Shelby Foote Papers Inventory (#4038)

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Manuscripts Department, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary Including Abstract
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Terms
block Biographical Note
block Collection Overview
block Organization of Collection
plus Series Descriptions
block Items Separated
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
Processed by:
John Inscoe, Gina Overcash, and Roslyn Holdzkom
Date Completed:
April 1993
Encoded by:
Jackie Dean
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Descriptive Summary Including Abstract

Title
Shelby Foote Papers (#4038) 1935-1999
Creator
Foote, Shelby.
Extent
About 525 items (9.5 linear feet)
Repository
Southern Historical Collection
Abstract
Shelby Foote, novelist and historian, who was born in Greenville, Miss., in 1916; attended the University of North Carolina, 1935-1937; served in the Mississippi National Guard and then as field artillery captain in Northern Ireland, 1940-1944; and worked for the Associated Press, 1944-1945. In 1949, Tournament, his first novel, was published. Foote moved to Memphis in 1954. Chiefly correspondence and writings of Foote. Writings include drafts of the three-volume The Civil War: A Narrative (1958-1974) and of his published novels (Tournament, Follow Me Down, Love in a Dry Season, Shiloh!, Jordan County, and September September), and drafts and published versions of short stories and other writings. Correspondence consists primarily of letters from Foote to his friend, novelist Walker Percy (1916- ), and a few letters from others.
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Administrative Information

Access
No restrictions.
Usage Restrictions
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Provenance
Received from Shelby Foote of Memphis, Tenn., in October 1978, April and September 1983, May 1989, and May 1992. Newspaper clippings were received from Ray Lewis Wright in September 1985. Photocopies of letters relating to Foote's honorary doctorate from UNC-CH, other photocopies, and photographs were received from George F. Sheldon of Chapel Hill in 1992-2000.
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Online Catalog Terms

Foote, Shelby.
Novelists, American--20th century.
Percy, Walker, 1916- .
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Literature and the war.
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Biographical Note

1916 Born to Shelby Dade and Lillian Rosenstock Foote of Greenville, Miss., 17 November.
1935-1937 Attended University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
1940-1944 Served first in Mississippi National Guard and then as field artillery captain in Northern Ireland.
1944-1945 Employed for several months by Associated Press in New York.
1945 Served in United States Marine Corps.
1945-1947 Employed by radio station WJPR, Greenville.
1949 First novel, Tournament, published.
1950 Follow Me Down published.
1951 Love in a Dry Season published.
1952 Shiloh! published.
1954 Jordan County: A Landscape in Narrative published.
1955-1960 Awarded three Guggenheim Fellowships.
1958 The Civil War: A Narrative: Fort Sumter to Perryville (Volume I) published.
1963 The Civil War: A Narrative: Fredericksburg to Meridian (Volume II) published.
1963 Guest lecturer, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.
1963-1964 Ford Foundation fellow and playwright-in-residence, Arena Stage, Washington, D.C.
1968 Writer-in-residence, Hollins College, Roanoke, Va.
1974 The Civil War: A Narrative: Red River to Appomattox (Volume III) published.
1978 September September published.
1989 Conversations with Shelby Foote published.

For further biographical information, see Shelby Foote by Helen White and Redding S. Sugg, Jr., (1982).

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Collection Overview

Correspondence consists largely of letters that Shelby Foote wrote to his friend Walker Percy. There are also a few letters to Foote from other writers, most notably Calder Willingham. Foote has not routinely saved letters he has received or made copies of outgoing letters.

Writings include at least one version of each of Foote's published works and of several unpublished shorter works, spanning the period from his years as a student at the University of North Carolina through 1978, when he published his latest novel, September September. Many works appear in several versions, including some with bound, handwritten versions.

There are a few miscellaneous items, including a college notebook and two photographs of Foote.

