Series 9: The Shoe Bird and Related Works.

Dates: 1963-1968; n.d.
Size: 0.68 cubic ft.

 

Note on arrangement and description: 

The items of the original collection were described by Suzanne Marrs for her work The Welty Collection: A Guide to the Eudora Welty Manuscripts and Documents at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History (Jackson and London: University Press of Mississippi, 1988), but have since received additions to the series from the Welty Estate.

The series has also been expanded to include material associated with the ballet of The Shoe Bird  that Lehman Engel scored, and for which Welty revised the libretto. The libretto and “narrator’s lines” originally placed in Series 20: Miscellaneous, are now part of this series. To these has been added a copy of the libretto sent by Lehman Engel to Welty for comment and revision, that formed part of the Estate gift.

All pieces in this series have had numbers assigned to them by the archivist. These will appear in brackets on all folders and items. The numbers appearing below in the description, however, are either those originally given the pages by Eudora Welty herself, or those assigned by Suzanne Marrs.

 

Subseries 9.1: The Shoe Bird.

Subseries 9.1.1: Preliminary Drafts of Book.

“Pépé, the Shoe-Bird.” [1963]. 82 pieces.
Typescript: the carbon typescript described below is identical to this typescript. However, the pagination varies: as well as combining pages 62 and 63, and 73 and 74, Welty has changed by hand the numbers on pages 12a through 24, and page 76. In addition, the handwritten additions and corrections by Welty sometimes vary from those appearing on the carbon below: there are different notes written for a song appearing on page 64.
Box 15, folders 1-4

"Pépé, the Shoe-Bird." 1963. 84 pieces.
Carbon typescript; pages 1-23, 25-84, 12A, cover and end pages; pages 62 & 63, 73 & 74 are single pages, page 24 is missing; Welty has dated this typescript as April 1963; though Welty has noted that this carbon is uncorrected, there are handwritten corrections and revisions in the text.
Box 15, folders 5-8

"The Shoe Bird." n.d. 93 pieces.
Carbon typescript; pages [1]-83, plus 14A, 18A, 28A, 45A, 47A, 72A, 82A; variant pages 8l, 81A, and 82 have been stapled together; handwritten name and address on page [1]; handwritten revisions.
Box 16, folders 1-5

"The Shoe Bird." 1964. 99 pieces.
Carbon typescript; pages [1]-97, title page, envelope in which typescript was stored; on envelope Welty notes that this version of the story was typed from her corrected carbon (see description of carbon typescript directly above), March 1964; Welty also notes she sent the ribbon copy to Why Not.
Box 16, folders 6-7
Box 332, folders 1-3

 

Subseries 9.1.2: Notes.

Notes. 1963. 1 piece.
Envelope: handwritten notes for The Shoe Bird appear in pencil on the back of an envelope postmarked January 30, 1963. They include exchanges of dialogue between the Goose and the Pigeon.
Box 332, folder 4

 

Subseries 9.1.3: Typescript Setting Copy of Book.

"The Shoe Bird." n.d. 88 pieces.
Typescript; pages 1-83, plus pages 18A, 28A, 45A, 69A, 82A, authorial and editorial handwritten revisions. A carbon of page 32, originally included in the typescript, is lacking.
Box 332, folders 5-8

“The Shoe Bird.” n.d. 89 pieces.
Photocopy of the typescript setting copy made by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and sent to Welty in an envelope she has labeled “Shoebird typescript xerox #2.” On this photocopy some of the authorial and editorial handwritten revisions are faint. The photocopy includes a variant of Welty’s page 32, but lacks Welty’s page 46.
Box 333, folders 1-4

 

Subseries 9.1.4: Galleys.

"The Shoe Bird." 1964. 28 pieces.
First proof; galleys 1-28; Welty’s handwritten revisions and corrections; galleys dated April 6, 1964; Welty’s handwritten note on reverse of galley 28 reads "my set| Corrected April 12, 1964.”
Box OS 1

"The Shoe Bird." 1964. 31 pieces.
Second proof and carbon typescript; galleys 1-28, pages [1]-3; galleys dated May 4, 1964; a few handwritten revisions and corrections; three carbon pages list the revisions and corrections to be made in galleys.
Box OS 1

 

Subseries 9.2: Related Works.

Subseries 9.2.1: The Shoe Bird ballet
The score of the ballet was written by Lehman Engel, who based his libretto on Welty’s work, and had her collaboration in its revision. The ballet was performed in Jackson on April 20, 1968.

See Series 29b for letters from Lehman Engel to Eudora Welty discussing the creation of the libretto and ballet. See Series 34: Dramatizations and Productions for the photographs and related materials from the 1968 Jackson Ballet Guild performance. See also Suzanne Marrs’ work, Eudora Welty: A Biography (Orlando: Harcourt, 2005), pp. 334-335, for more information on the production of the ballet. See also the following MDAH collections relating to the production: Theo Inman Costume Designs (Z/0928), for the costume sketches created by Inman for the ballet, and Lehman Engel Manuscript (Z/0929), for Engel’s score.

Engel, Lehman. Libretto for ballet of The Shoe Bird. [1967]. 20 pieces.
This carbon typescript was originally enclosed with a letter dated July 22, 1967, from Lehman Engel to Welty, discussing the libretto and asking Welty to critique it (Series 29b, box 161). This carbon appears the source of the photocopy described directly below. The carbon typescript bears handwritten corrections, in blue and green ink, probably by Engel, as well as handwritten page numbers. Several pages bear only a few lines of type, and in the photocopy below, these have been copied onto the same sheet as the pages preceding or following them.
Box 333, folder 5

Engel, Lehman. Libretto for ballet of The Shoe Bird. [1968]. 16 pieces.
Typescript, photocopy; 15 pages; substantial handwritten revisions by Welty.
Box 333, folder 6

Welty, Eudora. "NARRATOR’S LINES for THE SHOE BIRD." [1968]. 8 pieces.
Typescript; 8 pages; rewritten from Engel's version because of Welty's familiarity with the choreography (Welty was in Jackson, where the production was to be staged; Engel, the composer, was in New York City during the production's preliminary stages); handwritten revisions or corrections; a note to Lehman Engel from Welty on page 1.
Box 333, folder 7

Welty, Eudora. "NARRATOR'S LINES for THE SHOE BIRD." [1968]. 8 pieces.
Typescript, photocopy; 8 pages; most of the handwritten corrections in the version directly above had not been made when this photocopy was made; one handwritten correction on page 8.
Box 333, folder 8

Welty, Eudora. “NARRATOR’S LINES for THE SHOE BIRD.” [1968]. 8 pieces.
Typescript, photocopy; 8 pages; handwritten revisions are similar to the corrections made on the version located in folder 7.
Box 333, folder 9

Welty, Eudora. “NARRATOR’S LINES for THE SHOE BIRD.” [1968]. 8 pieces. 
Typescript, photocopy; 8 pages; handwritten revisions correspond to the corrections made on the version located in folder 8. 
Box 333, folder 10

Folder. 1968. 1 piece.
Welty, Eudora. Folder originally held the typescript photocopies of “NARRATOR’S LINES for THE SHOE BIRD” located in folders 9-10. The original folder has been moved to Box 109, folder 11. Welty’s handwritten note on the folder reads: “Narrator’s lines for ‘The Shoe Bird’ ballet. Music by Lehman Engel. Performed by Ballet Guild of Jackson, 1968.” 
Box 333, folder 11

 

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