Eudora Welty Collection (Z/0301)

Collection Details:

Collection Name and Number: Eudora Welty Collection (Z/0301).
Creator/Collector: Eudora Welty; and others.
Date(s): circa 1882-2016; n.d.
Size: Size Size cubic feet.
Language(s): English.
Provenance: Gift of Estate of Eudora Welty of Jackson, MS.
Repository: Archives & Records Services Division, Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Rights and Access:

Access restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Publication rights: Eudora Welty, LLC, claims all copyright interest in items created by Eudora Welty and Welty family members. (Permission to publish is required.)

For all materials in the Eudora Welty Collection not created by Eudora Welty or her family members, all requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to Reference Services, with Attention: Welty Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the MDAH as the owner of the physical items and as the owner of the copyright in items created by the donor. The respective creator may still hold copyright in some items in the collection. For further information, contact Reference Services.

Copyright notice: This material may be protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). MDAH asks that each Eudora Welty, LLC, image used in a presentation, display, or publication be accompanied by the following credit statement:

Preferred citation: Eudora Welty Collection (Z/0301), Mississippi Department of Archives & History.

Biography:

Eudora Alice Welty

Eudora Alice Welty was born on April 13, 1909, the daughter of Christian Webb Welty and his wife, Chestina Andrews Welty. Her family resided at 741 North Congress Street in Jackson, Mississippi, and then, in 1925, moved to 1119 Pinehurst Street, where Welty would reside until her death. Welty graduated from Jackson's Central High School in 1925, and then attended Mississippi State College for Women in Columbus, Mississippi, and the University of Wisconsin, where she received her bachelor's degree in 1929. She pursued graduate studies at the Columbia University School of Business in New York City and returned to Jackson in 1931 upon the death of her father. In 1936, two of her stories, "Magic," and "Death of a Traveling Salesman," were accepted by Manuscript magazine. Between 1936 and 1941, Welty wrote a variety of stories collected in her first book, A Curtain of Green. In 1941, her novella, The Robber Bridegroom, was published. Welty began work on a short story in 1943 that became the novel Delta Wedding, published in 1946. Welty spent several months in San Francisco, California, in 1946 and 1947; and in 1949, The Golden Apples was published. Following its publication, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship and spent a year in Europe. By 1955, she had published The Ponder Heart and The Bride of the Innisfallen and Other Stories.

From 1955 to 1970, Welty published two short stories dealing with the Civil Rights movement, "Where is the Voice Coming From?" and "The Demonstrators," and worked on scenes for a novel while caring for her family. In 1959, her brother, Walter, died, and in 1966, her mother and her brother, Edward, died. The Optimist's Daughter was published in The New Yorker in 1969, and then as a book in 1972, winning the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. From 1970 to 1972, Welty converted the scenes she had written into Losing Battles, her last piece of fiction. In 1983, Welty delivered a series of lectures at Harvard University that were published in 1984 as One Writer's Beginnings. Welty was an accomplished photographer and took many photographs during her work as a writer for the Works Progress Administration. Her photographs of Mississippi were first exhibited in New York City's Lugene gallery in 1936. The first book of her photographs, One Time, One Place, was published in 1971, followed by others including Photographs (1989) and Country Churchyards (2000). Welty received numerous honors including the American Book Award for Literature, the Charles Frankel Prize from the National Endowment for the Humanities, two Presidential medals, and the French Legion of Honor. Eudora Welty died in Jackson on July 23, 2001.

Collection History:

Eudora Welty began donating her materials to MDAH in 1957 until her death in 2001, whereupon the Welty Estate have since made donations continually on her behalf of materials intended to be donated to the archives. The archivists responsible for processing and reprocessing the Eudora Welty Collection have included Betty Uzman, Forrest Galey, Alanna Patrick, Bridget Edwards, April Blevins, and Elisabeth Cambonga. Additionally, Welty’s biographer Suzanne Marrs, has also contributed to the arrangement and study of the Welty Collection (The Welty Collection: A Guide to Eudora Welty Manuscripts and Documents at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, University Press of Mississippi, 1988).

