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Harriet Wasserman Literary Agency
The Harriet Wasserman Literary Agency (HWLA) was formed in 1981 by Harriet Wasserman, formerly an agent at the Russell and Volkening Literary Agency beginning in 1965. A number of prominent American writers Wasserman represented at Russell and Volkening came with her when she formed her own agency. Thus, while the bulk of the HWLA records document her clients' careers after 1981, a number also reach back into the 1970s and document such early clients as Saul Bellow, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and Reynolds Price. As of 2003, the agency was actively in business.
The collection of about 20,000 items consists largely of office files by author, which contain correspondence with authors, editors, and publishers, drafts of works, contracts, and other materials documenting the writers themselves and activities of the agency on behalf of them. Among many others, the collection includes files for the following writers represented by the Wasserman agency: Richard Bausch, Saul Bellow, Allan Bloom, Frederick Buechner, Oscar Hijuelos, Josephine Humphreys, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, George F. Kennan, Alice McDermott, Reynolds Price, and Mark Winegardner.