Source: The Brown Digital Repository.
Two are one. Another bears the name of Lovecraft. A new household is founded!
H.P. Lovecraft to Lillian D. Clark, 9 March 1924, Letters to Family and Family Friends 1.106.
Anything addressed to “H.P. Lovecraft” or (miraculous and unpredictable appellation) “Mrs. H.P. Lovecraft” will henceforward reach its recipient without additional formalities.
H.P. Lovecraft to Lillian D. Clark, 9 March 1924, Letters to Family and Family Friends 1.106.
On 3 March 1924, Howard Phillips Lovecraft and Sonia Haft Greene became husband and wife at St. Paul’s Chapel in New York City. The ceremony was performed by Reverend George Benson Cox within the historic colonial church, whose long history stretched back to the eighteenth century. Following the ceremony, the newlyweds departed for a brief trip through the Philadelphia region before returning to Brooklyn.
Source: The New York Public Library Digital Collections.
A hundred years later, the marriage of Howard and Sonia Lovecraft remains one of the most discussed relationships in Lovecraft scholarship. Fortunately, contemporary accounts from amateur journalism organizations preserve details surrounding their wedding and early married life.
The Blue Pencil Club, an amateur journalism organization of which Sonia was a member, announced the marriage in their column “Blue Pencil Club Elects New Officers” in The Standard Union:
Source: Newspaper.com
Transcription:
Announcement was made of the recent marriage of one of the club’s members, Mrs. Sonia Greene, of 259 Parkside avenue, [sic] to Howard P. Lovecraft, of Providence, R.I.
In her memoir, Sonia additionally recalled that an account of the marriage appeared in The Brooklynite, the official organ of the Blue Pencil Club.
An account of that marriage is to be found in the “BROOKLYNITE” April 1924 the official organ of the Blue Pencil Club of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Sonia H. Davis, The Private Life of Howard Phillips Lovecraft, unedited manuscript.
Transcription:
Congratulations
On March 3, 1924, occurred the wedding of Sonia H. Greene, President of the United Amateur Press Association, Editor of The Rainbow, and Howard P. Lovecraft, Official Editor of that society, ex-President of the National and chairman of the National Board of Executive Judges and Editor of The Conservative.
The marriage is the culmination of nearly three years of acquaintance, beginning at the Boston convention of the National in 1921, and ripened by a marked community of tastes and similarity of interests. It may quite justly be added to the long list of amateur journalistic romances which our social chroniclers delight to enumerate and extol.
The ceremony, performed by the Reverend George Benson Cox, took place at historic St. Paul’s Chapel, New York; a noble Colonial structure built in 1766 and dignified by the worship of such elder figures as General Washington, Lord Howe, and that Prince of Wales who later became successively the Prince Regent and King George the Fourth.
Following the wedding, the bride and groom departed on a brief tour of the Philadelphia region, whose venerable and historic landmarks accorded well with the scene of the ceremony itself. On Sunday, March 23, after their return to New York, Mr. and Mrs. Lovecraft entertained members of the Blue Pencil Club at their home, 259 Parkside Avenue, Brooklyn,—where needless to say amateurs will always be welcome.
Mr. and Mrs. Lovecraft plan a continued career of amateur activity, which will begin with a vigorous attempt to resuscitate the United Association. Already in harmony as to plans and policies, the union will not alter or modify their programme as previously announced; but will add the final touch of cohesiveness to their concerted efforts.
The couple have the heartiest good wishes of the members of the Blue Pencil Club of which Mrs. Lovecraft is a member and which Mr. Lovecraft will undoubtedly join in the near future. As a token of the esteem in which these two well-known amateurs are held, the B. P. C. presented them with a cut glass punch bowl and glasses.
One especially interesting detail in The Brooklynite concerns a gathering held in honor of the newlyweds. The publication claimed that “Mr. and Mrs. Lovecraft entertained members of the Blue Pencil Club at their home” on 23 March 1924. Lovecraft himself referred to this gathering in a letter to his aunt, Lillian D. Clark:
We have now sent invitations to several amateurs to come over next Sunday…
H.P. Lovecraft to Lillian D. Clark, 18 March 1924, Letters to Family and Family Friends 1.115.
March 18 fell on a Tuesday, and March 23 would have been the following Sunday. However, in a later letter, Lovecraft clarified that he and Sonia had actually missed the Blue Pencil gathering on Saturday because of illness and fatigue:
On Saturday S.H. and I were to have gone to the Blue Pencil meeting; but on account of fatigue and a cold on her part we refrained.
H.P. Lovecraft to Lillian D. Clark, 30 March 1924, Letters to Family and Family Friends 1.130.
Lovecraft further explained that the club had prepared a speech in their honor and presented the couple with “a magnificent set of glassware,” which appears to be the same “cut glass punch bowl and glasses” referenced in The Brooklynite. Howard and Sonia did entertain amateur members at their home, which “came off successfully”.1
Because both Howard and Sonia were deeply immersed in amateur journalism—and because Sonia was at that time president of the United Amateur Press Association—their marriage was additionally reported in United Amateur. It is identical to the account reported in The Brooklynite, with the exclusion of the last paragraph:
On March 3, 1924, occurred the wedding of Sonia H. Greene, President of the United Amateur Press Association, and H.P. Lovecraft, Official Editor of that society.
The marriage is the culmination of nearly three years of acquaintance, beginning at the Boston convention of the National in 1921, and ripened by a marked community of tastes and parallelism of interests. It may quite justly be added to the long list of amateur journalistic romances which our social chroniclers delight to enumerate and extol.
The ceremony, performed by the Reverend George Benson Cox, took place at historic St. Paul’s Chapel, New York; a noble colonial structure built in 1766 and dignified by the worship of such elder figures as General Washington, Lord Howe, and that Prince of Wales who later became successively the Prince Regent and King George the Fourth.
Following the wedding, the bride and groom departed on a brief tour of the Philadelphia region, whose venerable and historical landmarks accorded well with the scene of the ceremony itself. On Sunday, March 23, after their return to New York, Mr. and Mrs. Lovecraft entertained members of the Blue Pencil Club at their home, 259 Parkside Avenue, Brooklyn, where, needless to say, amateurs will always be welcome.
Mr. and Mrs. Lovecraft plan a continued career of amateur activity, which will begin with a vigorous attempt to resuscitate the United. Already in harmony as to plans and policies, the union will not alter or modify their programme as previously announced; but will add the final touch of cohesiveness to their concerted efforts.
“News Notes”, United Amateur 23, No. 1, May 1924, Collected Essays, Volume 1: Amateur Journalism, 1.352-53.
At some point during their lengthy correspondence, Howard and Sonia discussed the nature of love and companionship. Although the majority of their letters no longer survive, Sonia preserved passages written by Lovecraft which later appeared in her essay The Psychic Phenomenon of Love.2
On the back of the essay, she wrote:
It was Lovecraft’s part of this letter that I believe made me fall in love with him; but he did not carry out his own dictum; time and place, and reversion of some of his thoughts and expressions did not bode for happiness.
While the marriage ultimately failed, 3 March 1924 nevertheless marked a day in which both Howard and Sonia believed their union would endure. For a brief moment in time, Mr. and Mrs. Lovecraft stepped into married life with shared hopes for the future and confidence in the permanence of their bond.
Endotes:
- H.P. Lovecraft to Lillian D. Clark, 30 March 1924, Letters to Family and Family Friends 1.130 ↩︎
- See “What Love Meant to the Lovecrafts”. ↩︎
Note: Updated May 2026