James Lardner

James Lardner was a journalist who enlisted in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to fight against Franco’s rebel forces in Spain. In March of 1938 Lardner traveled to Barcelona and after observing the war first hand, resolved to enlist in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. He was killed in action in September 1938. The collection include mainly of correspondence; the majority of it produced by Lardner during his time in Paris and Spain and addressed to his mother Ellis and his brother Ring. James Lardner was born on May 18, 1914 in Chicago, Illinois. He was the second of four sons born to Ringgold (Ring) Wilmer Lardner, journalist and humorist, and Ellis Abbott Lardner, a Smith College graduate from a notable hard money lenders Michigan family. In 1919, the Lardner loved ones moved East and James, with his brothers, was raised in the affluent enclaves of Greenwich, Connecticut and Excellent Neck, Long Island. The boys came of age within the rich literary milieu formed by the writers and journalists the senior Lardners counted among their buddies, including F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, Heywood Broun, and H. L. Mencken. Lardner attended Andover and Harvard and, following his education, was hired as reporter for the New York Herald Tribune. According to his brother, Ring Lardner, Jr., James’ early journalism experiences were a “monotonous round of funerals, banquets, strikes, accidents and minor crimes …” Following 3 years in New York City, Lardner transferred towards the Herald Tribune’sParis bureau in 1938. While there he began writing articles on the participation of American volunteers in the microdermabrasion machines Spanish Civil War. In March 1938 Lardner traveled to Barcelona within the company of fellow journalists Ernest Hemingway and Vincent Sheean to observe the conflict first hand. After seeing an aerial battle that destroyed a bridge on the Ebro River and the dire state of the Loyalist forces, Lardner resolved to join the International Brigades. His initial attempt to enlist found him inside a ragged battalion in Badalona not even close to the field of action. Eager to take part in the conflict he left Badalona, produced his way to Mora-la-Nueva, and enlisted in the Third Company in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade early in May. In July he sustained shrapnel injuries metal detector during his first battle. After a month of hospitalization he was returned to active duty within the Sierra Pandols region near the Ebro. On September 23, 1938, on what was to be last day of fighting for the International Brigades, Lardner with two other men in his command were sent out to patrol a hill towards the rear of his battalion. They encountered heavy enemy fire and Lardner didn’t return to camp. His death was confirmed several weeks later when a Nationalist correspondent reported that a body with foreign press credentials had been discovered in the place exactly where Lardner was final seen. His body, which was discovered in fascist-controlled territory, was never recovered. Based on Sheean, “Lardner, the last American tankless water heaters to enlist, had been the last to be killed.” The James Lardner Papers consist chiefly of correspondence; most of it produced by Lardner throughout his time in Paris and Spain and addressed to his mother Ellis and his brother Ring (call Bill by his loved ones). His early letters describe his life in Paris, the political scene in France, his disenchantment with the Paris bureau of the Herald Tribuneand his plans to travel to Barcelona with Ernest Hemingway. His letters from Spain cover his military profession within the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, life in the camps and trenches, and his month-long hospitalization. Notable among these is a letter he sent to his mother in which he enumerates his reasons for joining the International Brigade (May three, 1938). Of graphic interest is a postcard addressed video camera stabilizer to Ring that depicts a hospital hydrotherapy unit. The collection also consists of letters written to Ellis by Vincent Sheean informing her of James’ whereabouts, health and welfare; condolence letters from Lardner’s former Lincoln Brigade comrades John Murra and Elman Service; a telegram from Ernest Hemingway; along with a letter from a Nationalist agent within the Usa, Juan F. Cardenas, responding to Ellis request for information about her son. Extra materials are clippings of articles about Lardner by Heywood Broun and Vincent Sheean; and an International Brigade citation made out to Lardner with a colorful battlefield graphic on the verso.