James Whitcomb Riley
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James Whitcomb Riley was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Childrens' Poet" for his dialect works and his poetry for childr
Riley, c. 1913
James Whitcomb Riley, John Singer Sargent, 1903
"The Old Swimming Hole" that appears in Riley's poems is now a large and well-used park on the east side of Greenfield.
Handwritten poem by James Whitcomb Riley
Paul Laurence Dunbar
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Paul Laurence Dunbar was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the Ame
James Whitcomb Riley
…having particularly strong influences on Hamlin Garland, William Allen White, and Edgar Lee Masters. He discovered aspiring African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar in 1892. Riley thought Dunbar's work was "worthy of applause" and wrote him letters of recommendation to help him get his work published. In 1901…
Dunbar, circa 1890
1897 sketch by Norman B. Wood
Dunbar grave site at Woodland Cemetery, 2007
Dunbar on 1975 U.S. postage stamp