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Organization of Collection

1. Correspondence
2. Writings
2.1. The Civil War
2.2. Novels
2.3. Shorter Writings
3. Other Material
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Series Descriptions

1. Correspondence, 1948-1988.

About 340 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical by correspondent, then chronological.
Chiefly letters from Shelby Foote to Walker Percy, a close friend who was a fellow student in high school in Greenville and at the University of North Carolina. In early 1983, Percy returned many of these letters to Foote, who then presented them to the Southern Historical Collection. Foote stated that only a half to two-thirds of his letters to Percy were saved. There are no letters in these papers from Percy. Letters from Percy to Foote are in the Walker Percy Papers (#4294).
There are 315 letters from Foote to Percy, over half of which were written in the 1950s. They contain discussions of various novelists and their work; of the writing process, both in general and as applied to Foote's own work; of a common interest in classical music; and, occasionally, of the racial situation in the South. From 1960 on, Foote's letters often include his reactions to Percy's work, particularly Percy's first two novels.
Though Foote has saved little of his correspondence, a few letters from other writers are included in these papers. They are Bruce Catton: 2 letters, 1960, 1974; Bennett Cerf: 1 letter, 1966; James Jones: 4 letters, 1952, 1959; Calder Willingham - 18 letters, 1952-1978.
There are also photocopies of five letters relating to Foote's receiving an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992 and of later letters from Foote to George F. Sheldon, M.D.
   Folder 1
Catton, Bruce
   Folder 2
Cerf, Bennett
   Folder 3
Jones, James
   Folder 4
Percy, Walker: 1948-1949
   Folder 5
Percy, Walker: 1950
   Folder 6
Percy, Walker: 1951
   Folder 7
Percy, Walker: 1952
   Folder 8
Percy, Walker: 1953-1959
   Folder 9
Percy, Walker: 1960-1969
   Folder 10
Percy, Walker: 1970-1974
   Folder 11
Percy, Walker: 1975-1981
   Folder 12
Percy, Walker: 1982-1988 and undated
   Folder 13
Willingham, Calder: 1951-1952
   Folder 14
Willingham, Calder: 1962-1966
   Folder 15
Willingham, Calder: 1974-1978
   Folder 15a
Honorary doctorate, 1992
   Folder 15b
1993-1999

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2. Writings, 1935-1987.

