Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of James Southall Wilson, Accession #12708-e, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

This collection was given to the Library on May 10, 1988, by Staige Blackford of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of ca. 555 items, 1908-1936, pertaining to James Southall Wilson's involvement in the Bread Loaf School of English in Vermont and the Southern Writers Conference, and his teaching career as a member of the University of Virginia faculty. Included is correspondence, poetry and essays, examinations and grade books for this University, printed material, and miscellaneous related papers.

There are poetry and essays by Wilson, Lawrence Lee, and Nancy Tucker Wilson. Material concerning the Bread Loaf School of English (an extension of Middlebury College) located in Bread Loaf, Vermont, includes correspondence with R. M. Gay, H. G. Owen, Arnold B. Swift, and Theordore Morrison, a brochure (1929), syllabi, lists of students, and copies of "The Crumb." Material relating to the Dictionary of American Biography includes letters from its editor, Dumas Malone, and J. Westmore Willcox, as well as biographical data on Thomas W. White, Sarah Helen Power Whitman, and Louise Collier Willcox.

"Letters to James Southall Wilson" are arranged in chronological order and cover various subjects such as the University of Virginia, editing and publishing, and work on an interpretation of [Henry] James. Correspondents include John Calvin Metcalf (July 10, 1922), William E. Dodd (April 5, 1930), Alfred A. Knopf (April 23, 1932), Elmer Irving Carruthers (November 15, 1934), Harry Hayden Clark (October 5, 1935), Harry Clemons (April 4, 1936), Jay B. Hubbell (May 11, 1936), and Herbert F. Jenkins (May 11, 1936). Also included is a carbon copy of a letter, November 15, 1932, from Wilson to Governor John Garland Pollard on behalf of State Forrester Chapin Jones. Correspondents writing about the Southern Writers Conference include J. Donald Adams, Edwin Anderson Alderman, Albert George Adam Balz, Roark Bradford, Paul Green, Archibald Henderson, DuBose Heyward, John Lloyd Newcomb, Cale Young Rice, and Stark Young. These letters are arranged alphabetically by writer and discuss positive and negative opinions of holding the conferences, planning, and suggestions.

Arrangement

Letters to James Southall Wilson are arranged chronologically; letters concerning the Southern Writers Conference are arranged alphabetically by writer.