The Paul Malamud Collection of Bernard Malamud Letters contains approximately 150 letters, postcards, greeting cards, and notes from Bernard Malamud to his eldest child and only son, Paul. The letters document their relationship for a period of over 30 years. Beginning in the early 1950’s when Paul was about four years old, Malamud offers guidance as a parent and, later, as a fellow writer, covering topics such as good behavior, learning sports, practicing instruments, academic studies, literature, writing poetry and fiction, politics, and work. Early letters were often written in short story form and illustrated by Malamud with line drawings of himself, the family cat, trains, cars, and more. As Paul grew, the content of the letters became more sophisticated, so that by the age of seventeen his father asks his opinion of the Warren Commission, Stanley Kunitz’s poetry, and the reasons for Barry Goldwater’s landslide loss to LBJ. Throughout the letters Malamud consistently expresses parental affection and concern for Paul in addition to describing his own writing, daily activities, travels, and thoughts on current events, arts, and literature.

The collection also contains over 200 letters, postcards, greeting cards, and notes to Paul from Ann Malamud and his “granny,” Ida Barbieri, and 190 letters and postcards written by Paul to his father, Bernard Malamud, mother, sister, and grandparents between 1960 and 1983. There are also a few pages of notes by Malamud on Paul’s poetry, and an essay by Paul, “Bernard Malamud the Writer.”