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 Fred Wolfe Papers (#CW5), North Carolina Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

The materials were given by Edward C. Gambrell, nephew of Fred Wolfe and executor of his estate, on 22 April 1981.

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.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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

• American literature--20th century--History and criticism.
• Asheville (N.C.)--History.
• Asheville (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Aswell, Edward C. (Edward Campbell), 1900-1958.
• Authors, American--20th century.
• Authors, American--North Carolina--20th century.
• Blythe, LeGette, 1900-1993.
• Estates (Law)--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Gambrell family.
• Literary agents--United States.
• Magi, Aldo P.
• Nowell, Elizabeth.
• Perkins, Maxwell E. (Maxwell Evarts), 1884-1947.
• Real property--Florida.
• Real property--North Carolina.
• Terry, John Skally, 1894-1953.
• Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association.
• Thomas Wolfe Society.
• Turnbull, Andrew, 1921-
• Volkening, Henry T.
• Walser, Richard Gaither, 1908-1988.
• Wheaton, Mabel Wolfe.
• Wolfe family.
• Wolfe, Fred.
• Wolfe, Julia Elizabeth, 1860-1945.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938--Appreciation.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938--Criticism and interpretation.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938--Estate.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938--Family.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938--Friends and associates.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938--Homes and haunts.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938--Influence.
• Wolfe, Thomas, 1900-1938.

Frederick William Wolfe was born in Asheville, N.C., on 15 July 1894, the seventh child and fourth son of Julia Elizabeth Westall and William Oliver Wolfe. He was educated in Asheville schools and was working as a salesman in Dayton, Ohio, when the United States entered World War I. He returned to Asheville and joined the Navy, serving for about a year. After his naval service, he attended the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, graduating in 1922. Fred Wolfe worked in Atlanta for Fairbanks, Morse and Company for about seven years, and then held several sales jobs in High Point, N.C., and Harrisonburg, Pa. In 1934, he joined the Blue Bird Ice Cream Company of Spartanburg, S.C., as a salesman, a position he held until the early 1960s. He married Mary Burris on 24 July 1943. In his later years, Fred Wolfe devoted himself to perpetuating the memory of his brother, Thomas Wolfe, through the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association and in speeches at colleges and universities. Fred Wolfe died on 8 April 1980 and is buried in the family plot in Riverside Cemetery, Asheville, N.C.

The Fred Wolfe Papers contain Wolfe family correspondence, correspondence with Maxwell Perkins and Edward Aswell in their roles as executors of the Thomas Wolfe Estate, personal correspondence of Fred Wolfe, manuscripts about Thomas Wolfe, legal documents including executors' reports of the estate of Thomas Wolfe, correspondence about the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association and the restoration of the Old Kentucky Home, family memorabilia, and volumes chiefly relating to the Wolfe family.

Family correspondence covers the years 1882 to 1977 and includes letters to and from Fred Wolfe, Mabel Wolfe Wheaton, Julia E. Wolfe, Frank Wolfe, W.O. Wolfe, Effie Wolfe Gambrell, and other members of the Wolfe and Gambrell families. Some of this material relates to Thomas Wolfe, but much of it concerns family matters. There is considerable correspondence between family members about the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association, which shows the part the family played in the restoration and preservation of the Old Kentucky Home.

Correspondence with Maxwell Perkins and Edward Aswell relates to the Thomas Wolfe Estate. There is also correspondence with members of the New York law firm of Ernst, Cane, and Berner, and especially with Paul Gitlin of that firm who succeeded Aswell as the executor of the Thomas Wolfe Estate. Other correspondence consists of Fred Wolfe's personal correspondence, some of which demonstrates his efforts in preserving the memory of Thomas Wolfe's life and work. There are letters to and from individuals who wrote about or knew Thomas Wolfe, especially LeGette Blythe, Aldo P. Magi, John Skally Terry, Andrew Turnbull, Henry T. Volkening, Richard Walser, and Wolfe's literary agent and first biographer Elizabeth Nowell.

In addition to the alphabetical correspondence files, there are subject files containing material relating to the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association, documents from the Thomas Wolfe Estate, other legal and financial documents, materials relating to real estate in Asheville and in Florida, correspondence about grave markers in Asheville, a few manuscripts of published and unpublished articles about Thomas Wolfe, and a few copies of Fred Wolfe's speeches about Thomas Wolfe.

There are playbills from productions related to Thomas Wolfe or his work, tourist guides for Asheville, and publicity materials about the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Association and the Old Kentucky Home. Wolfe family memorabilia, which contains only printed material, includes commencement invitations; some business cards for the Old Kentucky Home; and a small printed advertisement for the North Carolina, Julia E. Wolfe's 1904 boarding house in Saint Louis, Mo. Also included are Mabel Wolfe Wheaton's autograph album and guest book, a small account book that belonged to Julia E. Wolfe before her marriage, a small notebook of W.O. Wolfe, and several other items.