Preliminary Inventory of the Carl V. Corley Papers, 1930s-1990s
[top]Descriptive Summary
TitleCarl V. Corley Papers,
1930s-1990s
Creator
Corley, Carl V.
Extent
24.0 Linear Feet
650 Items
Repository
650 Items
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University
Language
English.
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Administrative Information
Access RestrictionsCollection is open for research.
However, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this
collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Carl V. Corley Papers, Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
Provenance
Purchased from Carl V. Corely in 1998.
Processing Information
Processed by Marion Hirsch and Don Sechler
Completed August 7, 1998
Encoded by Don Sechler
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.
This collection is unprocessed: materials may not have been ordered and described beyond their original condition.
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Biographical Note
| 1921 | Born in Florence, Mississippi |
| 1939-1945 | Served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the South Pacific |
| 1947-1961 | Illustrator, Staff Artist, and Unit Chief in the Mississippi Highway Department |
| 1961-1981 | Illustrator, Staff Artist, and Unit Chief in the Louisiana Highway Department |
Carl V. Corley is an author and illustrator of a variety of materials such as gay "pulp fiction," comic books, physique art, science fiction, Louisiana history (especially on Cajun folkways), and also books on religious themes.
Corley was born in Florence, Mississippi in 1921. He graduated from Florence High School and served in the U.S. Marine Corps in the South Pacific in World War II. After the war, Corley worked as an illustrator for the Highway Department in Mississippi (1947-1961) and Louisiana (1961-1981). In his official capacities, he designed and drew tourist guides, manuals, pamphlets, road maps, and traffic surveys. In the 1970s and early 1980s, he contributed an illustrated strip on Louisiana folklore to the Eunice (LA) News.
In the 1950s, Corley made a name for himself as a "physique artist," as he contributed drawings of scantily clad men to fitness magazines--a genre that has been identified by cultural historians as early homoerotica. Between 1966 and 1971, he published twenty-two paper back novels of gay male "pulp fiction."
[top]Collection Overview
The Carl V Corley Papers contains the writings, drawings, scrapbooks, notebooks, and published materials that document the career and artistic output of the novelist and illustrator. The collection includes copies of all twenty-two of Corley's published works of gay male pulp fiction. In addition to these published items, the collection also includes typescripsts and manuscripts of published and unpublished works of gay fiction, southern history, and heterosexual erotica, some of which is in the form of comic books or graphic novels. Corley's pulp novels were set primarily in early twentieth century Mississippi and Louisiana, though several were set in the South Pacific, where Corley served during World War II, and reflect varying degrees of autobiographical content. Corley's later works also show his interest in historical subject matter as well as utopian science fiction. Many of Corley's published and unpublished works include cover and textual illustrations produced byCorley. The collection further includes photographs of the artist and friends, works by related authors and artists, correspondence with publishers, and some work-related notes and materials.
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Subject Headings
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
- Corley, Carl, 1921-
- United States. Marine Corps--History--World War, 1939-1945.
- Marines--United States
- Gay men--Fiction.
- Gay men--Sexuality--Fiction.
- Gay men--Comicbooks, strips, etc.
- Gay men--Social life and customs--Fiction.
- Homosexuality in art--United States.
- Artists--United States.
- Science fiction--Illustrations.
- Authors, American--20th century.
- Illustrators--United States.
- Authors and publishers--United States--Correspondence.
- Human figure in art.
- World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Pacific Ocean.
- Cajuns--Social life and customs.
- Cajuns--History.
- Louisiana--History.
- Mississippi--History.
- Scrapbooks
- Typescripts
- Photographs
 | List of Series in Collection | |||||||
 |  | Accession 1998-0087 | ||||||
Preliminary Description of Unprocessed Collection
Accession 1998-0087
Scrapbooks, artwork, manuscripts and typescripts of published and unpublished works by Corley and books and and issues of magazines in which his work appears. Also included is correspondence relating to submission of work to publishers. Scrapbooks include photographs, drawings and notes relating to Corley's service in the Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II. Scrapbooks also include research and preliminary studies for several books and comic strips. There are scrapbooks which document Corley's work for the Mississippi and Lousiana Departments of Highways. One scrapbook contains Corley's personal photographs of friends and lovers from high school to the present. Included are maps and posters relating to Mississippi and Lousiana history and geography created by Corley while working for the Department of Highways.