38 items.
Drafts, proofs, and published versions of Foote's writings
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2.1 The Civil War: A Narrative, 1957-1974.
6 items.
Arrangement: chronological by publication date.
For each of the three volumes of Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative, there are two drafts. The first drafts are ribbon typescripts with autograph corrections by Foote. These are bound in groups of two or three chapters. The last half of the final bound segment of Volume III contains a scrapbook of articles, reviews, advertisements, and other clippings related to the publication of the work as a whole. The second draft of each volume is a setting copy, with notations by editors as well as by Foote. These are unbound with chapters foldered individually. Galley proofs of each of the three volumes are filed separately as two oversized volumes. There is also a cassette tape of Foote reading selections from Volume III.
   Folder 16-26
Volume 1
   Folder 27-38
Volume 2
   Folder 39-51
Volume 3
Volumes 4038/S1-2: Galley proofs
T-4038/1: Cassette audiotape
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2.2. Novels, 1939-1978.
8 items.
Arrangement: chronological by publication date.
Manuscript and typescript drafts of Foote's six published novels. Jordan County is included, even though it is comprised of several separately written short stories, versions of which also appear in Subseries 2.3. Descriptions of individual items follow.
   Folder 52-58
TOURNAMENT (published 1949).
Note: See Subseries 2.3 for drafts of "The Merchant of Bristol," a short story extracted from Tournament.
Draft 1: autograph manuscript, 651 pages plus a three-page typed synopsis and two hand-drawn maps of Jordan County and Bristol, Miss. Dated "begun February 1939, completed March 11, 1940."
Draft 2: typescript of scattered pages of Draft 1, 89 pages.
Draft 3: bound ribbon typescript, 374 pages. First full typed draft, with numerous autograph corrections and autograph diagram of the novel's format on last page. Dated April 1940.
Draft 4: bound ribbon typescript, 420 pages. Later draft with autograph corrections. Dated 1948.
Draft 5: bound carbon typescript, 423 pages. Final draft with very few corrections. Undated.
   Folder 59-60
FOLLOW ME DOWN (published 1950).
Draft 1: autograph manuscript, 343 pages. Dated February-July 1949.
Draft 2: bound ribbon typescript, 416 pages. Later draft with minor autograph corrections.
   Folder 61-61
LOVE IN A DRY SEASON (published 1951).
Draft: bound carbon typescript, 390 pages. Identified by Foote as "first draft, "with minor autograph corrections. Plot outline attached to back cover. Originally titled The Arms You Bear. Dated 1951.
   Folder 62-64
SHILOH! (published 1952).
Draft 1: autograph manuscript, 175 pages. Dated Spring-Summer 1947.
Draft 2: bound ribbon typescript of Draft 1, 205 pages. Dated 4 July 1947.
Draft 3: bound carbon typescript, 217 pages. Second draft, with autograph corrections, plus two sheets of notes inserted and a hand-drawn map of Shiloh at back. Undated.
   Folder 65-66a
JORDAN COUNTY: A LANDSCAPE IN NARRATIVE (published 1954).
Note: see Subseries 2.3 for other drafts of these stories.
Draft: ribbon and carbon typescripts of versions of five of the of the seven stories that comprise the novel--three versions of "The Sacred Mound; "two versions each of "Child by Fever," "Pillar of Fire," and "Ride Out; "and one version of "A Marriage Portion." Originally boxed together, pages, totalling 416, are numbered separately for each version. Bound, typed copy with handwritten annotations (Acc.92064).
   Folder 67-71
SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER (published 1978).
Note: A second draft of September September, the setting copy, is housed in the Mississippi Valley Historical Collection at Memphis State University.
Journal:
Two 152-page ledger volumes of autograph background material for the novel. Included are biographies of major characters, plot outlines, chapter summaries, chronologies of non-fictional events of September 1957, and maps of Memphis settings. A timetable showing when each chapter was written appears on the final page of Volume II. Volume I is dated February 1976; Volume II is dated April 1976. Filed with the journal is a letter from Foote to his agent Robert Rosen, dated 1 October 1975, in which he described his early ideas for the novel.
Draft:
Bound ribbon typescript of early version with autograph corrections, 221 pages, followed by two pages of typed notes, outlines, and an autograph calendar of September 1957 pasted in; a 21-page "working synopses," typed, with autograph notations and dates; and a five-sheet wall calendar showing daily progress attached to back cover. Dated 1 April 1976-11 May 1977.
Galley proofs: 106 sheets with minor corrections by Foote, undated.
Page proofs: 103 sheets with minor corrections by Foote, undated.
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2.3 Shorter Writings, 1935-1964.