Scope and Content Note:

The Eudora Welty Collection consists principally of drafts, revised copies, and printer's versions of Welty's works, including stories, books, essays, reviews, lectures, speeches, and drama. The collection also contains incoming and outgoing correspondence of Welty; negatives and photographs taken by Welty and her father; and memorabilia. Detailed finding aids are linked under each series.

Series Identification:

Series 1: Uncollected Stories. Circa 1925-1987; n.d.
This series consists of both unpublished and published stories by Welty. The subseries of unpublished stories is presented first, then that of the published stories.

Boxes 243-284

Series 2: A Curtain of Green. 1941; n.d.
This series consists of drafts of individual stories, preliminary collection, typescript setting copy of collection, proofs, and related materials for Welty's first collection of short stories titled A Curtain of Green.

Boxes 2-3; 4a-4b

Series 3: The Wide Net. 1942; n.d.
This series consists of drafts of individual short stories that were published in 1943 as a collection titled The Wide Net by Eudora Welty.

Box 5

Series 4: Delta Wedding. 1942; 1945
This series includes the preliminary story, “The Delta Cousins” and the typescript setting copy of the novel Delta Wedding.

Box 6

Series 5: The Golden Apples and Related Works. 1949; 1988; n.d.
This series includes the drafts of the individual stories that would compose of the short story collection The Golden Apples, preliminary pieces, typescript setting copy of collection, and related works.

Boxes 7a-7b; 8a-8b; 76; OS 1

Series 6: The Ponder Heart. 1953; n.d.
This series includes the preliminary drafts, mimeographed typescript prepared for Book-of-the Month Club, editorial notes, and galleys for The Ponder Heart.

Boxes 9-10; OS 1

Series 7: The Bride of the Innisfallen. 1950-1955; n.d.
This series includes drafts of individual stories and proofs for Eudora Welty's fourth collection of short stories, The Bride of the Innisfallen, published in 1955.

Boxes 11-13

Series 8: "Where is the Voice Coming From?" [1963].
This series includes typescript and carbon typescript setting copies and galleys. The story, "Where is the Voice Coming From?" was written in 1961 and is Eudora Welty's reaction to the murder of Medgar Evers. The murder committed in the story is a parallel to the Evers murder and is written from the point of view of the murderer himself.

Boxes 14; 114

Series 9: The Shoe Bird. 1963-1968; n.d.
This series includes preliminary drafts of the book The Shoe Bird including “Pepe the Shoe Bird,” notes, typescript setting copy of book, galleys, and related works including The Shoe Bird ballet.

Boxes 15-16; 332-333; OS 1

Series 10: "The Demonstrators." Circa 1965-1966; 1970; n.d.
This series includes carbon typescript setting copy and photocopy of Welty's story "The Demonstrators" which appeared in The New Yorker in 1966.

Box 1

Series 11: Losing Battles. 1961-1995; n.d.
This series includes incomplete drafts, complete drafts, typescript setting copy and carbons, materials from the printer including galleys, page proof, mechanicals, repros, and blues, and additional materials related to the publishing of Losing Battles, Welty's last novel, which she began in 1955 and was published on her birthday in 1970.

Boxes 23-52; OS 1; OS 14-15; 15a and 15b; OS 16-18; 53; 382-393

Series 12: The Optimist's Daughter. 1967-1972; n.d.
This series includes early drafts or working papers, carbon typescript setting copy, galleys, complete draft, typescript setting and materials from printer such as: page proofs, repros, blues, and final signatures for Random House novel and The New Yorker story. Also included are miscellaneous material related to the publication of The Optimist's Daughter, which was first published in The New Yorker in 1969, then published in a revised and expanded form in 1972, and received a Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

Boxes 17a-17b; 18a-18b; 19a-19b; 20a-20b; 21a-21b; 22; 114; OS 7a-7b

Series 13: The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty. 1980; n.d.
This series includes the preface and page proof of entire collection, The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, published in 1980.

Boxes 81; OS 22

Series 14: One Time, One Place. 1971; 1995; n.d.
This series includes material concerning One Time, One Place: Mississippi in the Depression, A Snapshot Album (New York: Random House, 1971), such as drafts and notes, dummy, galleys, mechanicals, blues, and final pages, as well as a forward by William Maxwell for the One Time, One Place: Mississippi in the Depression, A Snapshot Album (Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, 1996) edition. Restriction: all materials in boxes 54, 355, 357-360 are fragile and should be handled with extreme care.

