July 23, 2013

Happy birthday, Papa: Ernest Hemingway’s scrapbooks released to the public

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Enough with the Royal Baby already. Wouldn’t you like to see baby Papa standing in the ocean in an adorable hat?

To commemorate the author’s 114th birthday, the JFK Library has just released six volumes of Ernest Hemingway’s scrapbooks to the public. They’re rich with early photos of Hemingway fishing, boxing, and hunting. (If downloading the PDFs is too cumbersome, you can get a glimpse of shirtless Hemingway by visiting the media gallery.)

His mother, Grace Hemingway, compiled these scrapbooks with years of valentines, sheet music, letters, targets he used for shooting, concert programs, and stories he published in a high school yearbook. It also includes Ernest’s childhood pumpkin illustrations, and annual boating adventures with his siblings. There’s evidence that he collected war cartoons and “stories of Great Americans,” in his mother’s words, as early as age five.

Grace wrote doting captions below each photograph: “Ernest Miller at almost 4 years of age, is able to go hunting with Daddy many miles through the dense woods and carry his own gun. He is a natural scientist loving everything in the way of huge stones, shells, birds, animals, insects and blossoms.”

“These scrapbooks, lovingly compiled by Grace Hemingway, provide an unprecedented glimpse into the making of one of the greatest writers of the 20th century,” gushed Tom Putnam, Director of the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. “From the everyday minutia of childhood, to priceless early correspondence and writings, the scrapbooks are a treasure trove for anyone interested in the early life of Ernest Hemingway.”

In other Hemingway celebration news, Brazos Bookstore in Houston, TX held a “Hemingday” party planned by floor manager Keaton Patterson, that included a trivia competition, a safari shootout, a spelling bee, and a lookalike contest, according to Shelf Awareness. (We’ve talked about “Dalloday” here before, and will likely abuse the suffix “-day” for other authors before long.)

Dearborn Park in Chicago held its 55th nature walk led by Hemingway author and scholar Dr. Nancy Sindelar. Hotel Havana and the San Antonio Public Library Foundation First Edition Society marked the occasion with music and daiquiris. If you weren’t near any of these events in time to celebrate, you have 363 days to prepare your fake mustache and boxing gloves for his 115th.

Kirsten Reach is an editor at Melville House.

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