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Special Collections, University of Virginia Library
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Papers of Floyd Stovall, Accession #12707-b, Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.
The collection was presented to the University of Virginia Library on September 8, 1976, by Floyd Stovall who resides in retirement, at 1631 Bruce Avenue, Charlottesville, Virginia.
Floyd Stovall was born on a farm in Temple, Texas, on July 7, 1896. He received his education at the University of Texas, taking a B.A. in 1923, an M.A. in 1924, and a Ph.D. in 1927. As a professor of American literature Stovall held a number of scholarly positions before being appointed as Edgar Allan Poe Professor at the University of Virginia in 1955. They included teaching at the University of Texas from 1927 to 1935, at North Texas State University from 1935 to 1949, and at the University of North Carolina from 1950 to 1955. During his esteemed literary career, Stovall's associations were many. They included membership in such learned groups as Phi Beta Kappa and the Modern Language Association. His scholarly contributions to literature spanned many years. He was the author of Desire and Restraint in Shelley in 1931, American Idealism in 1943, and Reading Around the World (ca. 1950). He edited Whitman's Prose Works 1892 in 1963, the Poems of Edgar Allan Poe in 1965, and wrote Edgar Poe the Poet and The Foreground of "Leaves of Grass" in 1969 and 1974 respectively.
Other learned contributions are included or referred to within the collection. The papers here are chiefly a collection of Stovall's research material and correspondence relating to his published works, as well as those published works themselves. There is very little material in reference to his personal life or to his work as a professor of English at the University of Virginia.
The papers of Floyd Stovall collection consist of approximately seven and one half shelf feet (ca. 5,000 items) and dates approximately from 1860 to 1974. It is comprised of his personal papers, almost entirely of a literary nature, and includes literary manuscripts and page proof of Stovall's past publications concerning Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as his correspondence concerning publication of the manuscripts, reprints of literary articles contributed to various scholarly journals, and photostatic and microfilm copies of various Whitman and Poe manuscripts and published works. A relatively small quantity of personal correspondence between Stovall and friends and prospective employers is also included but generally data of a personal nature is lacking.
At the time of the collection's presentation to the
Library, most of the material was organized by subject. This
scheme has been largely adhered to. Within each subject, the
material has been arranged chronologically. Four basic
categories of subjects have emerged. They are as follows:
1. Correspondence ca. 1925-1970 regarding research
material editing, and publishing of Stovall's publications.
Included herein is whatever personal correspondence was found
in the collection.
2. Reprints ca. 1938-1971 of articles concerning
American literature by Floyd Stovall.
3. Research materials, largely photostatic copies of
manuscripts and published versions of the works of Walt
Whitman and of Edgar Allan Poe. Their original dates are ca.
1860-1890.
Also included are 3 reels of microfilm regarding
Whitman.
4. Stovall's publications:
a. AMs, TMs, galley and page proofs of Whitman's
Prose Works 1892 (1963-1964) ed.
Floyd Stovall. b. AMs, TMs, and page proofs of the
Poems of Edgar Allan Poe (1965)
ed. Floyd Stovall. c. TMs and page proofs of
Edgar Poe the Poet (1969) by
Floyd Stovall. d. TMs, galley and page proofs of
The Foreground of "Leaves of
Grass" (1974) by Floyd Stovall. e. Galley proof of
Four Makers of the American
Mind (1976) by Floyd Stovall.
The manuscripts have been assembled according to subject
so that all Whitman material for books and for articles is
together and arranged chronologically in boxes 1 through 10.
Poe material is arranged likewise in boxes 11 through 15.
Manuscripts for other articles are in box 16 and the
correspondence and miscellany fill boxes 16 through 18.