Henry L. Mencken collection

The H.L. Mencken Collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, annotated typescript carbon copies, and note cards documenting the life and work of H.L. Mencken. Of note is correspondence between American Mercury editor Paul Palmer and the American Civil Liberties Union concerning Mencken's contested essay about the group. Additionally, there are carbons, holographs, and typescripts for essays that appeared in the Baltimore Sun and the American Mercury as well as books that Mencken authored, including Notes on Democracy, Treatise on Right and Wrong, Newspaper Days, Happy Days, Heathen Days, The American Language, The New Dictionary of Quotations, My Life as Author and Editor, and Thirty-five Years of Newspaper Work.

Mencken placed use restrictions on the annotated carbons for My life as Author and Editor, and Thirty-five Years of Newspaper Work. Permission from the Librarian of the College will be needed to access boxes 12, 13 and 14.