Vachel Lindsay Collection

American poet Vachel Lindsay sought to amplify the musical quality of poetry. He is remembered as one of the founders of modern singing poetry, a style in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted. Lindsay was friends with poets Langston Hughes and Sara Teasdale, and was also linked to fellow Illinois poets Carl Sandburg and Edgar Lee Masters. The Vachel Lindsay collection contains manuscripts and letters. Lindsay studied art as a young man, and often added illustrations to his poetry and correspondence. Several examples are included in this collection. In the 1910s and 1920s Lindsay traveled extensively, offering performances of his poetry as a way to make money. His letters document those journeys across the United States. Of particular interest in the collection are 50 pieces of correspondence between Vachel Lindsay and British journalist, travel-writer, and novelist Stephen Graham. This collection was digitized as part of Project REVEAL (Read and View English & American Literature)