AP News, August 28th, 2007
Nearly 6,000 books, photographs and letters by and about H.L. Mencken have been acquired by Johns Hopkins University from the estate of an accountant with a penchant for the curmudgeonly journalist known as the Sage of Baltimore.
George H. Thompson began collecting Mencken-related material in 1962 and continued until his death last year, said Cynthia Requardt, the William Kurrelmeyer Curator of Special Collections at the Sheridan Libraries.
"He collected all of Mencken's writings in multiple editions, printings, and translations," Requardt said.
The Ohio accountant then "branched out and collected books that reprinted Mencken works, mentioned Mencken or were inspired by Mencken."
The collection, which will more than double the university's Mencken collection, will be housed at the George Peabody Library, the university announced Tuesday.
Mencken, a reporter and columnist for The (Baltimore) Sun, was a prominent literary and social critic in the first half of the 20th century. He was known for his coverage of the Scopes "monkey" trial and his disdain for the comfortable middle class, which he called the "Boobus Americanus" and the "booboisie." Mencken also edited two highly influential magazines, the Smart Set and American Mercury.
Requardt said the collection includes magazines containing Mencken's articles, letters written by Mencken, photographs and books that reprinted Mencken works, mentioned Mencken or were inspired by him.
Thompson's collection was believed to be the largest Mencken-related compilation in private hands, said Mencken scholar Richard J. Schrader, a professor of English at Boston College. Schrader was assisted by Thompson in the 1998 publication of a Mencken biography.
