Bowman '36 is best remembered as the composer of the songs "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" and "Love and a Dime." Bowman was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 21, 1913 to George H. and Mary Augusta Brooks Bowman. He attended the University School in Cleveland, Ohio, then the Asheville School in Asheville, North Carolina for his first three years of high school. Bowman then returned to the University School to finish high school. At the University School he participated in football, drama, and the Glee Club.
Bowman entered Stanford University in 1932, choosing to attend school in California primarily for health reasons, having dealt with a severe form of diabetes from childhood. He transferred to Princeton in the fall of 1933 as a member of the sophomore class. A philosophy major, he was a member of the Tiger magazine editorial board, Glee Club, Theater Intime, and Triangle Club. During his senior year, he was vice-president of his class, president of Tower Club, and vice-president of Triangle.
It was in the Triangle Club that Bowman truly made his mark at Princeton and earned his reputation as "Princeton's Cole Porter." Bowman wrote the music for Stags at Bay, notably the songs "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" and "Love and a Dime." In a letter to Bowman, former Triangle Club member F. Scott Fitzgerald '17 called Stags at Bay "the best in ten years" and thought Bowman's work "both as actor and composer the brightest spot in it." Both "Love and a Dime" and "East of the Sun" were hits beyond Princeton, but it was the latter song that made its way into the American songbook, especially after 1940, when Tommy Dorsey recorded the song with Frank Sinatra on vocals. Bowman's best-known work has been recorded countless times, with versions by artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Billie Holliday, and Stan Getz.
After graduating from Princeton in 1936, Bowman lit out for Hollywood, and in June 1937 signed a contract with David O. Selznick and Selznick International Pictures as a composer and songwriter. In September, Bowman was released from the contract. Though his tenure with the motion picture industry was brief and relatively unfruitful, while in Hollywood Bowman did manage to collaborate with Hoagy Carmichael on lyrics for a song entitled "You and Romance and Me." In 1937 he reunited with a Triangle Club friend, Bill Borden '37, and the pair returned east as a songwriting team--Bowman as lyricist and Borden on piano. Bowman also had plans to enter Yale Law School. Based in part on the success and popularity of "East of the Sun" a New York City publisher offered the two a contract. Tragically, the weekend before Brooks Bowman was to sign the contract, he was killed in a car accident near Poughkeepsie, New York, returning from the Yale-Army game.
Description
The Brooks Bowman Papers consist of correspondence and photographs that document his school years and his foray into the music industry. The bulk of the papers consist of Bowman's correspondence with his mother, sister, and numerous friends. The papers also contain a small amount of material on Bowman collected by Frederic Fox '39.
Please see series descriptions in contents list for additional information about individual series.
Arrangement
Organized into the following series:
Access and Use
Access
The collection is open for research use.
Restrictions on Use and Copyright Information
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the University Archivist. Copyright is held by the Trustees of Princeton University.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Series 2, Photographs, contains a large number of negatives, most of which are without accompanying prints.
Acquisition and Appraisal
Custodial History
Frederic Fox '39, then Princeton University Recording Secretary, transferred his collected material on Brooks Bowman to the University Archives in 1974. The Bowman correspondence and photographs came to the Archives sometime after that date.
Provenance and Acquisition
The papers were donated by the Bowman family.
Appraisal
Appraisal has been conducted in accordance with Mudd Library guidelines. Nothing was separated from the papers during 2007 processing.
Related Materials
Related Archival Material
The Triangle Club Records (AC122) contain the records of the performances in which Bowman played an integral role, including Fiesta, What a Relief! and Stags at Bay. Robert D. B. Carlisle's research material on Brooks Bowman is also included in the Triangle Club Records. The Theater Intime Records (AC022) contain material on Twitch Twaddle, another performance in which Bowman participated. While not related in subject matter, the Mudd Library also holds the Brooks Emeny Papers (MC047) among its 20th Century Public Policy Papers. Emeny, a prominent international relations scholar and member of the Princeton Class of 1924, was Brooks Bowman's cousin.
Publications Citing These Papers
"Princeton's Cole Porter" by Robert D. B. Carlisle '44 in the May 7, 1986 Princeton Alumni Weekly draws on material in the Bowman Papers, in particular Fred Fox's collected material.
