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The Marjorie Bump Letters

Donald St John, David Meeker and the Marjorie Bump Letters

Donald St John, a 1934 journalism graduate of the University of Iowa, was born in 1913. He served as publicity director of The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis for 14 years and later became a free-lance writer, publishing a book about his German shepherd dog. His wife, Ruth, owned an antique store in Franconia, New Hampshire, and together they were early supporters of Franconia College (1963-1978). They also bought and sold used and rare books from their store Carry Back Books on Dartmouth College Highway (Route 10) in Haverhill, NH. They had no children. After Hemingway's death in 1961, St. John became interested in publishing a book about Hemingway and his Michigan years. He wrote and visited those he could contact who had known Ernest Hemingway to learn more about their experiences and relationships with him. He attended the inaugral Hemingway gathering on Thompson Island in 1980.

One of the people he contacted was Marjorie Bump Main, and she responded. Their correspondence lasted for 15 years (1966 to 1981) and resulted in about 400 letters. St John asked questions and Marge Bump revealed much about her relationship with Hemingway. They became quite good friends over the years. St John published several articles including interviews with Hemingway’s sister Madelaine (“Sunny”), Hemingway’s “Bill Gorton” (Bill Smith), and Donald Ogdon Stewart. But, he was never able to publish his Hemingway book. He did, however, save both the letters from Marge Bump and a copy of his own letters to her.

David and Stephany Meeker

David and Stephany Meeker

Several years ago, David Meeker, the owner of Nick Adams & Co. Rare Books, learned that the letters and some photographs owned by St John were for sale. He made an offer, purchased them, rented a truck, picked up a large number of boxes at the St Johns’ home in Franconia, New Hampshire, and drove them back to California. On the way home he stopped in North Carolina to show the letters to Hemingway biographer Michael Reynolds. Reynolds stayed up all night reading the letters and in the morning told David that a book about them should be published.

After having the material for many years, Meeker came to the conclusion that, as Reynolds had suggested, the letters, or a book about them, should be published if at all possible. Furthermore, since the letters themselves are a part of Hemingway's Michigan experience, he felt that an appropriate permanent home for them should be found somewhere in the State of Michigan.

David approached Michigan Hemingway Society (MHS) board member Cecil Ponder at the international Hemingway conference in Venice, Italy, in June, 2014, and asked if he would accept the letters, have them published if possible, and find a permanent home for them in Michigan. After careful consideration, the MHS board decided that the Society would accept the letters with the intent as expressed by David.

Thanks to the efforts of the Michigan Hemingway Society, Marjorie Bump Main’s daughter Georgianna Main, and Frank Boles, director of the Clarke Historical Library Archives of the Central Michigan University, the letters have now found a permanent a home at the Clarke Library. The library serves as the archives of the Michigan Hemingway Society, an organization dedicated to preserving Hemingway's legacy.

The letters are now being made available on-line with the hopes of transcribing them and making these available to those interested in the life and works of Ernest Hemingway, a goal that Michael Reynolds felt was so important to Hemingway's Michigan studies. A book about the relationship between Marjorie Bump and Ernest, Pip-Pip to Hemingway in Something from Marge, has been published by Georganna Main, Marjorie's daughter.

The Marge-Hemingway Mystery

By Donald St. John

Bump/Marjorie. 208 letters from Mrs. Sidney Main (Marjorie Bump) of Daytona Beach, FL et seq from 1966-74; 1980-81. Marjorie Bump was three years younger than Hem, i.e.17 to his 20 during the fall and winter of 1919 when when Hem stayed over in the Petoskey area following his wartime experience with the Red Cross. Some thought of her as Hem’s “girl”. But no one doubts that she was the “Marge” of the two Hemingway short stories “The End of Something” and “The Three-Day Blow.” “The slate has been wiped clean.” Hem had written Marge when he left Petoskey on his way to Toronto and international fame. He didn’t see Marge again for 20 years. In 1933 he dropped into her home in Florida just prior to publication of his FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS. By then Marge was the happily married mother of four. But there was still an aura of mystery about those months in Petoskey and Horton Bay that Marge and Hem had spent together. Hem’s little Indian girl, Prudence Boulton, may have done first what none else had done better, but according to Petoskey legend Marge had never done anything at all. Over the years this mystery was addressed in many ways in my correspondence with Marge. Marge held forth with great candor, but it will remain for the reader in the final analysis to determine the import of her answers.

The Original & Transcribed Letters

How to cite this webpage:

“The Marjorie Bump Letters,” Michigan Hemingway Society,
www.michiganhemingwaysociety.org/the-marjorie-bump-letters/
Accessed month, date, year.

1966 Original Letters

1966 Transcribed Letters

1967 Original Letters

1967 Transcribed Letters

1968 Original Letters

1969 Original Letters

1970 Original Letters

1971 Original Letters

1972 Original Letters

1973 Original Letters

1974 Original Letters

1980 Original Letters

1981 Original Letters