A Guide to Alex Haley Manuscripts: "Dark Secret's Last Race" 1961, 1963 and n.d.
A Collection in
The Special Collections Department
Accession number 11204
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Funding: Web version of the finding aid funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Special Collections Department
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions
Use Restrictions
There are no restrictions
Preferred Citation
Alex Haley Manuscripts: "Dark Secret's Last Race", Accession #11204, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.
Acquisition Information
The collection was purchased by the Library from the Heritage Book Shop Inc., Los Angeles, California, on September 20, 1995, and bears no restrictions.
Scope and Content Information
Alex Haley (Alexander Murray Palmer Haley), African-American author and journalist (August 11, 1921--February 10, 1992), author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976). This accession consists of nineteen items, 1961 & 1963 and n.d., chiefly typescript manuscripts and research notes for "Dark Secret's Last Race: A Drama In Real Life." It profiles champion thoroughbred racehorse Dark Secret and his final victory at the 1934 Jockey Club Gold Cup race despite a broken leg. Also present is research material concerning his trainer James Edward "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons (b. 1874).
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by subject
Bibliography
An account of Dark Secret's career and a photograph of the race is available in William H. P. Robertson, The History of Thoroughbred Racing In America (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964), 304-305, Rare Books, Scott SF335.U5R6 1964.
Contents List
paragraph drafts: "It was a leaden, grisly day,
Saturday...,"
w/corrections
sentence fragments: "Dark Secret was...,"
w/notations
incomplete page drafts, w/corrections and annotations (some stapled to first page)
thirty-seven numbered paragraphs/sentences, w/corrections and annotations
forty-three numbered miscellaneous paragraphs/sentences, w/corrections and annotations, correction of paragraph 37 on reverse of page 1
w/title page, author's address, and a correction on page 8
w/title page, author's address, and a correction on page 8
w/title page, author's address, and a correction on page 8
w/title page, author's address, a correction on page 8 and pencilled lines
w/title page, author's address, annotations and corrections
Synopses of Dark Secret's career, last race and injuries, w/corrections and annotations (some stapled to pages)
re "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons, w/two enclosures
"Sunny Jim, Near 89, Is Big Winner Again at Hialeah