The Don Carpenter Papers, 1950-1993, consist of writings, and a small amount of correspondence and biographical materials. The bulk of the collection consists of writings, including drafts, short stories, novels and screenplays, both published and unpublished. The materials found in the collection includes his drafts and final revisions of Hard Rain Falling, Getting Off, The True Life of Story of Jody McKeegan, Blade of Light and A Couple of Comedians.

Don Carpenter was born in Berkeley, California on March 16, 1931 and died in Mill Valley, California on July 28, 1995. Carpenter grew up in northern California with his family, and completed high school in Portland, Oregon before serving in the military during the Korean War. After the war, Carpenter returned to Portland, Oregon where he completed his B.S. at Portland State College. In 1956, Carpenter married Martha Ryherd and had two daughters, Bonnie and Leha. Carpenter eventually received his M.A. from San Francisco State College. While in northern California, Carpenter taught English but eventually discontinued teaching and spent most of his life writing fiction, which included short stories, novels, and screenplays. He also wrote for different publications and magazines, writing short book and novel reviews and also publishing his own short fiction. Carpenter is known for his first novel, Hard Rain Falling, which lead him to write more novels such as A Couple of Comedians. Though he was known greatly for his novels, Carpenter also wrote many short stories and several novels that remained unpublished, such as his novel Friday's At Enrico's . Carpenter's novel, Payday, was made into a movie in 1973.

Number of containers: 9 cartons Linear feet: 11.25

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.

Collection is open for research.