Alice Adams: A Preliminary Inventory of Her Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Alice Adams:

A Preliminary Inventory of Her Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

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	Repository:	The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center
	Creator:	Adams, Alice, 1926-1999
	Title:	Alice Adams Papers
	Dates:	1931-2000
	Extent:	27 boxes, 1 oversize box, 10 galley folders (12.39 linear feet)
	Abstract:	The Alice Adams papers span her career as a novelist and short story writer. Most of her novels and short story collections are represented by typescripts and/or proofs. Also present are non-fiction articles and book reviews written by Adams. There is extensive correspondence with literary agents, editors, and other writers.
	RLIN Record #:	None
	Language:	English.

The Alice Adams papers span her career as a novelist and short story writer. Most of her novels and short story collections are represented, including Listening to Billie, Superior Women, and The Last Lovely City. The collection is arranged in three series: Series I. Works, 1931-2000; Series II. Correspondence, 1958-1999; and Series III. Personal and Career-Related.

Series I. Works is subdivided into Subseries A. Novels and Short Story Collections, Subseries B. Uncollected Short Stories, and Subseries C. Other Writings. Subseries A. consists of typescripts, proofs, and correspondence relating to her novels and collected short stories. There is also a typescript for her travel book, Mexico: Some Travels and Some Travelers There. Of interest is a typescript draft of an unpublished early novel, The Impersonators, written when Adams and her husband were living in Paris in 1947. There are no handwritten drafts of the works present because Adams destroyed early versions of her works once they had been transcribed.

Subseries B. contains short stories that were not collected in other volumes. Some stories are represented only by typescripts, while others include tear sheets or a published volume of the periodical containing the story, as well as publication correspondence. There is one file of early short stories written in 1946 while Adams was a student at Radcliffe.

Subseries C. includes non-fiction articles and book reviews written by Adams, as well as many of her working notebooks.

The correspondence in Series II. is arranged alphabetically by last name or subject, depending on the original folder titles in Adams's files. The correspondents reflect both her personal and business relationships. There is extensive correspondence with her various literary agents, including Peter Matson and Lynn Nesbit, as well as Vicky Wilson, her editor at Knopf. Many writers are represented, including Saul Bellow, Alison Lurie, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and the poet Donald Hall. Many letters and business documents are addressed to Alice Linenthal. Adams married Mark Linenthal in 1946, and although they divorced in 1958, she continued to use her married name on government records and for business purposes.

Series III. Personal and Career-Related includes royalty statements, articles written about Adams, and personal clippings files, as well as a collection of photographs and postcards. The bulk of the photos are travel pictures from Mexico, where Adams often went for vacation, and from various trips to Europe, including a trip taken to Portugal as research for a magazine article. Most of these date from the 1970s and early 1980s. There are several files of personal and publicity photos, including a wedding photograph from 1946 that shows her parents and husband.

Books, periodicals, audio cassettes, and personal effects received with this collection were transferred to appropriate departments within the Ransom Center.

Index Terms

People

Abrahams, William Miller, 1919-

Adams, Judith.

Bellow, Saul.

Colwin, Laurie.

Hall, Donald, 1928- .

Mailer, Norman.

Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938- .

Steele, Max, 1922- .

Wilson, Vicky.

Document Types

Contracts.

Drafts.

Galleys.

Juvenilia.

Notebooks.

Photographs.

