H.L. Mencken Room
- Former user (Deleted)
Enoch Pratt Free Library, H.L. Mencken Room
Mailing Address
400 Cathedral Street
Baltimore, MD 21201
Contact: Vincent Fitzpatrick, Curator
Phone: 443-984-2451
Web: http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/mencken/index.aspx?id=7960
Finding Aids: On the web site.Â
Hours of Service
By appointment only.
Overview
The Mencken Room houses the most important Mencken collection in the world, including the books in Mencken's personal library, typescripts and proofs of Mencken articles and books, correspondence, and other Mencken artifacts. The Mencken Room is open to the public each year on Mencken Day, which is held on the Saturday closest to his birthday on September 12.
Type of Materials
Artifacts
Books and Monographs
Personal Papers
Photographs
Primary Resources
Printed Ephemera
Serials
Detailed Description of Collections
Artifacts - The H.L. Mencken Room holds a variety of Mencken artifacts, including his press badge and a Corona typewriter used by Mencken for all of his books and many of his articles published before 1930.Â
Books and Monographs - Among the collection's many treasures are the books in Mencken's personal library. There are presentation copies from such notables as Theodore Dreiser and F. Scott Fitzgerald. The collection also includes books by members of the Mencken family other than Henry Louis.
Personal Papers - The collection includes typescripts of many of Mencken's newspaper columns and magazine articles, as well as proofs of some books. There is also a sizable collection of his correspondence with Marylanders.
Photographs - Photographs are of H. L. Mencken, his house, his neighborhood, and important places in his life and family. One series of photographs are signed prints by well-known Baltimore photographer A. Aubrey Bodine.
Primary Resources
Printed Ephemera
Serials - The collection includes all the copies of the magazines that Mencken edited or co-edited.