Harry Crews papers

The literary papers of American writer Harry Crews (1953-2006) 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.

The Correspondence series (1962-2005) begins with correspondence between Crews and his mentor Andrew Lytle (who first published Crews in The Sewanee Review), letters from college friends/apprentice writers with whom Crews struggled to generate novels for publication, and rejection slips and correspondences from prospective literary agents and publishers.

Letters in the middle and late 1960s document the period when Crews published his first two novels -- The Gospel Singer, Naked in Garden Hills - and 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.

The letters between Crews and Landis, who would edit Crews' first five novels between 1967 and 1972, are particularly rich in material on the writer's composition process and concerning his ideas about characterization and theme. At this time, also, 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 in the Correspondence 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 late 1970s and into the late 1980s, the volume of correspondence drops off noticeably, coinciding with a "dry" period of Crews' output following A Feast of Snakes (1976), at a time when his difficulties in composing his acclaimed memoir A Childhood (1978), increased efforts to lecture and generate screenplays for money, and disruptive periods of alcohol abuse, resulted in Crews' not publishing a major work again until the appearance in 1987 of All We Need of Hell. The amount of correspondence in the files increases with this reappearance in print, which coincides with his first work for theatrical production, a two-act play ( Blood Issue) commissioned for the Humana Festival of New Plays in Louisville, Kentucky.

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. Letters from bibliographers and scholars in the years from 1990 onward into the 21 st century reflect a growing acknowledgment of Crews' importance by academia. Contacts with editors and publishers are now complemented by correspondence from European translators and publishers, who are facilitating the appearance of editions in French and Italian. This latter period also includes a bit of correspondence from Crews' fan, friend, and interview subject Sean Penn, and with his then-wife, celebrity singer/actress Madonna, as well as letters from small-press publishers Herb Yellin (Lord John Press) and Craig Graham (Vagabond Press) who issue editions of unpublished Crews fiction and nonfiction, and letters from persons associated with film projects having to do with Crews' life, his novels, and Southern culture.

A complete list of correspondents can be found at the end of this inventory.

Manuscripts of Harry Crews writings and related compositional or publication-related materials - i.e. notes, research materials, publisher galleys, promotional materials or cover design -- dominate the Works series of the Harry Crews Papers.

The Extended Works subseries includes manuscripts of Crews' twenty novels, his memoir A Childhood: The Biography of a Place, six screenplays, a two-act play, early poetry, several short stories, and most of his essays, book reviews, and journalism. In this series thre are are four full-length unpublished manuscripts--three novels and one book of previously uncollected nonfiction.

(NOTE: Items in Box 15 relating to unpublished chapters of the memoir Assault of Memory are closed until the work is published or Harry Crews elects to open the files.)

For convenience, Crews' copies of the adapted screenplays of The Gospel Singer, Car, The Gypsy's Curse, and The Hawk is Dying by other authors are included in the Works series, and are filed following Crews' work in each title.

(NOTE: Many of the Works manuscript files contain drafts that show Crews' revising and rewriting. In some cases, whole abandoned or rejected scenes of novels resurface in files for new works. For example: Parts of Crews' 1998 novel Where Does One Go When There's No Place Left to Go? first appear in an unpublished manuscript of The Enthusiast, composed circa 1972 and in drafts of his 1987 novel All We Need of Hell. Similarly, parts of a screenplay for All We Need of Hell are found on the reverse of discarded draft sections of A Feast of Snakes. In another instance, segments of Crews' two early attempts at a memoir- Halflife and Take 38-later emerge as a single unpublished essay, "Of Elephants, Heroes, and LSD," which he eventually cannibalized, revised, and published as separate Esquire columns.)

The Short Works subseries provide a view of Crews' earliest writing, including early undated poems and drafts of his first published works, the short stories "The Unattached Smile," "It Reminds One of the Opera," and "A Long Wail."

The "Articles, Essays, Reviews" subseries is a comprehensive file Crews' nonfiction and critical writing. Files of his journalism for magazines like Playboy, Esquire, Southern magazine, and FAME include not only manuscripts but also notes and research materials accumulated by Crews in the course of journalistic assignments. The extensive files of Crews' book reviews for national media like The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times' book section, and Washington Post BookWorld include several reviews that are absent from bibliographies of his work.

(NOTE: Audio cassette tapes from some assignments and dictabelts used by Crews in the composition of his autobiographical Childhood were included in the Harry Crews Papers, but they may be unavailable while in the process of preservation reformatting, for eventual placement in the University Libraries' Media Archives. An inventory of these audiotapes and dictabelts--"Media formats included in Harry Crews Papers, transferred to Media Archives"--is attached at the end of this finding aid.)

