Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the H. L. Mencken papers #3376, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

Microfilm copy available.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. Frederic Moir of Winston-Salem, N.C., in 1958.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• American literature--20th century.
• Authors, American--Travel.
• Haardt, Sara, 1898-1935.
• Hanes, Elizabeth Peck.
• Hanes, Frederic Moir, 1883-1946.
• Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956.
• Southern States--Intellectual life--20th century.
• United States--Politics and government--20th century.
• Women authors, American--20th century.

H. L. Mencken of Baltimore, Md., was a journalist, author, and critic.

The collection contains about 500 letters from Mencken to Elizabeth Peck Hanes and Frederic Moir Hanes of Winston-Salem, N.C., and some other items. Mencken's letters concern mutual friends, travels, Mencken's visits to the Haneses' house, politics and public figures, Mencken's writing, food and drink, the health of Mencken and his wife Sara Haardt Mencken, and other matters. Other items include 27 letters from Sara Haardt Mencken. Later letters pertain to Elizabeth Peck Hanes's wishes for the material and the disposition of some correspondence between H. L. Mencken and the artist Walt Kuhn.