Case 7 So your father has been to the much-advertised Century of Progress. * H. P. Lovecraft to Robert Bloch, 1933 July 22 Showcasing Bloch’s larger scale drawings as well as the materials he used, the items in this case point to a specific place and time revealing the tension between poverty and progress. The … Case 7

Case 6 … the bus swung in, and a tall, stooped figure, with grey-brown hair and a protruding jaw emerged gauntly and hailed me. * Robert H. Barlow, “The wind that is in the grass : a memoir of H. P. Lovecraft in Florida,” 1944 Florida was one of Lovecraft’s favorite places. The items in … Case 6

Case 5 … as a kid I had the usual childhood fears of several things: 1. death, 2. life. … I was a little bit suspicious about what happened to you if you did too much breathing. * Robert Bloch speaking at the 1st World Fantasy Convention, 1975 Inspired by the stories he was reading … Case 5

Intro Influence of Anxiety: Lovecraft, Bloch, Barlow, et al. In a letter to his literary mentor H.P. Lovecraft, dated June 9, 1935, an eighteen-year-old Robert Bloch expressed his slavering eagerness for Lovecraft’s new tale: “I shall devour it with ghoulish relish.” He addressed the letter care of seventeen-year-old Robert H. Barlow, whom Lovecraft was visiting … Intro

Case 4 A vast ability of some sort is seething inside his head, + the results will be bound to come out. * H. P. Lovecraft to J. Vernon Shea, 1933 September 25 Lovecraft’s correspondence ranges from brief notes to discursive multi-page letters. This twenty-four page exemplar covers topics such as his trip to Quebec, … Case 4

Case 3 It was indeed fortunate that my brother had not sought me in the woods upon a night like this … * Robert Bloch, “The Feast in the Abbey,” 1935 For the younger members of the circle, Lovecraft’s frequent correspondence and dedication to critique made him a powerful mentor. The items in this case … Case 3