MenuInventory of the Virginia Spencer Carr Papers, 1867-2009
Abstract
Scholar and a professor of American literature at Georgia State University. Her first book was The Lonely Hunter: A Biography of Carson McCullers.
Correspondence, notes, drafts, clippings, and other materials used by Carr in writing The Lonely Hunter (1975), a biography of Southern author Carson McCullers. Includes correspondence between Carr and McCullers' friends and relatives and literary and artistic figures, notes from interviews, McCullers family correspondence, genealogy, and drafts of Carr's doctoral dissertation on McCullers as well as drafts and foundry proofs for The Lonely Hunter. Includes material on Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., February House, Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., and Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Middlebury, Vt. Persons represented in the collection include Elizabeth Ames, W. H. Auden, Leonard Bernstein, Paul Bowles, John Ciardi, David Leo Diamond, Granville Hicks, John Huston, Jordan Massee, Louis Untermeyer, Eudora Welty, Tennessee Williams, Leo Lerman, and Eleanor Clarke Warren.
Descriptive Summary
- Repository
- David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
- Creator
- Carr, Virginia Spencer.
- Title
- Virginia Spencer Carr Papers, 1867-2009 and undated, bulk 1970-1977
- Language of Material
- English
- Extent
- 6.6 Linear Feet, 2480 Items
- Location
- For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection Overview
The Virginia Spencer Carr Papers span the years 1867 to 2009 and document the research and production of Carr's biography of Carson McCullers, The Lonely Hunter. Formats include correspondence, notes, drafts, and clippings. The collection consists of four series: Alphabetical Files, Research Files, Correspondence by McCullers Family, and Drafts and Proofs. The Alphabetical Files Series consists primarily of correspondence and interview notes between Carr and the many individuals she contacted while doing research for her book. Prominent correspondents include David Leo Diamond, Jordan Massee, Edwin Peacock, Mary Mercer, Mary S. Tucker, and Doubleday Publishing. Materials in the Research Files Series also include a large number of copies of correspondence, primarily letters written by Carson McCullers. There are also some clippings, notes from interviews that Carr conducted and letters she received in reaction to the publication of her book. The Correspondence by McCullers Family Series consists of copies of letters written primarily by Carson McCullers to her friends and family, including Reeves McCullers, David Leo Diamond, and her mother, Marguerite Waters Smith. There is also a series of letters McCullers wrote John Huston in the last year of her life. Finally, the Drafts and Proofs Series includes a copy of Carr's doctoral dissertation on Carson McCullers and notes that served in its preparation. There are also edited sections of the manuscript of the The Lonely Hunter, as well as a foundry proof and a galley of the same.
Administrative Information
A majority of collections are stored off site and must be requested at least 24 business hours in advance for retrieval. Contact Rubenstein Library staff before visiting. Read More »
Access Restrictions
Collection is open for research.
However, collection may contain materials to which the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibilities and Privacy Rights form applies. Patrons must sign this 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 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript 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 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Contents of the Collection
Browse List of Series
Collapse All
Expand AllThe largest in the collection, this series consists primarily of correspondence and interview notes with various people to whom Carr wrote while doing research for her biography of McCullers. Among the many writers, artists, and friends of McCullers that Carr contacted, there are Edward Albee, W.H. Auden, Djuna Barnes, Simone de Beauvoir, Elizabeth Bowen, Salvator Dali, Greta Garbo, Graham Greene, Christopher Isherwood, and Alberto Moravia. While many of the people Carr addressed refused to cooperate with her biography, numerous others offered their assistance, and the series includes significant material from and about David Diamond, Jordan Massee, Edwin Peacock, Mary S. Tucker, and Tennessee Williams. The series is arranged alphabetically by the last name of the correspondent, but is preceded by four folders with general information, including addresses and notes about the people represented in the series.
Consists of various materials that Carr compiled while preparing the publication of her biography of McCullers. The bulk are copies of correspondence (written primarily by Carson McCullers), notes from interviews Carr conducted, clippings, and several journal articles. Other documents in the series include acknowledgements for The Lonely Hunter and readers' reactions to the book's publication. The series is arranged alphabetically, and then chronologically within individual folders.
Contains correspondence written primarily by Carson McCullers, even though there are several by others, including her husband Reeves. By far the greatest number of letters are from McCullers to David Leo Diamond, written in the early and middle 1940s, and to John Huston, from the last year of her life (1966-1967). The series also contains some correspondence addressed to Jordan Massee, Edwin Peacock, Muriel Rukeyser, and Carson's mother, Marguerite Smith. Folders are arranged in alphabetical order; materials inside them are organized chronologically.
Divided into three subseries, the first of which contains a copy of Virginia Carr's doctoral dissertation on Carson McCullers, completed in 1969 at Florida State University, and the notes for her dissertation. The second subseries consists of manuscript portions of the The Lonely Hunter, edited with marginalia by such persons as David Leo Diamond, Leo Lerman, and Eleanor Warren. Finally, in the last subseries, there is a foundry proof and a galley of the completed biography. Folders in the series are arranged alphabetically; materials in them remain in original order.
Historical Note
Virginia Spencer Carr earned her Ph.D. at Florida State University in 1969. She taught courses in the American novel, American writers and poets, literature of the South, and the writing of biography at Georgia State University. The Lonely Hunter: A Biography of Carson McCullers was her first book, and was awarded the Francis Butler Simkins Prize from the Southern Historical Society and Longwood College for distinguished writing in Southern History. Her second book, Dos Passos: A Life, was selected Best Book of Nonfiction for 1984 by the Dixie Council of Author and Journalists. Dr. Carr holds an honorary doctorate in humane letters (Lynchburg College). She also was a Senior Fulbright Professor at the University of Wroclaw, Poland (1980), and held the 1993 Stanley J. Kahrl Fellowship in Theater History at Harvard University.
Subject Headings
- Carr, Virginia Spencer. Lonely hunter.
- Ames, Elizabeth.
- Auden, W. H. (Wystan Hugh), 1907-1973.
- Bernstein, Leonard, 1918-1990.
- Bowles, Paul, 1910-1999.
- Ciardi, John, 1916-1986.
- Diamond, David, 1915-2005.
- Hicks, Granville, 1901-1982.
- Huston, John, 1906-1987.
- Lerman, Leo.
- McCullers, Carson, 1917-1967.
- Warren, Eleanor, 1913-
- Yaddo (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.)
- February House (Brooklyn Heights, N.Y.)
- Bread Loaf Writers' Conference at Middlebury College.
- American literature--Women authors.
- Women authors, American--Southern States.
Related Material
Related materials include the Carson McCullers Papers, the Mary E. Mercer Collection of Carson McCullers-Mary Tucker Correspondence, the Edwin Peacock Papers, and the Mary Sames Tucker Papers, all housed at Duke University in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Virginia Spencer Carr Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
Provenance
The Virginia Spencer Carr Papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library as a purchase in 1977 and 1981.
Processing Information
Processed by Pavla Vesela, Brittany E. Wilson, and other staff, May 15 2004
Accession 2009-0088 added to Virginia Spencer Carr papers by Alice Poffinberger, September 17 2009.
Encoded by Pavla Vesela, Brittany E. Wilson, Paula Jeannet Mangiafico, Michael Shumate, February 2006
Encoding updated by Meghan Lyon, December 2009
Accessions were merged into one collection, described in this finding aid.
The Virginia Spencer Carr Papers were formerly part of the Collections on Carson McCullers.
Descriptive sources and standards used to create this inventory: DACS, EAD, NCEAD guidelines, and local Style Guide.
This finding aid is NCEAD compliant.