University of Texas at Austin

Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Collection of Isaac Bashevis Singer Papers, 1925-97 at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator: Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Title: Collection of Isaac Bashevis Singer Papers
Dates: 1925-1997
Extent: 12 boxes, 1 oversize box, 1 galley folder (5 linear feet)
Abstract: This collection contains the papers of Isaac Bashevis Singer received from Robert Giroux and his publishing firm, Farrar, Straus & Giroux. These include photocopy tearsheets from some of his early short stories ( "Abandoned,"  "In Old Age,"  "In the World of Chaos,"  "The Way Back," and "Remnants"); handwritten manuscripts and corrected typescripts of other short stories; Jewish Daily Forward serialization clippings ( Meshugah, Scum, and Shadows on the Hudson, and others); playscripts of Play for the Devil (based on the short story "The Unseen"), Shlemeil the First, and Teibele and Her Demon; programs, other production material, and review clippings. Other papers in the collection include correspondence; financial and legal papers; photographs; clippings and other material related to Singer's receipte of the Nobel Prize; interview transcipts, clippings, and tearsheets of works about Singer; and tearsheets of works by Arthur J. Magida and Kurt Vonnegut.
Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-04962
Language: English and Yiddish
Access: Open for research


Administrative Information


URL: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/research/fa/farrar.singer.html
Acquisition: Gifts,1994 (G9961); 1995 (G10202); 1997 (G11024); 1998 (G11289)
Processed by: Katherine Mosley, 2004
Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Organizational History


The publishing firm Farrar, Straus & Giroux was founded as Farrar, Straus & Company in New York City in 1945 by Roger W. Straus and John Farrar. Straus originally served as president and chief executive officer; Farrar was chairman. The company changed names several times over the years, eventually becoming Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 1964. Robert Giroux had joined the company in 1955, serving as editor-in-chief and vice-president. He had previously worked at Harcourt Brace & Company, and many of its important authors followed him to the new firm, helping to establish its reputation as a quality publishing house.
Isaac Bashevis Singer was one of thirteen Nobel laureates published by the firm between 1945 and 1985. Farrar, Straus & Giroux became Singer’s primary English publisher in 1960 after merging with Noonday Press, which had published Satan in Goray. The first of Singer’s books published by the company was The Spinoza of Market Street in 1961.

Scope and Contents


Because the Isaac Bashevis Singer papers received from Robert Giroux and his publishing firm, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, are similar to those found in the Ransom Center’s primary Singer archive, they are arranged in the same manner. The collection has been arranged in seven series: I. Works by Singer (1925-97), II. Correspondence (1979, 1982-94), III. Financial and Legal Papers (1984-85), IV. Photographs (1960-80), V. Personal Files (1978-87), VI. Works about Singer and His Work (1977-97), and VII. Works by Other Authors (1984).
Among Singer’s works are photocopy tearsheets from some of his earliest short stories, "Abandoned,"  "In Old Age,"  "In the World of Chaos,"  "The Way Back," and "Remnants." Also present are handwritten manuscripts and corrected typescripts of other short stories, many with additional corrections by Dvorah Menashe Telushkin and other translators. