 Harry Crews papers
Collection DescriptionHistorical NoteHarry Crews (1935-2012) was a prolific novelist, born in Bacon County, Georgia. For futher information, see the article Harry Crews (1935-2012) at New Georgia Encyclopedia. Scope and ContentThe collection consists of the literary papers of American writer Harry Crews. These papers document his writing career up through the publication of his twentieth book, An American Family: The Child With the Curious Marking (2006). Typed and holograph manuscripts, correspondence, clippings, conference material, awards, literary and film contracts, financial statements, and photographs make up the bulk of materials, which generally date from the mid-1960s onward. Correspondence includes Crews' mentor Andrew Lytle (who first published Crews in The Sewanee Review), letters from college friends/apprentice writers, and rejection slips and correspondences from prospective literary agents and publishers. Letters from the period when Crews published his first two novels -- The Gospel Singer, Naked in Garden Hills - include correspondence with his first literary agent, Bert Cochran, of American Authors, Inc., with John Hawkins of Paul Reynolds, Inc., who succeeded Cochran, and with Crews' editor at William Morrow, Jim Landis. Correspondence appears from other American writers - John Ciardi, Seymour Epstein, Maxine Kumin, William Meredith, Henry Van Dyke and others -- with whom Crews became acquainted through the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and the University of Florida Writers Conference, the latter which he co-directed between 1970-1974 with fellow UF writer and professor Smith Kirkpatrick. Other writers represented include Malcolm Braly, Robert Olen Butler, Erskine Caldwell, Daniel Mark Epstein, Barry Hannah, Jim Harrison, Joseph Heller, James Leo Herlihy, William Hjortsberg, Maxine Kumin, Norman Mailer, Tom McGuane, Tim McLaurin, Donn Pearce, James Tiptree, Dan Wakefield, Charles Willeford and Miller Williams. In the 1970s there is also correspondence between Crews and his friend and fellow Florida writer/screenwriter Donn Pearce describing the screenwriting business, and an increasing flow of letters from anxious would-be producers seeking options on his novels. This period also is marked by the appearance of correspondence with editors at Playboy and Esquire, with whom Crews contracted to write magazine articles and (at Esquire) a monthly column, and with subsequent publishers and editors at Atheneum, Harper & Row, and Alfred A. Knopf in the United States and at Martin Secker & Warburg in England. In the 1990s correspondence files begin to include writers like Jay Atkinson, former student of Crews', and Mississippi novelist Larry Brown, who first approached Crews as a fan in 1990 and with whom he would remain friends until Brown's death in 2004. Administrative InformationRestrictions on UseCopyright is retained by the literary estate. Restrictions: No photocopying without written permission of Harry Crews' designated literary executor. Also, "Assault of Memory, unpublished chapters" files (Works-Extended Works series) are closed, unless a waiver of this restriction is obtained from Harry Crews' literary executor. Persons seeking photocopy permission, or permission to view "Assault of Memory, unpublished chapters," should address a request, stating briefly what their research purpose is (possible publication; classroom instruction; etc.) to: Byron Crews, 218 South Winter Street, Apt. 8, Yellow Springs, OH 45387 Preferred CitationHarry Crews papers, ms3340, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries. Immediate Source of AcquisitionThe Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library purchased the papers of Georgia-born writer Harry Crews, from the author, in 2006. Finding Aid PublicationFinding aid prepared on: 2009 June 29. Related Materials and SubjectsSubject Terms | ||||||||||||||||||