Boxes 54-55; 354; 355-360; OS folder 2

Series 15: Fairy Tale of the Natchez Trace (1975). 1975; n.d.
This series includes a preliminary speech, draft of the essay, typescript setting copy, galleys, page proof, final pages, and description of the printing as done by Heritage Printers, Inc. of Charlotte, NC. The speech, "Fairy Tale of the Natchez Trace" was read by Welty at the annual dinner meeting of the Mississippi Historical Society in Jackson, Mississippi, on March 7, 1975.

Box 56

Series 16: The Eye of the Story. 1943-1978; n.d.
This series contains material prepared for or related to Welty’s collection of essays and reviews, The Eye of the Story, published in 1978. The first part of the series consists of originals and copies of typescripts of individual essays and reviews that were collected in the book. The next part of the series consists of material associated with The Eye of the Story. This includes drafts considered for the book, a number of which were sent to Albert Erskine of Random House by Welty. Then follows the projected front pages for The Eye of the Story; the author’s copy and the setting copy of the book; and materials from the printer. The series includes galleys, proofs, mechanicals, repros, and blues.

Boxes 57-70; 320-329; OS 15; OS 22

Series 17: One Writer's Beginnings (1984). 1982-1986; n.d.
This series includes typescript copies of the lectures for the William E. Massey Sr. Lectures in the History of American Civilization, Harvard University, as well as drafts for the book One Writer's Beginnings published in 1984, typescript setting copies of book, page proofs, correspondence with Harvard University Press, and materials regarding the production of the limited edition of the book.

Boxes 216-242

Series 18: Reviews. 1943-1994; n.d.
This series includes drafts of reviews created by Eudora Welty, notes for reviews, as well as manuscript material and page proofs for A Writer’s Eye: Collected Book Reviews, edited and introduced by Pearl Amelia McHaney, (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1994).

Boxes 71-75; 82

Series 19: Speeches. 1962-1991; n.d.
This series includes notes, drafts, and speeches given by Eudora Welty. Typescripts of six of Eudora Welty’s speeches are listed elsewhere: 1) an untitled speech that would be published as a Fairy Tale of the Natchez Trace (Series 15); 2) an untitled speech that would be published as "Jane Austen"; 3) "An Interior Affair," a speech that would be published as "Must the Novelist Crusade?"; and 4) three lectures that would be published under the title One Writer’s Beginnings (Series 17).

Boxes 79-80

Series 20: Essays and Short Non-Fiction. Circa 1930s-1992.
This series consists of essays by Eudora Welty and other short works of non-fiction, including introductions and prefaces, afterwords, and blurbs written for other authors' works. It should be noted that other versions of several of the works listed below may be found in different series in this collection, including Series 16: The Eye of the Story and Series 24: Essays in Publications. The researcher interested in Welty's essays should also consult Series 19: Speeches, since some of Welty's remarks written for specific occasions or on specific topics were later published in essay form.

Boxes 83; 335-337

Series 21: Drama. Circa 1935; 1948-1949; 1956; 1985; n.d.
This series includes plays and skits or sketches created by Eudora Welty in conjunction with Hildegarde Dolson and John Robinson. The dramatizations include “The Waiting Room,” “What Year Is This?” (Dolson), “Bye Bye Brevoort” for The Littlest Revue, “The Robber Bridegroom” (Robinson), and an untitled play concerning the Loch Ness monster.

Boxes 84-85; 330-331

Series 22: Fiction in Publications. 1936-1988; n.d.
This series was originally entitled “Periodical Publications - Welty’s Copies.” It includes short fiction appearing in other publications and periodicals and contains photocopies of Welty’s stories and complete publications kept by Welty.

Boxes 101; 367-372

Series 23: Reviews in Publications. 1942-1984; n.d.
This series contains originals and photocopies of reviews by Welty that were printed in various publications (particularly The New York Times Book Review, referred to in the list as NYTBR). The researcher interested in Welty’s reviews should be aware that two other series, Series 16: The Eye of the Story, and Series 18: Reviews, contain drafts and other versions of reviews by Welty, and should be consulted as well, as should the correspondence of Eudora Welty to John Robinson (Series 29a), in which she discussed and included original news clippings of some of her reviews. Additionally, there are photocopies of three “Michael Ravenna” reviews possibly written by Nash Burger rather than Welty.

Boxes 103; 319

Series 24: Essays in Publications. 1933-1990; n.d.
This series consists of essays and short pieces of non-fiction by Welty in publications and includes both original articles and photocopies. In using this series, the researcher should be aware that there is other related material in Series 16: The Eye of the Story contains versions of essays used; Series 19: Speeches contains Welty’s speeches, some of which were later published as essays; and Series 20: Essays and Short Non-Fiction contains drafts and notes for Welty’s essays.

Box 102; 334; 366

Series 25: Miscellaneous. 1932; 1944; 1961; 1975.
This series includes materials written or edited by Eudora Welty for the Lamar Life Radio News and Mississippi Women’s War Bond News Letter, a press release calling for books for Mississippi hospitals and institutions, and a TCG reprint with excepts from a speech given by Welty at the Governor’s Conference on the Arts in Jackson, Mississippi.

Box 104

Series 26: Photographs. Circa 1930s; 1935-1936; n.d.
This series includes images of people, landscapes, and scenes from negatives created by Eudora Welty, and in a few cases, by others. Most of the photographs are of Mississippi, but they also include Welty's travel to other U.S. states, and out-of-country such as to Mexico and Europe. They document her increasing awareness of people and places apart from her own social class and personal experience, the development of her eye for composition, and her growth as a visual artist. The first book of her photographs, One Time, One Place, was published in 1971. These images can be viewed online via the Eudora Welty Digital Archives. Photographic negatives that may have been created by other photographers have been separated into an "Internal Only" group accessible in the William F. Winter Archives and History Building.

Boxes 86-91

Series 27: Welty Prints. 1936; 1941; 1953; 1955; 1963.
This series consists of photographic prints and exhibition-quality enlargements of negatives created by Eudora Welty. From March 31 to April 15, 1936, Eudora Welty's one-woman show sponsored by Lugene, Inc., Opticians, was held at the Photographics Galleries at 600 Madison Avenue in New York City. The twenty-nine photographic enlargements of Mississippi subjects in this exhibit were printed in the 1930s from their respective original negatives in Series 26: Photographs. Some of these prints bear the handwritten titles and notes of Welty and others on both sides, as well as Welty's penciled enhancements of the printed images. Additionally, this series include prints mounted and prepared for unspecified exhibitions or for submission to publishers, as well as other prints, some of which were used in 1953 by Joseph Krush, illustrator of The Ponder Heart and in 1955 by Ben Edwards, set designer of the Broadway play based upon The Ponder Heart. Some of these prints can be viewed online via the Eudora Welty Digital Archives.

Boxes 78; 92-93; 465-467; OS 27; OS 28

Series 28: Welty Family Photographs. Circa 1900s-1920s.
This series includes images of people, landscapes, and activities from negatives created primarily by Eudora Welty and members of her family, and in a few cases by others. Most images were taken in Mississippi; additionally, Welty and her family documented their travels. These photographs provide a documentary history of Welty's background and family life. The books One Writer's Beginnings and Eudora, both published in 1984, feature many images from this series. These images can be viewed online via the Eudora Welty Digital Archives.

Boxes 94a-94b; 95a-95c

Series 29: Correspondence.

Subseries 29a: Correspondence by Eudora Welty. 1918-1994; n.d.
This subseries includes letters written by Eudora Welty to childhood and college friends, editors, journalists, and influential writers of the twentieth century. The bulk of the correspondence was written to five individuals: Mary Lou Aswell, who was a fiction editor at Harper's Bazaar when she and Welty met; Frank Lyell, a lifelong Welty friend from Jackson, Mississippi; Kenneth Millar, an established mystery writer who wrote under the pen name of Ross Macdonald; John F. Robinson, Welty's friend from high school with whom she was romantically involved; and Diarmuid Russell, Welty's agent and close friend. Scans of the correspondence is available to view online via Eudora Welty Digital Archives. Scans of items that may be protected by copyright and privacy laws were separated into a "Series 29a...Internal Only" group and are limited to access inside the William F. Winter Archives and History Building.
Boxes 120-150
Subseries 29b: Select Correspondence. 1921-2001; n.d.
This subseries includes letters written by more than eight hundred individuals. Among these individuals are members of Eudora Welty’s family, Jackson friends, college friends, writers, photographers, editors, publishers, scholars working with her fiction or arranging for her visits to their campuses, journalists, filmmakers, playwrights, theatrical producers, elected officials, and individuals who fall into two or more of these categories. These letters are likely to be of value to students of Welty’s life and work and to those studying the life and work of writers who were her friends. Scans of some items that may be protected by copyright and privacy laws are available to view online via Eudora Welty Digital Archives in the “Series 29b…Internal Only” group and are limited to access inside the William F. Winter Archives and History Building. (Series 29b letters in this series are usually part of regular, substantive, or numerous exchanges with Welty).
Boxes 151-215; 376; 378; OS folder 1
Subseries 29c: General Correspondence. 1932-2002; n.d.
This subseries consists of the general incoming correspondence of Eudora Welty. The letters are penned for occasional greetings, or for specific queries or purposes. Indeed, a considerable part of this General Correspondence could be classified as "fan mail." There are letters of admiration from members of the public, strangers to her. Inspired by her work, her appearances on television, or news articles about her, these letters request autographs, book signings, photographs, or even meetings with Welty herself, and sometimes take the form of birthday or Christmas cards. A number of such letters or cards are from high school and college students, sometimes sent as part of a class exercise, expressing admiration after reading one of Welty’s works for a class assignment, or asking questions of Welty for a paper or project.
Nevertheless, the General Correspondence should be seen as a complement to the Select Correspondence, furthering the information available on Welty’s family, her life in Jackson, and her professional career. Some letters contain information on Welty’s own family. There is correspondence from genealogists investigating the various branches of the Welty family, some of them being Welty family members themselves. Other letters are from people who directly knew members of Welty’s family, such as her brother Edward. A number of letters in the General Correspondence come from residents of Jackson who knew Welty and her family: neighbors; friends of mutual friends, and people who worked for Welty and her family in her home or garden. Further glimpses of Welty’s life in Jackson may be obtained from letters of representatives of Jackson organizations in which Welty took an active interest herself, such as New Stage Theatre or Millsaps College. Indeed, the General Correspondence contains numerous letters regarding Welty’s support of both local and national philanthropic, civic, and arts organizations, including some requests from prominent national or local celebrities such as Patricia Kennedy Lawford, José Ferrer, or Thalia Mara.
The General Correspondence may also be of use for documentation of Welty’s professional career and activities. There are numerous letters from publishers and editors. Some concern works of Welty in publication; some are requests for literary contributions, such as essays, short stories, or introductions by her; and others are invitations for her to read or review works of other writers. Similarly, the General Correspondence contains many letters from presidents and professors of universities and colleges transmitting requests and arrangements for Welty to read or lecture at their institutions, and some from friends or acquaintances she made on such trips. Letters in the General Correspondence also trace the honors received by Welty: the degrees awarded by educational institutions; the monetary grants received from foundations or endowments; literary prizes like the PEN/Malamud Award; and marks of international acclaim such as the French Légion d’Honneur. There are occasional letters in the General Correspondence that directly relate to those contained in the Select Correspondence. These include both letters sent by acquaintances of Welty’s long-standing friends such as Rosie Russell or Charlotte Capers, and requests received from students or scholars seeking Welty’s help in their research on Welty’s friends, such as Elizabeth Bowen.
Of particular interest for the researcher are the notes by Welty herself that sprinkle envelopes and letters of the General Correspondence as they did in the Select Correspondence. Sometimes these notations take the form of a simple direction to self or secretary to “reply,” or an extraneous list or a macaroon recipe, but they may also consist of comments by Welty on her own work, or the draft of a substantive response.
Boxes 285-318; 377; 379-381
Subseries 29d: Associated Correspondence and Papers. Circa 1930-1996; n.d.
This series consists of correspondence and other papers created or received by correspondents of Welty. These include “select” correspondents such as Mary Louise Aswell, Albert R. Erskine, Jr., Frank Lyell, Ken Millar, John Robinson, and Diarmuid Russell. While the letters are directed to correspondents other than Welty, a number of them concern her, her works, and her business affairs. The latter is particularly true of Diarmuid Russell’s correspondence in this series: it acts as a complement to Russell’s business correspondence with Welty in Series 43: Business Records. There are numerous news articles and clippings: Mary Louise Aswell's correspondence contains clippings on Welty, sometimes sent her by other friends of Welty, while Albert Erskine’s papers in this series come from his office file at Random House on Eudora Welty, and therefore include numerous clippings relating to Losing Battles and The Optimist’s Daughter, novels which Erskine edited.
Boxes 437-443

Series 30: Book Reviews. 1941; 1943; 1946; 1949; 1954-1955; 1970-1973; 1978.
This series includes reviews by others of Welty’s works including A Curtain of Green, The Wide Net, Delta Wedding, The Golden Apples, The Ponder Heart, The Bride of the Innisfallen, Losing Battles, The Optimist’s Daughter, The Eye of the Story, and One Time, One Place.

Box 106

Series 31: Bibliographies. 1954; 1978.
This series includes two bibliographies based on Eudora Welty’s works.

Box 107

Series 32: Criticism of Welty's Fiction. 1970; 1973-1974; 1978-1979; n.d.
This series includes both published and unpublished essays critiquing Eudora Welty’s works.

Box 107

Series 33: Works on Welty. 1942-1999; n.d.
This series includes theses, book manuscripts, and papers created by others about Eudora Welty and her works. Also included are issues of the Eudora Welty Newsletter.

Boxes 108; 476-481

Series 34: Dramatizations of Welty's Fiction. 1949-2016; n.d.
This series includes stage plays, teleplays, and movie scripts of Welty’s work written or adapted by others. Associated materials such as correspondence originally sent with the scripts and related materials to productions of dramatizations are also included, as well as the materials associated with the productions of Welty’s own play “Bye-Bye Brevoort” and university productions. Notable productions also include the Broadway productions of The Ponder Heart and The Robber Bridegroom.

Boxes 109; 483-488

Series 35: Works By Others. 1930; 1942-2002; n.d.
This series consists of works that were not written by Eudora Welty, but were either sent to her or collected by her. They include works by admirers, by people inspired by Welty, and by people who wanted Welty's help in getting their work published. The series also contains works sent to Welty for criticism or promotion by publishing houses; works sent her by literary colleagues like Bernard Malamud; and ones sent by such close friends as Lehman Engel and Diarmuid Russell. In addition, Welty collected and kept essays, reviews, and other articles by or about her friends, literary colleagues, and writers she admired such as Kenneth Millar, Reynolds Price, V.S. Pritchett, and Seamus Heaney. Welty also retained works on gardening by her mother, Chestina Welty. The materials present in this series include typescript or printed versions of short stories, essays, plays, or novels; handmade small volumes; slides of artworks; copies of photographs; original sketches; and family trees. Restrictions: Duplication by photocopying or scanning is restricted. Any reproduction of items in this series is prohibited.

Boxes 110; 338-351; 374-375

Series 36: Memorabilia. 1879-2001; n.d.
This series consists of items collected or saved by Eudora Welty pertaining to events, travel, and matters of interest to Welty, her family, and friends. The contents of this series include printed materials and ephemera, select printed materials, invitations, programs, and photographs.

Series 37: Twenty Photographs.1980; n.d.
This series consists of drafts and published materials relating to Eudora Welty's book, Twenty Photographs (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Palaemon Press, 1980).

Boxes 77; OS 31

Series 38 - Photographs.1989; n.d.
This series consists of drafts, proofs, and materials relating to Welty’s book, Photographs (Jackson and London: University Press of Mississippi, 1989).

Boxes 352-354

Series 39: The Norton Book of Friendship.1991; n.d.
This series contains papers related to the creation of The Norton Book of Friendship by Eudora Welty and Ronald A. Sharp (New York, London: W. W. Norton & Co., 1991) including drafts, manuscripts, publication materials, and galleys.

Boxes 361-364

Series 40: Poetry. Circa 1924-1989; n.d.
This series consists of poetry composed by Welty, sometimes in collaboration with friends, and also includes published versions. A number of the poems are of a humorous or satirical nature.

Box 365

Series 41: Awards, Honors, and Tributes. 1951-2001; n.d.
This series documents honors and tributes bestowed on Eudora Welty. It includes diplomas and certificates of her honorary degrees, local, national, and international awards and honors, and memorabilia of these events. This series also contains documents relating to occasions held in her honor and special events that she attended. Since being invited to speak or teach may also be considered an honor, memorabilia of conferences at which Welty spoke or read, and lectures or classes which she gave, are included as well.

Boxes 394-407

Series 42: Works of Art, Prints, and Posters. Circa 1935-1996; n.d.
This series consists of works of art, prints, and posters either collected by or given to Eudora Welty. For the convenience of the researcher, they have been divided into two subseries. "General Works" includes original works of friends and of established artists, as well as posters and reproductions she collected on a variety of subjects. In the second subseries, "Works associated with Welty," one will find photographs, prints, and posters depicting Welty herself; portraying her literary work; and relating to her professional activities. Restrictions: Some work is fragile and may be accessed by permission of curator only.

Boxes 408-425

Series 43: Business Records. 1917-2003; n.d.
This series includes the business records of Eudora Welty consisting of legal and financial records, as well as correspondence and professional papers documenting her career. They include correspondence with literary agents, publishers, dramatists, and directors concerning the publication and production of her works; letters exchanged with tax attorneys and accountants regarding her deductions and donations; accounts of her income and expenses; statements of royalties for her literary works; legal contracts and financial records regarding their publication or production; papers and publicity materials relating to her literary career; records of her travels for professional or personal purposes; financial records concerning the care of her home, garden, and her personal interests; and legal and financial records concerning the real estate and insurance holdings of her family. This wide variety of papers makes this series an important complement to the other letters from Welty’s literary agents and publishers in Series 29, and the various series that are devoted to her manuscripts.

Boxes 426-435

Series 44: Interviews with Eudora Welty. 1942-1999; n.d.
This series consists of published and unpublished interviews, or sections thereof, with Eudora Welty. Topics discussed include different genres of music such as hymns, shape-note singing, and "old-time" songs; Welty's photographs and awards; her short stories and novels; Welty's relationship with William Maxwell (her fiction editor at the New Yorker; aspects of her writing process; and other topics. Two interviews (1973 and 1981) with Welty conducted by her long-time friend and former director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Charlotte Capers, pertain to Welty’s home on Pinehurst Street in Jackson, Mississippi.

Many items are drafts, or photocopies of drafts, and include some edits in Welty’s hand. Several were published as fully transcribed interviews while others contain transcribed sections of an interview embedded in descriptive or biographical prose. Some appear in academic publications while others were authored by journalists. In some instances the interviews are not complete. One sender, Welty scholar Noel Polk, proposed a book project around the many interviews, articles, and reviews he had assembled over time; that collection is housed in Box 446 and contains the oldest items in this series.

Boxes 444-446

Series 45: Welty Family Papers. 1883-1981; n.d.
This series consists of correspondence and papers of the Welty family, including extended family. Eight subseries include the correspondence of Welty’s parents Christian Webb Welty and Chestina Andrews Welty, correspondence of Eudora Welty with various family members, correspondence of Welty’s brothers Edward Jefferson Welty and Walter Andrews Welty and their families, Chestina’s gardening notes, as well as genealogical materials on the Andrews, Carden, Raboteau, and Welty families. Also included are some business materials related to Christian Welty’s time at the Lamar Life Insurance Company, early written works of Eudora Welty, some photographic prints and negatives related to the garden at 1119 Pinehurst Street, Jackson, and materials for “The Wells” and One Writer’s Beginnings, and the famous White Fruitcake recipe. See also Series 1: Uncollected Stories and Series 17: One Writer’s Beginnings for related material. An item list of this series is provided in this Welty Family Papers Box and Folder List.

Boxes 447-464; 471-475; 482