Mari Tomasi Papers

Collection Summary

Repository: University of Vermont Libraries Special Collections Burlington, Vermont 05405-3596
Creator: Tomasi, Mari, 1907-1965
Title: Mari Tomasi Papers
Dates [inclusive]: 1940-1963
Quantity: 1 box
Shelf location: Special Collections, Bailey/Howe Library.
Language: English
Abstract: The Mari Tomasi Papers contain drafts of two or her novels, Deep Grow the Roots and Like Lesser Gods, some records of the Poetry Society of Vermont, and several later articles and short stories, including "The Italian Story in Vermont" and "Happy Gifts to the Little King."

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of item] Mari Tomasi Papers, Special Collections, University of Vermont Library.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

Publication Rights:

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Curator of Manuscripts.

Acquisition Information

Gift of the Tomasi family, Andrew C., Bert J., Ernest P. and Marguerite D. Tomasi, Montpelier, Vermont, November 1967.

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Mari Tomasi was born in Montpelier, Vermont on January 30, 1907. She attended the local school and then went on to Wheaton Colege in Norton, Massachusetts and then Trinity College in Brulington. Her early goal in life was to study medicine, but she later decided upon teaching. Despite these goals, writing was her main interest, and she left Trinity to write for newspapers and magazines. She published her first novel, Deep Grow the Roots, in 1940, and the following year she received a Breadloaf Writer's Conference Fellowship. During these years, she was city editor for the Montepelier Evening Argus and was a member of the Vermont Writers Project.

Tomasi's next novel, Like Lesser Gods, was published in 1949. It concerns the granite workers of Barre, Vermont, and the many dangers and health hazards suffered by the Italians in Barre. The granite quarries were one of Tomasi's main interests, for much of her writing was concerned with the flow of Italians to New England and especially Vermont.

Although Mari Tomasi never married, her life was far from lonely or uneventful. In addition to the two novels, she wrote short stories, newspaper and magazine articles and edited the Vermont State Welfare magazine. She also served, for a short time, as city representative to the Vermont General Assembly. She was very active in the Poetry Society of Vermont, and she submitted several poems to P.S.O.V. contests. After a brief illness, Mari Tomasi died on November10, 1965 in Burlington, Vermont.

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Scope and Content Note

The Mari Tomasi Papers contain drafts of two or her novels, Deep Grow the Roots and Like Lesser Gods, some records of the Poetry Society of Vermont, and several later articles and short stories, including "The Italian Story in Vermont" and "Happy Gifts to the Little King."

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Controlled Access Headings

Genre(s)

Correspondence
Writings

Subject(s)

Barre (Vt.)--Fiction

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