Box 1
Correspondence
(1 folder)
Clippings (see also Oversize Boxes 1 and 15)
(2 folders)
Scrapbooks: see also Oversize Boxes 1-2
Photograph album, 1930s-1990s
Clippinzgs about Pe'pa Paree
"Pe'pa Paree in the History of Eunice, Louisiana"
"Pe'pa Paree and the Story of Louisiana" (5 scrapbooks)
"Louisiana Festivals"
Work done for the Mississippi Highway Dept., 1947-1959 (3 scrapbooks)
"Papa Hi'wae Sez"
"Alex Cale, My First SF Comic Strip," 1939-1940
Floyd Raymond Comic Strip, 1938-1939
Box 2
"Compiled Lexicon on Cowboy Lingo before writing Saddle Studs," (see Box 3)
"Preparation for Jambalee" (see Box 3)
Typescripts
The Martyr Heart
Tiga Polo Goes to Sola Roga
The Black Ruby
A New Earth
A Rose for Caesar
Jambalee
Box 3
Jambalee
After a God
Soldiers in Silk: A Novel Based on Actual Experience
Heart of Anger
El Sabine
Rim of the World (with cover art)
Saddle Studs
Box 4
Atomic Butterfly
Cad
Goddess in Amber
Ava
The Black Ruby
Manuscripts
Goddess in Genesis (with cover art)
Afro Mania (with cover art)
Gorgeous Light (with cover art)
Immortal Gods and Godless Mortals (with cover art)
Stardust
Star over Eden
Box 5
Tara: A Sequel to Gone with the Wind
Jaffe Ben Jorden: A Robot who Played God
Alexander, the True Messiah
Box 6
Illustrations and Cover Art
Includes text for illustrated stories and comics, See also Oversize Boxes 13-16 and Oversize Cabinet IV:13.
Illustrated History of Genesis
Tee Don, Illustrated History of Acadiana
20 Miniatures of Louisiana Folk Art
Kix
Fux, the Sex Fox
Blaze Star, Stellar Conqueror of Exotic Females
Sex Gods, an Exotic Pictorial (illustrated posters)
Rafe Saxon, Sex Warrior of Lust
Box 7
Scenes from Jesus' Life
Published Materials
Books, reports, and booklets written and/or illustrated by Carl Corley. See also: Oversize Box 15 for maps and posters by Carl Corley
Reports and Booklets
"Today and Tomorrow: an engineering analysis of the highway transportation system in Mississippi," 1949
"Annual Report of Louisiana Department of Highways," 1961-1962
"Annual Report of Louisiana Department of Highways," 1962-1963
"Bi-annual Report of Louisiana Department of Highways," 1963-1965
"Knights of Columbus, 82nd Supreme Convention," 1964
"Louisiana Boys and Girls State," 1968
"The Identification Officer," 1968
"History of the Acadians," undated
Books
The Agony of Christ,1967
Down Among the Sugar Cane, 1980(cover art by Carl Corley)
Carl Corley's Illustrated History of Louisiana, 1981
Box 8
The Scarlet Lantern, 1966
My Purple Winter, 1966
A Chosen World, 1966
A Fool's Advice, 1967
Fallen Eagle, 1967
Faces in Secret, 1967
Star Light, Star Bright, 1967
A Lover Mourned, 1967
Sky Eyes, 1967
Brazen Image, 1967
A Gay Trilogy, 1967
The Purple World, 1968
Chosen Society, 1968
Trick of the Trade, 1968
Black Angel, 1968
Satin Chaps, 1968
The Different and the Dammed, 1968, Anonymous
Attala Rose, 1968
Cast a Wistful Eye, 1968
Jesse, Man of the Streets, 1968
That Gay Bar, 1968(?), no author listed
In Homage to Priapus, 1970, edited by E.V.Griffith (includes an excerpt from A Fool's Advice by Carl Corley)
Easy
Ride, 1970
Jail Mate, 1971
Swamp Angel, 1971
Illustrated Novellas
Cajun Casanovas, 1988
The Rafe Saxon Mystery, 1989
Magazines
Issues include writings and art by Carl Corley.
Guys
June, August, October, December 1988; April, June, August, October, 1989; January-March, June, July, September, 1990; and March 1991.
Manscape
May and November 1988; June and April 1989; November 1990.
First Hand Magazine
October-December 1987; February, April, October, November, 1988; January, September, December 1989, January, February, April, June, 1990.
Oversize materials
Oversize Scrapbooks
Clippings, Correspondence, Drawings, 1953-1983
"Album on Military Art, Marine Corps, World War II"
Box OS2
"World War II Scrapbook, 1940-1945"
Genesis
Box OS3
Oversize Illustrations and Cover Art
Illustrated History of Louisiana
Box OS4
Illustrated History of Louisiana
Box OS5
Illustrated History of Louisiana
Box OS6
Louisiana Folk Festivals
Box OS7
Louisiana, Plantation Life, the Civil War and Reconstruction
Box OS8
Louisiana, Plantation Life, the Civil War and Reconstruction
Box OS9
Suny Blon
Box OS10
Jafe Jule
Box OS11
Jafe Ben Jordan
Sola Flare
Box OS12
Roga
Box OS13
Tiga Polo: Sex God of Stellar Space
Box OS14
Miscellaneous Cover Art and Illustrations
Box OS15
Oversize Clippings
Corley's illustrations from the Eunice News
Oversize Posters and Maps designed by Corley
Box OS16
Oversize Illustrations
Blaze Exotica
Oversize Cabinet
OC:VI:13:
Sol Polo: Astral Calvalier
