Guide to the Wright Morris papers
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Note
Arts and Humanities --Literature --American Literature
Guide to the Wright Morris Papers
Collection number: BANC MSS 72/246 c
The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California
Contact Information:
- Processed by:
- The Bancroft Library staff
- Date Completed:
- ca. 1972
- Encoded by:
- James Lake
© 1997 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Collection Summary
Collection Title: Wright Morris Papers
Collection Number: BANC MSS 72/246 c
Creator:
Morris, Wright, 1910-
Extent:
Number of containers: 5 cartons and 12 portfolios
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Abstract: Correspondence and manuscripts concerning the work and activity of Morris as a writer, and a dissertation prospectus by Jack
R. Cohn to study Morris' midwestern novels.
Languages Represented:
English
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research, except for one portfolio containing a dissertation prospectus by Jack R. Cohn, which requires
permission of the author. Inquiries concerning these materials should be directed in writing to the Head of Public Services.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft
Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which
must also be obtained by the reader.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Wright Morris papers, BANC MSS 72/246 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Scope and Content
This collection of his papers and correspondence was begun in 1954, when the author presented drafts, typescripts, and manuscripts
of his novels to the University Library. These materials have been augmented from time to time with later manuscripts from
Mr. Morris and with items from his correspondence given by Professor James Hart of the Department of English, U.C. Berkeley.
"Works of Love." Final draft. Microfilm of typescript in the Walter Teller Collection of Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University.
Students and researchers who wish to publish work based on this collection must secure permission from the owner of the literary
rights.
Biographical Sketch
Wright Morris was born in Nebraska in 1910. He studied at Pomona College and presently lives in Mill Valley, California.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into two parts. Part 1 consists of drafts, typescripts, and galley proofs, arranged as nearly as
possible according to the year during which he was writing the work in question. Descriptive notes for Part 1 are the author's
own, taken from the manuscript packets. Additional comments (in brackets) were supplied in August 1967 by Jack R. Cohn, from
his study of Morris' writings.
Part 2 contains correspondence.
Container List
Part I: Literary Typescripts & Proofs
Ctn. 1, item 1
Profiles & Refrains, 1937
Additional Note
Unpublished (Material incorporated in
The Inhabitants & elsewhere). Digest of episodes that appeared in my first novel, unpublished.
item 2
The Inhabitants--Text only, 1936-1944
Additional Note
Final Draft with experimental drafts with & without Sound Track. Long period of gestation accounts for unevenness of material.
Some text from 1936.
item 3
My Uncle Dudley
Additional Note
First Draft (without jail scene 1940). Draft of jail scene included (1941).
item 4
Journey Through a Landscape (1942-44)
Additional Note
Three Drafts of Material Incorporated in
The Man Who Was There. Material growing out of first visit to "The Home Place" (Summer 1942). Later reworked into text of the photo-text
The Home Place.
item 5
The Vision of Private Reagan-- 1942, and
The Ordeal of Gussie Newcomb-- 1943
Additional Note
Incorporated in
The Man Who Was There--1945.
item 6
Man and Boy, 1945-47
Additional Note
First Draft (Incomplete), "Dear Mrs. Finley."
First Draft (Complete), "Consider the Lilies."
Second Draft--"Ram in the Thicket" (pp. 119-150 missing [Additional pages are absent. J. R. C.]).
item 7
Man and Boy, (Published 1951)
Additional Note
Final Draft (Completed, except for minor changes, 1947).
item 8
The Works of Love
Additional Note
First Draft, 1946-47.
item 9
The Home Place (Text only), June 1947
Additional Note
Final Draft & First Draft (yellow sheets). Incorporating material from first visit--"Journey through a Landscape" and "The
Man Who Was There."
item 10
The Works of Love, 1947
Additional Note
2nd Draft (From Indian Bow to Omaha. Chicago material would be in separate vol. [This second volume was not written. J. R.
C.]).
Ctn. 2, item 11
The Works of Love--with set of Proofs.
Additional Note
Third Draft (Before cutting). Final draft in possession of Walter Magnes Teller, Plumsteadville, Pa. [This draft is now placed
in the Walter Teller Collection of the Mugar Memorial Library, Boston University. A microfilm copy of the draft is available
in the Newspaper Room of the UC Berkeley, General Library. J. R. C.]
item 12
The World in the Attic
Additional Note
First Draft, 1948.
item 13
The World in the Attic
Additional Note
Final Draft, 1948.
item 14
The Deep Sleep
Additional Note
First Draft, 1952.
item 15
The Deep Sleep
Additional Note
Final Draft, 1952.
item 16
The Huge Season
Additional Note
The "Captivity" Chapters [presumably 1953--J. R. C.].
item 17
The Huge Season
Additional Note
The "Captivity" Chapters. Second (but First Complete) Draft [presumably 1953--J. R. C.].
item 18
The Huge Season
Additional Note
Foley Materials in complete disorder. (Sections, odd pages, etc.) (Result of parts of First draft incorporated in the Final.)
[probably 1953-1954--J. R. C.].