Printers' proofs.

typescripts

Container List


Series I. Works,
		Subseries A. Novels and Short Story Collections
Box	Folder
1	1-4		After the War: a novel (novel, 2000), typescripts
			After You've Gone (short stories, 1989)
Box	Folder
1	5-7			Typescripts, offprints, correspondence

2	1			Typescripts, cont'd
	2			Clippings, correspondence
			Almost Perfect (novel, 1993)
Box	Folder
2	3-4			Typescript
	5			Early revisions
				Proofs, master set
Box	Folder
2	6-7				1st pass
	8-9				2nd pass
	10			Clippings, correspondence

3	1		Careless Love / The Fall of Daisy Duke (novel, 1966), correspondence, reviews
			Caroline's Daughters (novel, 1991)
Box	Folder
3	2-6			Typescript
	7			Proof, bound

4	1			Clippings, correspondence
			Families and Survivors (novel, 1975)
Box	Folder
4	2			Typescript proofs with handwritten corrections
Folder
*				Galleys (*removed to oversize box 28)
Box	Folder
4	3			Clippings, correspondence
	4-5		The Impersonators, typescript, [1947]
			The Last Lovely City (short stories, 1999)
Box	Folder
4	6-8			Typescripts, offprints, correspondence

5	1-7			Typescripts, cont'd
	8			Book jackets
	9			Clippings, correspondence
			Listening to Billie (novel, 1978)
Box	Folder
6	1			Typescript
				Proofs
Box	Folder
6	2-3				Heavily corrected
	4				"1st rev. master set"
			Medicine Men (novel, 1997)
Box	Folder
6	5			Notebook, ca. 1994
	6-8			Typescript

7	1-2			Typescript, cont'd
	3			Proof, bound
	4			Clippings, correspondence, publication materials
			Mexico: Some Travels and Travelers There (non- fiction, 1990)
Box	Folder
7	5			Typescript
	6			Clippings, correspondence
			Return Trips (short stories, 1985)
Box	Folder
8	1-5			Typescripts, correspondence, offprints
Folder
*				Typescripts, correspondence, offprints
Box	Folder
8	6			Page proofs

9	1			Page proofs, cont'd
	2			Clippings, correspondence
			Rich Rewards (novel, 1980)
Folder
*				Galleys (*removed to galley file)
Box	Folder
9	3			Clippings, correspondence
			Second Chances
Box	Folder
9	4-5			Typescript, photocopy
	6			Clippings, publication correspondence
			A Southern Exposure (novel, 1995)
Box	Folder
10	1-6			Typescripts
				Proofs
Box	Folder
10	7				"Master set, 1st pass"

11	1				"Master set, 1st pass," cont'd
	2-3				"Master set"
	4-5				With handwritten corrections
	6				Bound
	7			Clippings
			Superior Women (novel, 1984)
Box	Folder
12	1-3			Typescript, photocopy
Folder
*				Galleys (*four folders removed to galley files)
Box	Folder
12	4-6			Page proofs, with handwritten corrections

13	1-6			Page proofs
	7			Production materials

14	1			Production materials, cont'd
	2			Contracts, royalty statements
	3-4			Clippings, correspondence, publicity materials
Folder
*				Publicity and review materials (*removed to oversize box 28)
Box	Folder
14	5			Party photographs
			To See You Again (short stories, 1982)
Box	Folder
14	6-8			Typescripts, correspondence

15	1-2			Typescript, photocopy
Folder
*				Galleys (*four folders removed to galley files)
Box	Folder
15	3-4			Page proofs
	5			Clippings, correspondence
		Subseries B. Uncollected Short Stories
			Early stories, drafts
Box	Folder
15	6			ca. 1946

16	1-2			ca. 1959-1960s
	3-4		"Uncollected stories," typescripts, correspondence
	5		A- "Complicities"
	6		"Arabel's list," drafts, published in Ploughshares

17	1		"Arrangements," drafts, correspondence, published in Epoch
	2		"The Best Revenge," published in Boulevard
	3		"Computers"-Fa
	4		"Cressida, in Oregon," typescripts, published in Boulevard
	5		For-H
	6		"Gay Friends," drafts, correspondence, published in Santa Monica Review

18	1		"Humpty Dumpty," drafts, correspondence, tear sheet
	2		K-P
	3		"Love and Work," published in Southwest Review
	4		"The Oasis," published in The Graywolf Annual Two: Stories by Women
	5		R-W
	6		"The Shipbuilder From Düsseldorf," typescript, published in Story
		Subseries C. Other Writings
Box	Folder
18	7		Book reviews, 1976-1984
	8		Commencement address, University of California, Berkeley, 22 May 1987

