Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Augustus Thomas Papers, #12000, General Manuscripts, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Purchase and gifts 1949-1979

Additional Descriptive Resources

A more complete finding aid for this collection is available at the Wilson Library.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

• Authors' spouses--United States--Biography.
• Authors, American--Social conditions.
• Autobiography--Women authors.
• Dramatists, American--Manuscripts.
• Elliott, Glory Thomas.
• Europe--Description and travel.
• Honeymoons--Europe--History--20th century.
• Lewis, Jim Gayle.
• Remington, Frederic, 1861-1909.
• Thomas, Augustus, 1857-1934.
• Thomas, Lisle.
• Thomas, Lisle.
• Thomas, Luke.
• Travelers--Europe--Diaries.
• Voyages and travels--History--20th century.

Playwright. After early years as a journalist, Thomas wrote popular plays, such as Alabama and Arizona, during the 1890s and the first fifteen years of the twentieth century. In all, he wrote or adapted more than one hundred plays. In addition, Thomas was a leader in dramatic organizations, was active in the Democratic Party, and participated in debates about political questions of his day. He was married to Lisle Colby, sister of Bainbridge Colby, United States secretary of state, 1920-1921.

Manuscript versions of 75 of Thomas's plays, only some of which were published. Also included are miscellaneous writings, speeches, eulogies, essays, letters, clippings of Thomas's cartoons, articles about his career, numerous reviews of his plays, telegrams sent to Lisle Thomas on her husband's death, a typescript copy of Lisle Thomas's A Well-known Playwright's Wife, and An Annotated Calendar of the Augustus Thomas Collection in the University of North Carolina Library, by Jim Gayle Lewis. Correspondence consists mainly of letters from Augustus Thomas to his son Luke, September 1910-June 1914, chiefly concerning daily activities and the health of family members. Also included are a sketch book, including at least two sketches by Frederic Remington; the program from a 1909 "Lambs Club" fund-raising event; and a copy of the privately published honeymoon diary of Thomas's daughter, Glory Thomas Elliott, describing her trip to England and France in 1924.