Entries include a newspaper clipping with a photographic image of Jane on the telephone and handwritten letters

Jacob, Hilda McLeod

Jane, Mary Childs, 1909-1991

Maine State Library

English

Mary C. Jane Correspondence

Maine State Documents (Maine State Library)

Maine State LibraryMaine State DocumentsMaine Writers Correspondence Maine State Library Special CollectionsSeptember 2015Mary C. Jane CorrespondenceMary Childs Jane 1909-1991Hilda McLeod JacobMaine State LibraryMaine State LibraryFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalmaine.com/maine_writers_correspondenceThis Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Maine State Library Special Collections at Maine State Documents. It has been accepted forinclusion in Maine Writers Correspondence by an authorized administrator of Maine State Documents. For more information, please contactstatedocs@maine.gov.Recommended CitationJane, Mary Childs 1909-1991; Jacob, Hilda McLeod; and Maine State Library, "Mary C. Jane Correspondence" (2015). Maine WritersCorrespondence. 288.http://digitalmaine.com/maine_writers_correspondence/288JANE, Mary C (Mrs. William S) b. Mass. November 8, 195^ Mrs. William S. Jane Box ^ 5 Newcastle, Maine Dear Mrs. Jane: It Is good news that we may expect a b>ook from you this season; and as soon as we have more informa­tion about IN OLD QUEBEC, we shall add it to our order list. We wonder whether or not you are a Maine person? We are always Interested in writers living in this state, writing about it, or born in it; and we try to keep as complete a file as possible on Maine authors, with biographical facts, news clippings, reviews, and such information. Then there is also the Maine Author Collection. Do you know of this? It is a permanent exhibit of books written by Maine natives or those living in the state, and also includes books of which the setting is this state. We hope that we are going to be able to claim you as a Maine author, and that your new book will before long be added to the exhibit, which is made up of about two thousand volumes, most of which are Inscribed as presentation copies. The inscriptions are original and as varied as the books themselves, lending a distinction to an outstanding collection that attracts visitors and students the year round. We look forward to seeing IN OLD QUEBEC, and send you our warm good wishes for its success. Sincerely yours hmj In Charge of Maine Author Collection •''' i' e <X-<1 (' d1 r?lsV<L>> c£- ^-d^o-lr-c£*—&~ri-aLSi^  S^ P— ^3-z--c-e__2--6U. '^ Jc^ u 4-tr^ k, *—JL \sU  ^J^ tb yt-M~*-*J~J(L*-./^ns*~-*~y<-je-JLd at^g ^L. s$/-o-i*-*^ ^--c^ ~A &-^ LsCk~<yi->^  <jU b^- <*- -L<rTA^^/ ~^ ~J2_ -^ Q^^ -4L~(LJ^ JLJ) cm. o^jHj) ^  f S~S~ 0^—&f~ > y^i^sL- -^—^<—/3 . . s~$ -^/<j^ _ -^ -^ 3 G.— —l/ ^—»"—*stji j^nu- &—<f •—'  ^cXs . y^/ Sj? dl-~-V**~- <+— "^C. &-^ -~yi-A-> <fX-^ ^XSL. tT-^  S^ yisi-^ J _x/c<>€^ 1^-z^e-^. y^ ~Q  ^ ^Z^tT2Xr>CJ <2-j£ ^J2-ctAxZ_<aL<z^4 ~^>^ L-^ y^^ J2_A<jl Z^^ Jr—&_^ Q •—^-cT-Vz<_> <S— Q-^ £L*^ --*L^ 3L&  ^^6/jl £^Z^ £L  ^iJL. s-Z^ s-1-^ P -^jJ_ /^t-~*-^ a/tAJL, . , I I J L^^ /0-C* 2—^ _/{-ZS£(JLJC) '0^ A^ j ^-*_g ( ^  • ^2/- *Jt-bSaL^ t*J "S' ^ j-<^ L^ X- I December 30, 195^ Mrs. William S. Jane Newcastle Maine Dear Mrs. Jane: Your friendly letter compensates us for the disappointment of having to wait a few months to see your book. Meanwhile, we are very glad to have some information about it. We will note it in the Maine in Print column, which appears in the Bulletin of the Maine Library Association, when the publication date nears. It is good to know that we may look forward to including a copy in the Maine Author Collection. When it arrives, we shall, of course, write to you again. Sincerely yours hem In Charge of Maine Author Collection August 31, 1955 Mrs. William S. Jane Newcastle Maine Dear Mrs, Jane: Lippincott's catalog says that your book Is soon to be published. We're glad to know we shan't have to wait much longer! Sincerely yours In Charge of Maine Author Collection  ^^zrt-^ Y" 76 .^ ^ Us^ e>~*-H_ s^ j-&^£-JL -k-&  ^ ^<^Lo^a^J ~~*~~ ' •~$-V-c4^  ^K t^L /^ -v«_«_ .