26 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical by title.
Drafts and published versions of Foote's short stories (two of which are of novella length), articles, book reviews, a poem, and a play. Included are his earliest published works, written when he was a student at the University of North Carolina, as well as versions of stories that later appeared in the novel Jordan County.
   Folder 72
"All Right About That" (short story) and "A Tale Untitled" (short story).
Published versions appearing in Carolina Magazine, December 1936.
   Folder 73
"Bristol's Gargoyle" (short story) and Shakespeare's Sonnets (book review).
Published versions appearing in Carolina Magazine, February 1937.
   Folder 74-75
"Child by Fever" (short story).
Draft 1: bound ribbon typescript, 200 pages.
Draft 2: bound carbon typescript, marked "working copy" with autograph corrections, 137 pages.
   Folder 76-77
"Flood Burial "(short story).
Draft: ribbon typescript, 26 pages, with sections cut for publication indicated, dated April 1946.
Published version appearing in the Saturday Evening Post, 7 September 1946.
   Folder 78
"The Good Pilgrim: A Fury is Calmed" (short story).
Published version appearing in Carolina Magazine, November 1935.
   Folder 79
Initial Seven (short story collection).
Bound carbon typescript of six stories ("Flood Burial," "The Enormous Eye," "Dust," "Ride Out," "The Merchant of Bristol," and "The Almond Tree"), 274 pages. Identified by Foote as "intermediate drafts." See under titles for individual drafts of several of these stories.
   Folder 80
"Jordan County: A Three-part Landscape in the Round" (play).
Photocopy of typescript. 22 pages.
Dramatization of "A Marriage Portion," "Rain Down Home," and "The Freedom Kick," with autograph cast listing and diagram of set.
   Folder 81
"The Literature of Fury" (book review of Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom).
Published version appearing in Carolina Magazine, November 1936.
   Folder 82
"A Marriage Portion" (short story).
Published version appearing in Nugget, November 1955.
   Folder 83-85
"The Merchant of Bristol" (short story).
Draft 1: ribbon typescript, 21 pages. Originally titled "Dust."
Draft 2: ribbon typescript, 17 pages. Identified as" final draft."
Privately published version, June 1947.
   Folder 86
Review of None Shall Look Back by Caroline Gordon (book review).
Published version appearing in Carolina Magazine, May 1937.
   Folder 87-88
"The Novelist's View of History" (article).
Ribbon typescript with autograph corrections, 15 pages.
Photocopy of published version appearing in the Mississippi Quarterly, Fall 1964.
   Folder 89
"The Old Man That Sold Peanuts in New Orleans" (short story).
Published version appearing in Carolina Magazine, January 1936.
   Folder 90
"Pillar of Fire" (short story).
Bound "corrected carbon" typescript of first draft, 54 pages.
   Folder 91
"Prescription" (poem).
Published version appearing in Carolina Magazine, March 1937.
   Folder 92-93
"Ride Out "(short story).
Draft 1: bound ribbon typescript with autograph corrections, 53 pages. Originally titled "If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem. " Dated 5 August 1946.
Draft 2: ribbon typescript with autograph corrections, 204 pages. Identified by Foote as "intermediate draft."
   Folder 94
"Sad Hiatus" (short story).
Published version appearing in Carolina Magazine, December 1935.
   Folder 95
"Shakespeare's Shrew" (article).
Published version appearing in Arena Stage program for The Taming of the Shrew, March-April 1964.
   Folder 96
"This Primrose Hill" (short story).
Published version appearing in Carolina Magazine, April 1936.

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3. Other Material, 1937-1992.

130 items.
Miscellaneous items, including photographs of Shelby Foote, two sets of notes made by him, a newspaper article about him, and newspaper clippings.
OP-P-4038/1: Picture (halftone) of Shelby Foote, ca. 1978.
Printed caption with name and list of published works.
   Folder 1/P-4038
Pictures, 1951, 1992.
Picture of Shelby Foote, January 1951, with inscription by Foote on verso: "Portrait of the Artist as a Bookend"; and photograph of Shelby Foote and Dr. Don Wetherbee (roommate of Shelby Foote and Walker Percy), 1992.
   Folder 97
Class notes, 1937.
Notes made by Foote in looseleaf notebook during his final term at the University of North Carolina for English and history courses.
   Folder 98
"Gun Book," 1943.
Notes made by Sergeant Foote in small looseleaf notebook during service in the Mississippi National Guard.
   Folder 99
Mid-South, the Sunday magazine of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, 13 October 1968.
Contains "A Literary Letter from Southern Ken" by Dale E. Richardson with Foote pictured on cover.
   Folder 100-107
Newspaper clippings, chiefly reviews of Foote's books, 1949-1965.

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Items Separated

Items separated include pictures (P-4038 and OP-P-4038).