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Edd Winfield Parks collection
Descriptive Summary | |
| Title: Edd Winfield Parks collection | |
| Creator: Parks, Aileen West | |
| Creator: Parks, Edd Winfield, 1906-1968 | |
| Inclusive Dates: 1880s-1970s | |
| Language(s): English | |
| Extent: 10 Linear Feet (12 document boxes, 6 card file boxes) | |
| Collection Number: ms290 | |
| Repository: Hargrett Library | |
Collection Description
Historical Note
Dr. Parks was a native Tennessean who spent many years as a literary scholar and a professor at the University of Georgia. He was born in Newbern, Tennessee in February 1906. He earned his Associates degree (1927) from Harvard and received his M.A. (1929) and Ph.D. (1933) at Vanderbilt University. He taught briefly at Vanderbilt and later Cumberland University before taking a permanent position teaching English at the University of Georgia in 1935. In 1933, he married Alice Aileen Wells, who worked at the Ward-Belmont School for Young Women and later wrote children's books.
In 1942, he volunteered for the Armed Services and served as Captain of Army Intelligence. When the war concluded, Parks rejoined the University of Georgia in the late 1940s. Much of his work emerged in the 1950s and 1960s: two fiction books, Backwater (1957) and Nashoba (1963); several non-fiction works, which included William Gilmore Sims as Literary Critic (1961), Edgar Allen Poe as Literary Critic (1964), Henry Timrod (1964), Thomas MacDonagh: The Man, the Patriot, the Writer (with Aileen Wells Parks, 1967), and Sidney Lanier: The Man, the Poet, the Critic (1968); a number of young adult and children's books, such as Safe on Second: The Story of a Little Leaguer (1953), Teddy Roosevelt, All-Round Boy (1953), and Teddy Roosevelt, Young Rough Rider (1953). Parks died in 1968, and his wife died in 1986.
Scope and Content
The Edd Winfield Parks collection consists mainly of Parks' manuscripts, research notes, and correspondence with publishers and universities. While five of his published books are included in the collection, most of the manuscripts are in typescript and range from the 1930s through the 1960s. Some manuscripts are hand-written and show his revisions. Parks' research notes are almost entirely on notecards, though they remain unsorted in the majority of boxes. The final six boxes are processed and organized by magazine. Correspondence with publishers and universities about his work and career exist throughout the collection. The only personal materials in the collection are Parks' World War II service materials and his passport collection. Otherwise, the collection centers around his literary work and the research done for his books.
Organization and Arrangement
This collection has not yet been arranged. However, a preliminary list has been provided for access purposes.
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Edd Winfield Parks collection, ms290, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.
Related Materials and Subjects
Subject Terms
Related Collections in this Repository
For related collections in the Hargrett Library, see also Edd Winfield Parks papers, MS 2415.