Papers of Tram Combs, writer and bookseller. Combs lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1940s and was associated with many well-known writers. In 1951 he moved to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, where he owned and operated a bookstore. Combs was active in gay literary circles and contributed to early gay periodicals such as the Mattachine Review and One. Materials in the collection date from the late 1940s through 1964 and include correspondence, writings, and photographs.
Tram Combs Papers, 1946-1964 (MSS 123)
OFF-SITE STORAGE: COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: ALLOW TWO TO THREE (2-3) WEEKS FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS
Extent: 4 Linear feet (10 archives boxes)
Elisha Trammel (Tram) Combs, Jr. was born 25 September 1924 in Riverview, Alabama, the son of Elisha Trammel, a cotton mill superintendent, and LaFaye Hunt Combs. Elisha Jr. was educated in Southern schools until 1936, when his family moved to San Francisco.
As a young man, Tram was primarily interested in botany, physics, and chemistry. While serving in the U.S. Army Air Force he attended University of Washington in 1943 and 1944. He received a certificate of professional competence in meteorology from University of Chicago in 1945. Combs left the air force in 1946 after serving as a meteorologist and becoming a second lieutenant. For the next two years he attended Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (studying electronics engineering) and the University of California, where he received an A.B. in physics in 1948.
From 1948-51 Combs worked as an oil chemist at the Tidewater-Associated Oil Company in Avon, California. Also during the late 1940s he began to write poetry under the guidance of Kenneth Rexroth, Lawrence Hart and Josephine Miles. Discovering his inclination towards writing and the arts, Combs abruptly changed careers in 1948, becoming the owner and manager of Island Studios, a photographic studio in the Bay Area.
In 1951 Combs moved to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. There, using his talents as a bibliophile, linguist, and poet, he managed and owned Tram Combs Books - a bookshop specializing in the literature and history of middle and southern Americas. Combs also involved himself in community, cultural and political activities in St. Thomas. He served as a founder and trustee of the Virgin Islands Art Museum (1955-56), helped to develop a Boy Scouts of America chapter, worked on building a local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and participated in disaster relief work. He was an active member of the gay literary community, both in the Virgin Islands and the U.S., and he regularly submitted articles and suggestions to gay periodicals such as Mattachine Review and One.
Combs earned the respect of noted contemporary poets such as Kenneth Rexroth and William Carlos Williams -- both of whom wrote forewords to Combs' first book. However, Combs' writing never received public acclaim or commercial success. Some critics complained of his verse's sentimental tone, overabundance of private references, and modifying clauses. Others praised his verbal compression, his unusual typography, his detailed attention to nature and fellow human beings, and his honest, intense, but quiet voice. As William Carlos Williams wrote, "It is in the construction of a verse about an island sunset, that the reader will find what is hidden for him there; not what he thinks he will find but something surprising, amazingly simple and altogether delightful."
Dating from the late 1940s through 1964, the papers document the life, writings, and thought of Tram Combs. The collection includes Combs' personal revelations about his life as a writer and gay person in the 1950s and early 60s. In addition, the papers provide unusual insights into gay politics and literary infighting in the United States and the Virgin Islands.
Combs himself organized his own papers quite thoroughly. He often wrote notes explaining how the papers were originally created and how and why the materials were arranged as they were. Arranged in six series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) NOTEBOOKS AND WORKING SHEETS, 3) TYPESCRIPTS OF VERSE, 4) AUTHOR'S COLLECTION OF SERIALS, 5) WRITINGS OF OTHERS, and 6) PHOTOGRAPHS.
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