Processing and Other Information
Works Cited
"Princeton's Cole Porter" by Robert D. B. Carlisle '44 in the May 7, 1986 Princeton Alumni Weekly and Bowman's undergraduate alumni file were consulted in preparation of the biographical note. Also, the David O. Selznick Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas, Austin, provides details of Bowman's tenure at Selznick International.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Christie Lutz with assistance from Mercy Chesiror '10, Samuel Clendon '07 and Christina McMillan '07 in May through July 2007.. Finding aid written by Christie Lutz in June 2007.
Descriptive Rules Used
Finding aid content adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard.
Encoding
Machine-readable finding aid encoded in EAD 2002 by Daniel Brennan on December 18, 2007.
Finding aid written in English.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Brooks Bowman Papers, Box and Folder Number; Princeton University Archives, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
Subject Headings
These materials have been indexed in the Princeton University Library online catalog using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms.
- Bowman, Brooks, 1913-1937.
- Asheville School (Asheville, N.C.)
- Princeton University.
- Princeton University. Triangle Club.
- Stanford University.
- University School (Hunting Valley, Ohio) -- History.
- Correspondence.
- Photographs.
Browse other finding aids related to the following terms:
Contents List
Series 1: Correspondence, 1923-1971
(3.75 linear feet in 9 boxes)
Series Description
The Correspondence series primarily documents Bowman's childhood and young adulthood, from his stay as a boy at a sanitarium in Kansas City for diabetes treatment through his years at Stanford and Princeton. Correspondence between Bowman and his mother, Mary Augusta Brooks Bowman, is particularly rich in part because they wrote each other almost daily and in great detail. Bowman's letters to his mother from Stanford and Princeton, in particular, are lively and quick-witted and reveal his myriad social activities, impressions of college life, and opinions on subjects of all sorts, from family matters to politics to popular films and actors. Correspondence with his father, sister, and brother can be equally revealing but does not match the sheer volume of correspondence between mother and son. Letters from Bowman's friends are also worth noting for their vivid evocations of private school and college life in the 1920s and 1930s. Bowman corresponded with several young women, including a cousin, Edith Brooks, who was traveling in the car with Bowman at the time he was killed. The young women's letters, in particular, contain a vivaciousness and convey their own and Bowman's very active social lives. Bowman also maintained a correspondence over many years with a member of the crew he met on a Cunard Lines voyage he took as a boy with his family. The crew member sent Bowman many letters and postcards from his voyages around the world.
Of particular interest with regard to Bowman's musical career are his letters from Princeton between 1933 and 1936. In between reports on football games and weekend trips, Brooks discussed matters such as Triangle Club work, royalty agreements, and musicians of the day, including Guy Lombardo, who performed his songs "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" and "Love and a Dime," as well as his hopes and plans for Hollywood and New York songwriting contracts.
The series includes a letter, from March 1937, in which Brooks details his experiences in Hollywood in his typically spirited manner. The series also contains copies of letters from F. Scott Fitzgerald '17, who wrote to Bowman praising his work on Stags at Bay, and from Cole Porter, who penned a letter of introduction for Bowman to New York theatrical producer Dwight Deere Wiman. This material was collected by Fred Fox and is maintained, along with correspondence between Fox, Bowman's sister Mary, and some of Bowman's Triangle Club colleagues and classmates, in a folder at the end of this series. A copy of the original manuscript of "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" and a copy of "You and Romance and Me," a song Bowman wrote with Hoagy Carmichael, are also located in this folder.
Arrangement
Arranged by correspondent and then chronologically.