19	1		Diary, ca. 1937
	2-3		Juvenilia, artwork and poetry, ca. 1931-1937
	4		Miscellaneous projects
	5		Non-fiction articles and stories
			Notebooks
Box	Folder
19	6			1949-1972
	7			1972-1980

20	1			1979-1985
	2			1980-1987
	3			1985
	4			1987-1988 [ Caroline's Daughters]
	5			1987-1991
	6			1991-1997
	7			1992-1994, "The Sick Book," haiku

21	1			1997-1999
				Undated
Box	Folder
21	2				"The Book of Bob - Mirrors," [ Almost Perfect]
	3				[A Southern Exposure]
	4-7		Poetry, drafts, notebooks, ca. 1934-1946
	8		Talks about writing and writers, typescripts


Series II. Correspondence, 1958-1999
Box	Folder
21	9	A-C
	10	Abrahams, William (Billy), 1960s-1970s
	11	Adams, Judith, 1962-1998

22	1	Adams, Judith, cont'd
	2	Brown, Margery, 1973-1985
	3	Business correspondence, 1985-1998
	4	Colwin, Laurie, 1976-1984
	5	D-H
	6	Dodds, John, 1963-1965
	7	Ewert, William, re special edition of "Molly's Dog," 1983-1984
	8	Hall, Donald, 1990-1996
	9	Harris, Jeanne, 1977-1985
	10	I-R
	11	International Creative Management Inc., agents Lynn Nesbit and Erica Spellman, 1977-1984

23	1-2	Jessner, Lucie, 1958-1979
	3	Johnson, Diane, 1975-1999
	4	Lowry, Beverly, 1986-1994
	5	Mailer, Norman, 1963-1969
	6	Maine property, 1960-1986
	7-8	Matson, Peter, 1965-1971
	9	The New Yorker correspondence, 1968
	10	Poirier, Richard, 1961-1996
	11	Protest, 1985
	12	"Rags," rejections, 1953, 1967-1970

24	1	S-W
	2	Segal, David, 1965-1966
	3-4	Steele, Max, 1962-1998
	5	Summerlin, Dolly, 1981-1983
	6	Wilson, Victoria (Vicky), 1977-1996
	7-8	Writers, 1971-1998
	9	Writers conferences, 1981-1985

25	1	Miscellaneous, 1960s, 1974-1999


Series III. Personal and Career-Related
Box	Folder
25	2	American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, award, 1992
	3-4	Articles and critical essays about Adams
	5	Clippings re poetry, restaurants, travel
		Photographs
			Personal
Box	Folder
25	6			Adams-Linenthal wedding, 1946
	7			Adams with others, 1971-1974
	8			60th birthday album, 1986
	9			Adams and Robert McNie
	10			Headshots and publicity photographs
	11			Miscellaneous, loose
			Travel
Box	Folder
25	12			Alaska, 1981
	13			Boston-New York City, 1984
				Europe
Box	Folder
25	14-15				Early 1970s, with Robert McNie
	16				1984
	17			Italy, 1985
				Mexico
Box	Folder
26	1-2				1970s
	3				Guanajuato
	4				Mexico City
	5				San Miguel
	6				Zihuatanejo, 1980
	7-8			Portugal, 1984
	9			Santa Fe, 1985
	10			Taos, 1982
	11	Postcards, blank

27	1-2	Postcards, cont'd
	3	Royalty statements, 1985-1993

28		Oversize

Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

Research

Alice Adams:

A Preliminary Inventory of Her Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Administrative Information

Acquisition:

Processed by:

Restrictions

Access:

Scope and Contents

Index Terms

People

Document Types

Container List

Series I. Works,

Series II. Correspondence, 1958-1999

Series III. Personal and Career-Related