| Creator | Robinson, Hubertine Zahorska, 1899-1982 |
| Title | Hubertine Zahorska Robinson papers |
| Dates | 1926-1927 |
| Dates | 1970-1979 |
| Identification | MS 38 |
| Quantity | 0.5 linear feet (1 manuscript container) |
| Collection Abstract | The Hubertine Zahorska Robinson Papers contain typed manuscripts, correspondence, newspaper and other clippings, photographs, and an autographed book. The materials relate primarily to the American playwright Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) during the period 1926-1927. |
| Historical Abstract | Hubertine Zahorska Robinson was born July 22, 1896. She graduated from the Simmons College School of Secretarial Studies in June 1921 and went on to work a variety of secretarial and editorial enterprises as well as managing her own business in Hamilton, Bermuda. From the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s she worked in a secretarial capacity for playwright Eugene O'Neill and his wife Agnes. Robinson was married in 1936 and after her husband's death in 1954 she returned to work from her home in Staten Island, New York. Late in life she began writing an account of her experiences as an employee and friend to Eugene O'Neill and family. Robinson died in 1982. |
| Language | Material in English. |
| Location | Collection may be stored offsite. Please contact Archives staff for more information. |
Collection is open.
Copyright for materials resides with the creators of the items in question, unless otherwise designated.
Please contact the College Archivist with requests to publish any material from the collection.
[Identification of item: description and date], Hubertine Zahorska Robinson papers, MS 38, Simmons College Archives, Boston, MA, USA.
All materials left to Simmons College in Hubertine Zahorska Robinson's last will and testament dated January 18, 1979, were received by the Simmons College Archives in May 1983.
Accession number: 83.022
Processed by Megan Sniffin-Marinoff, May 1985
This collection guide was encoded as part of the LEADS project by Lorin Granger, July 2013
Hubertine Zahorska Robinson was born July 22, 1896. She entered Simmons College as a student in the School of Secretarial Studies in September 1917 and graduated in June 1921.
Upon leaving Simmons College, Robinson worked as a secretary for a variety of enterprises. In 1925, she settled in Hamilton, Bermuda, where at first she was a secretary in the firm of Hand Arnold Ltd. In 1926, she started her own business, a linen shop called "The Little French Shop" in Hamilton, and she managed it for about twelve years.
It was early in this period that Robinson was introduced to the American playwright Eugene O'Neill and his family by a mutual friend, Montiville Hansford. The O'Neills then lived at the cottage, "Campsea." Mrs. (Agnes) O'Neill, on learning that Robinson was a professional secretary, engaged her on a part-time basis to help her with a backlog of correspondence. This led to her further employment by Eugene O'Neill to type his manuscripts, first, "Lazarus Laughed," which he had completed shortly before meeting Robinson, and then "Strange Interlude".
Robinson's association with the O'Neills lasted for ten years. During this time, Eugene and Agnes O'Neill were divorced. Throughout this period, Robinson assisted Agnes O’Neill. Their last recorded contact took place in New Jersey in 1936.
Also in 1936, Robinson was married to Rutledge Sykes Robinson, a civil engineer. In 1954, her husband died, and once again she undertook temporary secretarial or editorial jobs from her home in Staten Island, New York. During her lifetime, Robinson also worked for the Committee of Social and Religious Research in New York and did editorial work for Sinclair Lewis, Julia Peterkin, and Owen Johnson. Around 1969, she began to write an account of her experiences as an employee and family friend of the Eugene O'Neills during their life in Bermuda, intending it for publication.
Hubertine Zahorska Robinson died in 1982.
The Hubertine Zahorska Robinson Papers contain typed manuscripts, correspondence, newspaper and other clippings, photographs, and an autographed book. The materials relate primarily to the American playwright Eugene O’Neill (1888-1953) during the period 1926-1927, when he lived in Bermuda and during which Robinson served as personal and literary secretary. There are gaps between letters and between clippings.
The bulk of the records consist of drafts of reminiscences by Robinson titled "The O’Neills in Bermuda" and were created over a period of ten years (approximately 1969-79). There are links between some of the correspondence and clippings.
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
Collection is arranged into 5 series:
Arranged in rough chronological order.
This series consists of four typed manuscripts. Three of them are by Robinson. One entitled "The O'Neills in Bermuda" appears to be a draft, heavily corrected in pencil. The other two entitled "The Eugene O'Neills in Bermuda" appear to be identical; to them is attached a page of notes of possible additions. The fourth manuscript is a rewriting of a portion of Robinson's manuscript by a friend, Grace Robinson, an ex-newspaper woman.
Although the opening sentence of the reminiscences gives the dates 1926-35 as the period the O'Neills lived in Bermuda, researchers should note that Eugene O'Neill left Bermuda on November 15, 1927 and did not return there. It was some time after the divorce in 1929 that Agnes O’Neill rented Spithead and left Bermuda to live in New Jersey. (See the book by Louis Sheaffer, Series V).
Box 1
This series contains letters, between Hubertine Zahorska Robinson and Grace Robinson, covering topics such as Eugene O'Neill's plays, trips taken, illnesses suffered, a manuscript on O'Neill by Hubertine Zahorska Robinson passed back and forth and on to publishers, and events such as O'Neill television/film productions, Shane O'Neill's suicide, and Hubertine's loss of a home and prized possessions in a fire/theft in December of 1972.
There is no evidence in the records of a familial relationship between Hubertine and Grace Robinson. Grace, who worked for the Daily News and other newspapers, was married to Robert J. Conway, a newspaperman, foreign correspondent for The New York Daily News, and one time president of the New York Newspaper Guild.
Box 1
All the clippings are related to Eugene O'Neill: writings on O'Neill's plays; biographies of the playwright; production revivals; his son Shane; his son-in-law Charles Chaplin and Oona, Chaplin's wife (and O'Neill's daughter); analysis of O'Neill by Joyce Carol Oates; article on Shakespeare Festival's inclusion of O'Neill's work on the same bill; New London, Connecticut's feelings and reactions to O'Neill; and his renown and the memory of him.
Box 1
This series consists of two sets of photographs: one of five original, yellowed prints and six newer prints of the same photographs plus an additional one, mounted on two sheets of paper headed "Bellevue" with each photograph numbered and labelled. All the persons and scenes are identified by name, except two who are identified by relationship. They are all members of the O'Neill family, their intimates and servants. The photographer is not identified.
Photographs are described separately. More information is available in the Simmons College Archives.Box 1
This series contains an autographed copy of Louis Sheaffer's biography of O'Neill, sent to Robinson by the author.
Box 1