Ctn. 3, item 19
The Huge Season
Additional Note
Odds & Ends, Scenes cut from final draft, etc. [probably 1953-1954--J. R. C.].
item 20
The Huge Season
Additional Note
Final Transcript [1954--J. R. C.].
item 21
The Field of Vision--First Version [1954--J. R. C.]
Additional Note
"A Walk on the Water" is a complete novellas of the essential elements, without the mirror of the bullring. McKee, Boyd, Scanlon,
etc.
item 22
The Field of Vision
Additional Note
Fragments, Early Drafts, etc. [principally 1955, but some text from 1953 ("We Couldn't Be Happier") and 1954 ("Babe Ruth's
Pocket")--J. R. C.].
item 23
The Field of Vision
Additional Note
Next to Final Draft. Visions & Revisions, etc. [presumably 1955--J. R. C. The final draft, I understand, is now owned by the
University of Texas.].
portfolio Portfolio, item 24
Love Among the Cannibals
Additional Note
Corrected typescript [1957--J. R. C.].
item 25
The Territory Ahead
Additional Note
Corrected typescript [1958--J. R. C.].
item 26
The Territory Ahead
Additional Note
Corrected Galley Proofs [1958--J. R. C.].
item 27
Ceremony in Lone Tree
Additional Note
Early Drafts [probably 1957-1959--J. R. C.].
item 28
Ceremony in Lone Tree
Additional Note
Next to Last Draft [1959--J. R. C.].
item 29
Cause for Wonder
Additional Note
Early Drafts [probably 1960, but possibly late 1959--J. R. C.].
item 30
What a Way to Go
Additional Note
Last Draft [winter 1961-1962--J. R. C.].
item 31
What a Way to Go
Additional Note
Printer's Copy [1962--J. R. C.].
item 32
Cause for Wonder
Additional Note
Fragments and Changes [1962--J. R. C.].
item 33
Cause for Wonder
Additional Note
Next to Last and Final Drafts, 1961 and 1963.
Ctn. 4, item D1
"So He"
Additional Note
Early draft (1935 or 1936) of first novel--otherwise titled "The Stars Came Otherwise"--begun in 1934.
item D2
"This Day Before Dawn"
Additional Note
Early novel, 1936.
item D2
"The Little One"
Additional Note
Alternate version of 1936-1937.
item D3
"The Madman of Ranna"
Additional Note
[various titles have been regularized under this heading]
Early draft of 1937-1938.
item D4
"The Madman of Ranna"
Additional Note
Draft from 1938-1939.
item D5
"The Madman of Ranna"
Additional Note
Early draft from 1938-1939 (or 1939-1940) and carbon copy of related draft.
item D6
"The Madman of Ranna"
Additional Note
Draft from 1939.
item D7
"Journal of the Plague Year"--1940-1943
Ctn. 5, item D8
"The Inhabitants" and "Journal of the Plague Year"
Additional Note
Miscellaneous draft materials--probably 1940-1941 and text (of 1941) in support of Guggenheim fellowship for
The Inhabitants.
item D9
"The Inhabitants" and "Profiles and Refrains"
Additional Note
Miscellaneous materials--probably 1940-1941.
item D10
"Profiles and Refrains"
Additional Note
Partial draft--probably 1940-1941.
item D10
"The Inhabitants"
Additional Note
Miscellaneous draft materials--probably 1940-1941.
item D13a
"Journey through a Landscape"
Additional Note
Draft from 1943 of materials worked into
The Man Who Was There (1945) and related materials for "Lord--It's a Fadin'...".
item D19
The Man Who Was There
Additional Note
Galley proofs--1945.
item D21
"The Cruise of the Dolphin"
Additional Note
Unfinished novel featuring Mr. Hapgee (vide "Furman Young" dll)--probably 1945 or 1946 and a fragment of a story also with
Hapgee--probably 1940.
item D22
"Consider the Lilies"
Additional Note
Early version (1946-1947) of
Man and Boy revised draft materials (1949-1950) for
Man and Boy and fragments of that novel.
item D30
The Home Place
Additional Note
Galley proofs--1948.
portfolio Portfolio, item 1
Wright Morris to James D. Hart
26 Oct. 1953
Physical Description: TLS, 1 p., envelope
item 2
Wright Morris to James D. Hart
14 Nov. 1953
Physical Description: Card, 1 p., envelope
item 3
Wright Morris to James D. Hart
12 Jan. 1954
Physical Description: TLS, 2 p.
item 3
Wright Morris to James D. Hart
[18 Jan. 1954]
Physical Description: Chronology, 2 p.
item 4
Wright Morris to James D. Hart
29 Oct. 1954
Physical Description: TLS, 2 p.
item 5
Wright Morris to Kenneth Carpenter
10 Dec. 1955
Physical Description: Card, 1 p.
item 6
Mimi Robinson to James D. Hart
27 Feb. 1959
Physical Description: TLS, 1 p.
item 7
Wright Morris to James D. Hart
? Dec. 1959
Physical Description: Postcard
item 8
Wright Morris to James D. Hart
n.d.
Physical Description: Postcard
item 9
Wright Morris to James D. Hart
9 Jan. 19--
Physical Description: Postcard
item 10
Wright Morris to Mrs. Leslie S. Clarke
27 Dec. 1969
Physical Description: Christmas card. [With envelope.]
