Kate O'Flaherty Chopin Papers, 1855-1975

<P>Thomas O'Flaherty was a wealthy Irish immigrant who married into an old French Creole family. His daughter Kate received a traditional Catholic education, which she supplemented by reading contemporary European literature. She married Oscar Chopin in 1870 and moved to Louisiana where she had six children. After her husband's death in 1883, she undertook the management of the plantations, apparently quite successfully. She carried on this work for more than a year, but finally yielded to her mother's urging to return to St. Louis. In 1884, she came back to St. Louis and at age 36 she began to write. Some of her published works include <I>The Awakening</I> (1899), <I>At Fault</I> (1890), <I>A Night in Acadie</I> (1897), and <I>Bayou Folk</I> (1894), as well as numerous poems and short stories. Until the early 1960s, she was best known as a local colorist, since most of her short stories dealt with scenes from Creole Louisiana. With the recent interest in women's studies, her works, and primarily her novel <I>The Awakening</I>, which concerns a woman's sexual awakening, have been reexamined extensively.</P>

<P>This collection consists of holograph manuscripts and published copies of many of Kate Chopin's short stories, poems, and translations from the French of Guy de Maupassant's short stories. The collection also includes some correspondence from friends regarding <I>The Awakening</I>, 1899; two commonplace books or copybooks, 1860 and 1867-1870, the latter of which contains a diary of her 1870 wedding trip; an original manuscript book, 1894-1896, which also includes diary entries; and two account and memoranda notebooks that record her manuscript submissions to publishers, giving title, publication, date accepted/published/amount, 1888-1895 and 1888-1902. The collection also includes biographical information on Kate Chopin, copies of scholarly essays by Per Seyersted and Bernard J. Koloski, and papers on Kate Chopin by participants in the 1974 Chopin seminar. Papers were lent to Father Daniel S. Rankin for research by the Chopin family. Father Rankin turned the bulk of them over to the University of Pennsylvania Special Collections. This body was then transferred to the Missouri Historical Society at the wish of the Chopin family. The addition was found in a storage locker owned by Father Rankin in 1991, and forwarded to the Missouri Historical Society by the University of Pennsylvania Special Collections. The collection contains "at risk" original manuscripts, which should not be routinely retrieved. They may be viewed by researchers only where examination of photocopies (found in the first three boxes) proves insufficient for research purposes.</P>

<P>Finding aid available. See also guide to the Per Seyersted Collection at the archives reference desk.</P>

<P>4 boxes of original documents; 2 boxes of preservation copies</P>

<P>Cite as: Kate O'Flaherty Chopin Papers, Missouri Historical Society Archives, St. Louis.</P>

<P>托马斯·奥弗莱厄蒂是一位富有的爱尔兰移民，他通过与古老的法国克里奥尔家族的联姻融入了该家族。他的女儿凯特接受了传统的天主教教育，并通过阅读当代欧洲文学作品来补充自己的教育。1870年，她与奥斯卡·肖邦结婚，并迁至路易斯安那州，在那里她育有六个孩子。1883年，她的丈夫去世后，她承担了种植园的管理工作，显然取得了相当的成功。她坚持这项工作超过一年，但最终在她的母亲敦促下返回圣路易斯。1884年，她回到圣路易斯，并在36岁时开始写作。她的一些出版作品包括《觉醒》（1899年）、《错误》（1890年）、《阿卡迪亚之夜》（1897年）和《巴尤人》（1894年），以及众多诗歌和短篇小说。直到20世纪60年代初，她以地方色彩画家而闻名，因为她的多数短篇小说都描绘了克里奥尔路易斯安那的场景。随着对女性研究的兴趣日益浓厚，她的作品，尤其是她的小说《觉醒》，其中涉及女性的性觉醒，受到了广泛的重新审视。</P>

<P>本收藏包含了凯特·肖邦的手稿原稿以及她多篇短篇小说、诗歌和从法语翻译的居伊·德·莫泊桑短篇小说的出版副本。该收藏还包括了一些关于《觉醒》（1899年）的友人信件；两本普通笔记本或副本笔记本，分别是1860年和1867-1870年，后者包含了她1870年婚礼旅行的日记；一本原创手稿书籍，1894-1896年，其中也包括了日记条目；以及两本账目和备忘录笔记本，记录了她向出版商提交的手稿，包括标题、出版信息、接受/出版日期及金额，1888-1895年和1888-1902年。该收藏还包括了关于凯特·肖邦的传记信息，佩尔·塞耶斯特德和伯纳德·J·科洛斯基的学术论文副本，以及1974年肖邦研讨会的参与者关于凯特·肖邦的论文。肖邦家族将这些论文借给了丹尼尔·S·兰金神父进行研究。兰金神父将这些论文的大部分转交给了宾夕法尼亚大学特藏部。随后，根据肖邦家族的意愿，这一部分收藏被转移至密苏里历史学会。1991年，在兰金神父拥有的一个储物柜中发现这一补充，并由宾夕法尼亚大学特藏部转交给密苏里历史学会。该收藏包含了一些“处于风险”的原稿，不应常规提取。研究人员只有在考察了前三盒中的副本（照片副本）不足以满足研究目的时，方可查阅。</P>

<P>查阅指南可在档案参考台找到。亦见佩尔·塞耶斯特德收藏指南。</P>

<P>4盒原始文件；2盒保存副本</P>

<P>引用格式：凯特·奥弗莱赫蒂·肖邦档案，密苏里历史学会档案，圣路易斯。</P>