Carol Ryrie Brink Papers

Collection

Identifier: M/A 0009

Staff Only

Description of Contents

The collection consists of 1 box containing 8 folders.

Folders 1-4 and Folder 6 consist of a typewritten manuscript of Ms. Brink's 1961 book The Twin Cities with many handwritten corrections and notes throughout.

Folder 5 contains a typewritten manuscript of the book's index with handwritten corrections and notes.

Folder 7 contains various clippings and correspondence related to Ms. Brink. Included are clippings from Minneapolis newspapers regarding Ms. Brink and her work, including several obituaries and articles regarding her death, several clippings and photographs from other publications, and several letters from Ms. Brink to various people.

Folder 8 contains copies of the photographs and illustrations used in her book The Twin Cities with handwritten notes regarding their specific placement in the book.

Dates

Creation: 1930 - 1981

Creator

Brink, Carol Ryrie (Person)

Access

The collection is available for use in Special Collections at Minneapolis Central Library during the department's open hours.

Biography

Born on December 28, 1895 in Moscow, Idaho, Carol Ryrie Brink attended the University of Idaho (1914-1917) and received the Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California Berkeley (1918). Soon thereafter she married Raymond Brink, a mathematician at the University of Minnesota.

Orphaned at a very young age, Brink desired to be a writer from an early age. This desire was nurtured by her aunt and grandmother, who were both excellent storytellers. Her most famous book, Caddie Woodlawn (1935), is based on a story she heard often as she was growing up. It is the story of the Wisconsin childhood of her grandmother Caddie.

After publishing her first book in 1934, Brink wrote more than thirty fiction and nonfiction books for children and adults, as well as several plays. She received the Newberry Award in 1936 and the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1959 for Caddie Woodlawn. Brink won the Friends of American Writers Award in 1956 for The Headland and the Irvin Kerlan Award in 1978 for Four Girls on a Homestead.

In 1965 Brink was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Literature from the University of Idaho. She died August 15, 1981.