Gutman, Arthur J., 1911-

Attorney in Jacksonville, Fla.

From the description of Correspondence to Chaim Potok, 1975. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 700047465

Arthur J. Gutman was born in 1911. A native Baltimorean, Mr. Gutman held the position of president of the Mencken Society, an organization founded to encourage the reading of and to pursue research into the writings of Henry L. Mencken from 1979-1999. Through a life-long engagement with the work of H.L. Mencken he established one of the finest collections of Menckeniana and maintained correspondence with many of the leading scholars and writers on Mencken's work.

From the description of Arthur J. Gutman collection of Menckeniana, 1906-2000 (bulk 1979-1999). (University of Maryland Libraries). WorldCat record id: 173152042

Arthur Gutman, son of Adolph and Beulah Gutman, was born in Baltimore. He was involved in the Boy Scouts of America as a child. Gutman attended the University of Baltimore Law School, graduating in 1934. He fought in World War II, and was stationed in the Middle East, North Africa, and later, Italy. Gutman was a member of Baltimore's Phoenix Club and attended Temple Oheb Shalom. He was also a member of a social club known as Harmony Circle. Gutman's wife was known as Wheezie.

From the description of Papers, 1843-2002 and [undated]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70974263

Arthur J. Gutman was born in 1911. A native Baltimorean, he graduated from Baltimore City College High School in 1928 and subsequently attended the University of Baltimore. He served in the United States Air Force from 1942 to 1945, in the Air Force Reserve from 1947 to 1949, and as Chief Warrant Officer on the staff of the 29th Infantry Division from 1949 to 1955. At the time of his retirement, Gutman was the Vice President of the insurance firm, Warfield Dorsey Company, Inc.

From 1979 to 1999, Gutman held the position of president of the Mencken Society, an organization founded to encourage the reading of and research into the writings of Henry L. Mencken. Gutman averred that he was drawn to Mencken because "Mencken gives me joy," and, as president of the Mencken Society, he sought to share this joy with others, including collectors and scholars, who enjoyed at good laugh at the American scene. In his December 15, 1989, letter to the Accent Department of the Baltimore Evening Sun, Gutman explained how his passion for Mencken's writing was renewed during World War II.

One miserable rainy, cold day in January 1944, in Italy, an Air Force sergeant with a couple of leisure hours stopped in a Red Cross Club for a cup of coffee... The sergeant was a Baltimorean, one of those who loved his City. He was a third generation born Baltimorean, of German Jewish stock, from a dry goods family who had been badly hurt in the Depression. He had grown up believing there was only one set of newspapers worth reading, The Sun , The Evening Sun and The Sunday Sun. And in The Evening Sun , you looked for the Monday night articles by Mencken. You laughed with him, you groaned with him... The sergeant, waiting for his coffee to cool and his feet to dry, looked over the Armed Forces Library of paper backs. And lo and behold there was one with Mencken's name, called "Heathen Days." He leafed through it and then sat and read it, and it brought Baltimore back to him as the words flowed by. (From Gutman's letter to the editor, source and date unknown, in Series II, Box 5, Folder 1)

Upon his return to Baltimore Mr. Gutman began reading and collecting Mencken's work. Through a life-long engagement with the work of H.L. Mencken he established one of the finest collections of Menckeniana and maintained correspondence with many of the leading scholars and writers on Mencken's work.

Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956) has been described as the most influential critic in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century. Beginning as a newspaper reporter in his native Baltimore, H.L. Mencken's interests quickly broadened to include political, social and literary commentary. As editor with George Jean Nathan of the influential Jazz Age magazines, Smart Set and American Mercury, Mencken promoted modernism in literature, championing the causes of Theodore Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dashiell Hammett and James M. Cain among others. In newspaper columns and books, H.L. Mencken lampooned many social conventions and political icons. His targets included bigotry, intellectual posturing and corruption by public servants. His writings often provoked a violent reaction in those offended by his views. However, rather than shrinking from controversy, Mencken enjoyed verbal combat with his opponents, referring to it as "stirring up the animals." With the advent of the Depression in the 1930's, the popularity of Mencken's social commentary waned and he became better know for his more scholarly work, The American Language , which was a celebration of the written and spoken word.

From the guide to the Arthur J. Gutman Collection of Menckeniana, 1882-2006, 1979-1999, (Literature and Rare Books)