^ >6z^ tf„... ^ /  ^ r^6" {ru^ -j^  &—  ^ t^A _^ ~y^ Cs£s-:rl-&. September 13, 1955 Mrs. William S. Jane Newcastle Maine Dear Mrs. Jane: It was a great pleasure to find MYSTERY IN OLD QUEBEC, and we send you our warm appreciation for the gift to the Maine Author Collection, and your friendly interest. How unfortunate that your call was on Saturday, wheh no one was here to greet you or thank you in person! It is Just as exciting a story as we anticipated, and children are going to love it. Our traveling libraries and bookmobiles will have MYSTERY IN OLD QUEBEC available for our young readers, and we are confident that it will enjoy a long and active life. Congratulations to you, and good wishes for many more. We'll be watching for them. Sincerely yours In Charge of Maine Author Collection 26 Portland (Me.) Press Herald, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 1955 MM Newcastle Writer She Lures The Kids Away From The Comic Mary Jane A FAIR question: Is Mrs. Mary Jane, Newcastle, a successful writer of children's books because she Is (a) a mother, (b) a school teacher, or (c) an avid reader of mystery novels? Believe it or not, it's as much because she has read » whodunnits for as long as she can remember. band, William S. Jane, employed by the Bath Iron Works Corpor­ation, and her sons as, "my three men." Mrs. Jane was Mary Childs, born in Needham, Mass., and graduated in 1931 from Bridgewater, Mass., Teachers College. A fine spot she picked for her first class — in the Ken­tucky mountains: "I read Mary Roberts Rine-hart's 'Staircase' when I was 12 recalled the smiling, easy going newcomer to Maine's growing list of writers for major league publishers. She just broke in with Mystery in Old Quebec. IT'S SOMETHING like the old fashioned trick of making castor oil no trouble at all by taking it in orange juice, the way Mrs. Jane has made children like to read something better than comic books by blending her stories with palatable mystery. The con­coction tastes good. At least children go for it. TJjiat children should read books is more important to the school teacher in Mrs. Jane than that she should write them and profit thereby. "THREE TEARS ago," ex­plained the Newcastle writer, "I went back to teaching school at Newcastle. I found children who had never read a book out "of school. It was a fight to get them to- read something besides comic books. "I used to go to the library with my two boys and used mysteries to arouse their interest and lure them into reading books. In school I turned to the same technique. What a triumph it was when one of the boys in my class not only finally read a book — a mystery — but liked it and wanted more!" MRS. JANE'S boys are grow­ing up — Stephen is 13, Tommy, 10 — but even so, it was only a few years ago that to -stimulate their reading interest she not only read from the available butj^^; made up stories for them. "I'd always liked children's books as well as mysteries, I felt thaj nothing was more import­ant" for children than to make readers of them, and out of all this came, finally, Mystery in Old Quebec, published by Lippin-cott." KNOWING AS a mother and a teacher what is good for chil­dren, Mrs. Jane knew, too, that for a good book you can't beat facts. To get her's she went to Quebec on a vacation trip, went over ground once walked by Wolfe and Montcalm. They make history live in her first published work and its'palatable history, thanks to mystery. '•It was my object that chil­dren should get to know Quebec Jane. "FOUR SHOOTINGS while I was there." She didn't say so, but maybe that Kentucky background will appear in a Mary Jane book some day. A second book, accepted by her publishers, is about the border patrol up around Jackman. She finds that half way through one manuscript another starts taking form. That accounts for her be­ing ready for the third, in which the locale will me "My favorite spot. The most beautiful in the world." That's Pemaquid. Point. SO THERE ARE more good things to be read and heard about this modest Maine house­wife who writes in longhand at the kitchen table and believes that while there are "many won­derful writers of children's books," she is not one of them. Others, she says, have more depth and literary skill than she. "AS A MATTER of fact," said Mrs. Jane merrily, "my boys were not at all impressed that their mother was an author. Then I was invited to appear on television — and what a differ­ence! As just an author, no. But as an author on television. Oh, my! Then they and their play­mates decided that I really was SHE KNOWS of one local girl aged 10, who didn't get enough out of Mystery In Old Quebec — her father had to take her to Quebec to see for herself. "Perhaps that proves sor thing," smiled the Newer mother who speaks of her March 30, 1956 Mrs. Mary Jane Newcastle Maine Dear Mrs. Jane: One of the nicest bits of news in this blizzardy spring is that we have a book by yq.u to anticipate. We are eager to see THE GHOST ROCK MYSTERY, for we know from your MYSTERY IN OLD QUEBEC that we shall have