Chief among the Business and Legal series (1967-2005) are contracts for many of the original issues, paperback editions, or foreign translations of most of Crews' books. A number of contracts for movie production option rights to his novels are also to be found in this series, as are contracts for Crews' 1989 play, Blood Issue, and two screenplays ( Boomtown and Clown). The remaining contracts comprise mostly republication or reprint permissions for articles, and a handful of magazine contracts for the original articles. The balance of Business and Legal Papers consists of earnings and royalty statements from Crews' publishers and literary agents, scattered files of travel receipts, honoraria, and contracts for lectures, mostly from the period 1970-1975.

Subject files (1953-2006) comprise the remaining document files, and these include a voluminous archive of articles about Harry Crews and his writings and the few biographical materials included in the collection - yearbooks, awards, vitae, college transcripts and Marine Corps service file. A transcript of a "family history" interview Crews did with an aunt, and scattered personal notes are also filed here. This series includes files on Crews' awards and fellowships, some University of Florida teaching files, information files on the Bread Loaf Writers Conference (1968-1973) and the Florida Writers Conference (1970-1974), notes for his Bread Loaf lectures, appointment planners, addresses, and phone numbers.

The majority of the Subject series' files, however, are secondary source materials: Reviews of Crews' books (1967-2003), writings about him (1963-2003, n.d.), and writings by others (1974-1993, n.d.). The last subcategory includes works by Byron Crews, Daniel Mark Epstein, Jim Harrison, and Maxine Kumin, and a screenplay of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Cross Creek. However, most "Writing by Others" are unpublished papers and scholarly offprints about Crews' work, including bibliographies by Damon Sauve and Michael Hargraves and a folder of binder's gatherings of the entire text of David Jeffrey's 1993 compilation A Grit's Triumph.

The "Writings about HC" files are a separate category from reviews of Crews' books, and consist of original clippings and photocopies of published newspaper and periodical articles, from U.S., English, and French publications. Researchers seeking articles about Crews should inspect both "Articles about HC" and "Writing by Others" subcategories.

The "Reviews" folders include reviews of all Crews' works up through Celebration (1998). Reviews of Erik Bledsoe's 1999 compilation of interviews with Harry Crews, Getting Naked With Harry Crews, are also included in these files.

Videotapes and audio cassettes of Harry Crews' interviews or TV/movie appearances were transferred to the University Libraries' Media Archive, and a list ("Media formats included in Harry Crews Papers, transferred to Media Archives") of those is attached to this finding aid.

The Photographs series is the last and smallest series, consisting mostly of a few scattered, recent portraits of Harry Crews alone or photographed with friends, and in Marine Corps unit class photos from 1953-1954. There are also photos of Sally Crews, Maggie Powell, and James Dickey in this file.

Omitted: Fan mail pictures from which Harry Crews is absent have been left out of this series, and instead can be found attached to their respective letters in Correspondence. Photos of Crews and Charles Bronson from Crews' 1975 Playboy assignment on Bronson are located in the "The Knuckles of Saint Bronson" file in the "Articles, Essays, Reviews" subseries of Works.

A much more extensive collection of photographs of Harry Crews, his family and friends remain in Crews' personal photo collection. Selections from this collection are on deposit in the Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, and available for viewing only with the written permission of Harry Crews.

The collection is arranged by record type. It is organized in five series: 1) Correspondence 2) Writings by Harry Crews 3) Business and Legal Papers, 4) Subject Files, and 5) Photographs.

Related materials available in the following repository: University of Georgia Libraries.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Harry Crews Papers. MS 3340. Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries.

Provenance

The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library purchased the papers of Georgia-born writer Harry Crews, from the author, in 2006.

Restrictions

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions: No photocopying without written permission of Harry Crews or his designated literary executor. Also, "Assault of Memory, unpublished chapters" files (WORKS-EXTENDED WORKS series) are restricted until publication or the death of the author, unless a waiver of this restriction is obtained from Harry Crews.

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:

Harry Crews, 2820 NW 34 th St., Gainesville, FL 32605

Once provided with an original, signed permission from the author, the Hargrett Library will waive restrictions.

Copyright Restrictions

Copyright is retained by author. The Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library has rights to manage and provide access to the Collection, with exceptions as noted in Restrictions.

Related Material

*NOTE: Researchers interested in using the following should contact Media Archives in advance, as original audio recordings and films are unavailable for use until preservation copies are made.