Hunter Stagg

Hunter Stagg, 1930s - image by Carl Van Vecten.

Stagg is best known for his association with the Richmond literary magazine The Reviewer that gained national attention in the early 1920s by publishing works by some of that era's most famous authors and writers. He was one of the founding members -- along with Emily Tapscott Clark [later Balch], Margaret Freeman [later the second wife of James Branch Cabell], and Mary Dallas Street. He assumed the role of book reviewer almost immediately. It was he and Emily Clark who first approached Richmond author James Branch Cabell about enlisting his support for their new literary venture.

Edgar MacDonald wrote about Stagg's personal appeal in the October 1981 issue of the Ellen Glasgow Newsletter: "Hunter Stagg was an avid literary lionizer, the one of the four who sought meetings with writers for the thrill of associating with creative artists. His handsome appearance, his considerable charm, his genuine appreciation for writing aided him in establishing the friendships he cherished including that of Cabell. Carl Van Vechten, leader of avant-garde cultural circles in New York, responded to Hunter's appeal and opened literary doors for him."

Elizabeth S. Scott writes a different picture of Stagg in her Winter 1978 Virginia Cavalcade article, "In fame, not specie" The Reviewer, Richmond's oasis in "The Sahara of the Bozart": "Local recollections of Hunter Stagg are hazy. He left Richmond for Baltimore, and those who remember him say he was brilliant, talented, lazy, and effete. [James Branch] Cabell and [H. L.] Mencken both took great interest in Stagg and expected him to write a superior novel, but he never got around to it; he was the only one of the four [editors] of The Reviewer who did not produce a book."

It is through Stagg's friendship with Cabell that he met the New York social maven, Carl Van Vechten on one of his several trips to Richmond in the early 1920s. Stagg and Van Vechten would form a friendship through letters that lasted for the better part of a decade, stretching into the mid-1930s. Stagg and Van Vechten shared a keen interest in the African American arts community.

During a visit to London in the fall of 1925, Stagg attended a performance of The Emperor Jones. He went backstage after the performance to meet Paul Robeson and his wife, Essie, who invited him to tea later in the week. The following year, Stagg attended a performance of "Miss Calico" starring Ethel Waters, fully intending to throw a party in her honor at his home. He was advised against that plan by Van Vechten, however, he did get a chance to meet her backstage afterwards. He would get his chance to host a celebrated African American artist in his home when Langston Hughes arrived in Richmond to give a reading at Virginia Union University in November 1926. He wrote a favorable review of Hughes' Fine Clothes to the Jew the following year. In a literary review from the Richmond News Leader, Stagg wrote that Hughes' work should be recognized "as the authentic artistic expression of something in human nature, we are not quite prepared to say what, only that we are sure it is something very real."

After The Reviewer moved to North Carolina in 1924, Stagg held several reviewing positions in Richmond, including stints as literary editor at both the Richmond Times-Dispatch and Richmond News Leader, before moving to Washington, D.C. in March 1938 to live with his sister, Helen Winston, and her family. He lived with Mrs. Winston until her death in the late 1940s. After spending some time in New York with Margaret Freeman recuperating from his sister's death, Stagg returned to D.C. and got a job managing a bookstore.

Stagg died 23 December 1960 in Washington, D.C. alone and destitute after he'd been committed to St. Elizabeth's. He is buried in the Stagg family plot in Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia. As of December 2004, his grave remains unmarked.

Stagg would go on to write favorably of Hughes' second volume of poetry, Fine Clothes to the Jew, in his literary column, "Galley Sheets in the Wind" March 21, 1927 that ran shortly after he began work as the literary editor of the Richmond News Leader. [The image on the right is that column pasted into Stagg's copy of Fine Clothes To the Jew.]

The Hunter Stagg Papers are one of over 300 manuscript collections housed in Special Collections and Archives. Stagg's papers include correspondence, notes, typescripts, reviews, bills and miscellaneous materials dating from 1917 to 1981. The bulk of the collection is correspondence from the 1920s and 1930s, especially that of James Branch Cabell and Carl Van Vechten (including copies of letters written to Van Vechten from Stagg obtained from Yale University by Dr. Edgar E. MacDonald). Other notable correspondents include: Essie Robeson (wife of Paul Robeson), Marjorie K. Rawlings, Tom Ruthefurd (Ruthefoord), Gertrude Stein, Alice Toklas, Frances Newman, Langston Hughes, Ben Ray Redman, Ellen Glasgow, and Montgomery Evans (much of the Evans materials are photocopies from Stagg to Evans obtained from Southern Illinois University by Dr. Edgar E. MacDonald).

Hunter Stagg's bookplate was designed by Virginia artist Berkeley Williams (1904 - 1976).

Hunter Stagg's personal library, numbering some 1,000 volumes, are housed in Special Collections and Archives. They contain many rare books of American and British fiction, dating primarily from the 1870s through the 1950s.