a good story with believable characters and an authentic background. Our good wishes for its successful debut, and our congratulations on the selection of MYSTERY IN OLD QUEBEC by the Children's Book Club. Sincerely yours In Charge of hmj Maine Author Collection clipping from KJ 3.30.56 given to MAW 3*30.56 September 1^, 1956 Mrs. Mary Jane Newcastle Maine Dear Mrs. Jane: Those of us who have read an advance copy of the new and exciting GHOST ROCK MYSTERY are busy singing its and your praises. It is a wonderful story, and we shall have copies in our bookmobiles and traveling libraries. My own family is enthusiastic, for we know the region of which you write well, and our fall is never complete until we have climbed Coburn and Boundary Bald, so we fell upon the new book ravenously. It did not disappoint us I The Bulletin of the Maine Library Association will carry an announcement of the publication in the next issue, and we send you our hearty congratulations and good wishes for the success of GHOST ROCK MYSTERY. We hope that an inscribed copy is going to join your MYSTERY IN OLD QUEBEC in the Maine Author Collection. Sincerely yours In Charge of Maine Author Collection -%L -2 v / f -r£  ^/ /?L W, CT^. ^". ^ S^ L. <ZJL~C+*-8—' ^-V-*«-^jr QR*X-<L^ -4~<-> DJ~' -<gC *<-JI^ JLJJLJ>-TA-^  .  ^ .^ JUG-ZS-XL. T^AJL. J^L^ XJ(UL~*L-- <2-^ JL^  ^C -^AA-SI  ^  ^^1/U^ — --<L-^ _^ L^_jz_<^ J^ J^ JSL- - > H — £ a - ^  ^^ "^ ~t ~K ~~. I^*—&U\J--E__. KJ2-/~ --^ UT^ ^O  ^ IS—*— -^T-^ — -^T-A^ £^ US-^ F •^ \^ A-YT^ ~ s/CTHJO 6~^  , ^z_-er->^_iL_ S*2—CR-CRI^ ___ —^--JI-<_-^^ -<2»— ^ ^y- />/-^ 2— J^. <>~^  ^^ A-K. -^ —ET-C-FE- ~^ -CR\^  --^ X_c fl? t Jll^ I* ^4, t^s XA i^~A  ^ J^,j^ yf SZU -^ilsL * November 9» 1956 Mrs. Mary Jane Newcastle Maine Dear Mrs. Jane; Thank you very «uch, for the Inscribed copy of THE GHOST ROCK MYSTERY. It is being added t>o the Maine Author Collection with pleasure, and with a sense of anticipation for future books. .We hear that the Pemaquid story is coming along now — spring, maybe? Yes, do try Boundary Bald sometime. Your boys would love it, too. It is, as you suggest, a marvelous view, encompassing what seems like the whole state. This fall when we climbed it, the previous night's rain had frozen to the north side of the tiE»ees and rocks; and the top of the mountain glittered and sparkled. One who knows the region as you do would appreciate especially the reward of that climb. We hope you will come into the library one day. Perhaps the present period of moving and renovating is not calculated to show us at our befefc. Our welcome would be warm, however. Again thank you for THE GHOST HOCK MYSTERY, and good wishes for the successful completion of the new book. Sincerely yours In Charge of Maine Author Collection Mrs. Mary C. Jane Newcastle Maine September 11, 1957 Dear Mrs. Jane: How very thoughtful and generous of you to send MYSTERY AT PEMAQUID POINT for the Maine Author Collection. We hoped, of course, that the collection would have its copy, and we are certainly delighted at the opportunity to include such a fine book as this. It will be as popular as your earlier ones, and will appeal to the host of people who love Pemaquid. You have caught its atmosphere beautifully, but kept it a background for the story; and what an exciting story it is! Congratulations, and do keep right on writing. Sincerely yours In Charge of Maine Author Collecti May 22, 1958 Mrs. Mary C. Jane Newcastle Maine Dear Mrs. Jane: Congratulations on the new book, MYSTERY AT SHADOW POND. It will be hailed with delight by your devoted following, and by librarians who are always eager for good stories for young readers. We shall use it, of course, for our bookmobiles and traveling libraries; and we hope that the Maine Author Collection will be privileged to include an inscribed copy to place with your other books. Good luck to MYSTERY AT SHADOW POND. Sincerely yours In Charge of Maine Author Collection May 12, 1959 Mrs. Mary C. Jane Newcastle Maine Dear Mrs. Jane: The copy of MYSTERY AT SHADOW POND for the Maine Author Collection has arrived safely, and again we send you our warm appreciative thanks. The book is of course in our traveling libraries and bookmobiles, and we continue to be grateful that we have such really good books as yours to recommend to youngsters. Thank you for remembering the collection, and best wishes for a happy summer. Sincerely yours In Charge of Maine Author Collection 

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Mary C. Jane Correspondence

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