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Frederick Newton Arvin was born on August 9, 1900 in Valparaiso, Indiana. He earned his bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1921 graduating summa cum laude. After graduation, Arvin taught for a year at a private school in Detroit before joining the faculty of Smith College as an Instructor of English in 1922.
Newton Arvin was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1935, and was named a full professor at Smith in 1940. He was acclaimed for his biographies of Melville, Whitman and Hawthorne. Newton was awarded the National Book Award for non-fiction in 1951. As a professor and a writer, Arvin specialized in 19th Century American Literature. Arvin was a member of the Corporation of Yadda, a writer's colony in Saratoga Springs, New York.
As Margot Cleary said in an article which appeared in Hampshire Life in 1991, "Newton Arvin's life was a Jekyll and Hyde affair, a mixture of professional acclaim and personal scandal." Despite a brief marriage to former Smithie, Mary Jordan Garrison from 1932 until 1940, Arvin was living as a closeted gay man. On Labor Day weekend in September of 1960, police raided Arvin's home and confiscated thousands of pictures of male models that were considered pornographic at the time.
Newton Arvin was charged with possession and distribution of pornographic materials, and though he plead not guilty, he later accepted a finding of guilty, which led to a $1, 200 fine, a one year suspended jail sentence, and two years of parole. His arrest, and the confiscation of his journals led to the arrests of several other men in the community, including two of Arvin's colleagues at Smith. Arvin retired from the faculty in 1960 with a small salary. Newton Arvin was diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas in early 1963, and died on March 21st of that year.
In 1984 Truman Capote, whom Arvin had met at Yadda, on his death established an award and prize in the field of literary criticism in Newton Arvin's honor.
The Newton Arvin Papers contain biographical materials, correspondence, photographs, and newspaper clippings covering Arvin's career as a faculty member at Smith College.
The papers are open for research according to the regulations of the Smith College Archives without any additional restrictions.
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish material from the documents must be requested from the Smith College Archives. Smith College owns copyright to any published material relating to college events and activities. Provenance and copyright ownership of other materials is unknown and researchers are responsible for determining any question of copyright.
Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:
Newton Arvin Papers, Box #, Smith College Archives.
The Newton Arvin Papers were donated over a period of time to the Smith College Archives from a variety of sources
The literary papers of Newton Arvin are located in the Mortimer Rare Book Room, Smith College. Materials relating to the College's reaction to Arvin's arrest may be found in the records of the Office of the President, and the records of the Dean of the Faculty, which are currently restricted.