Brooks Bowman to Mary Augusta Brooks Bowman
1926 July
Box 1, Folder 1 1926 August
Box 1, Folder 2 1926 September-December
Box 1, Folder 3 1927 September-1928 January
Box 1, Folder 4 1928 February-December
Box 1, Folder 5 1929 January-November
Box 1, Folder 6 1929 December
Box 1, Folder 7 1930 January-1931 August
Box 2, Folder 1 1932 January-December
Box 2, Folder 2 1933 January-October
Box 2, Folder 3 1934 January-December
Box 2, Folder 4 1935 January-June
Box 2, Folder 5 1935 September-December
Box 2, Folder 6 1936 January-May
Box 2, Folder 7 Mary Augusta Brooks Bowman to Brooks Bowman
1923 December-1926 August
Box 3, Folder 1 1926 September-October
Box 3, Folder 2 1927 February-October
Box 3, Folder 3 1927 November-December
Box 3, Folder 4 1928 January-March
Box 3, Folder 5 1928 April-September
Box 3, Folder 6 1928 November-December
Box 3, Folder 7 1929 January-May
Box 4, Folder 1 1929 June-October
Box 4, Folder 2 1929 November-1930 February
Box 4, Folder 3 1930 March-August
Box 4, Folder 4 1931 March-August
Box 4, Folder 5 1932 February-October
Box 4, Folder 6 1932 November-December
Box 4, Folder 7 1933 January-April
Box 4, Folder 8 1933 May-October
Box 5, Folder 1 1933 November-December
Box 5, Folder 2 1934 January-May
Box 5, Folder 3 1934 June-December
Box 5, Folder 4 1935 January-May
Box 5, Folder 5 1935 June-December
Box 5, Folder 6 1936 January-June
Box 5, Folder 7 1936 August-December
Box 5, Folder 8 1937 January-February
Box 6, Folder 1 Brooks Bowman to George H. Bowman, 1922 October-1934 January
Box 6, Folder 2 George H. Bowman to Brooks Bowman, 1923 March-1935 January
Box 6, Folder 3 Brooks Bowman to Mary Bowman, 1926 August, 1928 September
Box 6, Folder 4 Mary Bowman to Brooks Bowman
1924 March-1929 December
Box 6, Folder 5 1930 February-1933 August
Box 6, Folder 6 1933 September-1934 June
Box 6, Folder 7 George H. Bowman, Jr. to Brooks Bowman
1922 July-1929 October
Box 6, Folder 8 1930 March-1933 October
Box 6, Folder 9 Edith Brooks to Brooks Bowman
1936 July-December
Box 7, Folder 1 1937 January-March
Box 7, Folder 2 Judith Brooks to Brooks Bowman, 1926 September-1930 March
Box 7, Folder 3 Brooks Bowman-Miscellaneous Family Correspondence, 1932 December, 1935 May
Box 7, Folder 4 Mary Augusta Brooks Bowman-Miscellaneous Family Correspondence, 1929 December-1936 April
Box 7, Folder 5 Charles Brooks to George and Mary Augusta Brooks Bowman, 1926 August-1933 January
Box 7, Folder 6 Letters from Friends to Brooks Bowman
Marianne Beaumont, 1927 October-1928 October
Box 7, Folder 7 Marion Cope, 1929 October-1930 March
Box 7, Folder 8 Eddie Davens, 1930 May-1932 April
Box 7, Folder 9 George Fisher, 1929 June-November
Box 7, Folder 10 Nancy Hine
1931 June-August
Box 7, Folder 11 1932 January-1932 June
Box 8, Folder 1 1932 July-1933 April
Box 8, Folder 2 1933 May-1935 May
Box 8, Folder 3 Babe Stamue(?), 1928 July-1929 October
Box 8, Folder 4 Genevieve Teachout, 1928 January-1932 August
Box 8, Folder 5 Betty Turney, 1933 February-May
Box 8, Folder 6 Fanny Wintner(?), 1928 October-1932 April
Box 8, Folder 7 Richard Worthington, 1929, 1932
Box 8, Folder 8 Herbert Cooper
1923 September-1925 October
Box 9, Folder 1 1926 February-October
Box 9, Folder 2 1927 January-1928 December
Box 9, Folder 3 1929 April-1930 December
Box 9, Folder 4 1931 March-1933 March
Box 9 Frederic Fox '39 and Others Correspondence, Etc., 1934-1971
Box 9, Folder 5 Series 2: Photographs, 1914-1934, undated
(1.16 linear feet in 2 boxes)
Series Description
The Photographs series contains a small number of photographs of Bowman family members and friends, many of which are not labeled or dated. The series also contains over one hundred negatives, also of Bowman family and friends. The negatives have been maintained in the order in which they were housed in their original envelopes. Most are unidentified and undated, but some envelopes contained notations as to place or date and these notations have been transferred to the appropriate groups of negatives. Several of the negatives have been made into photographs, which have been placed with the photographs in this series.
Arrangement
Arranged by location and/or date where possible.
1914-1934, Undated
Box 10 Negatives, 1929-1930, Undated
Box 11
Permanent URL: http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/hm50tr76w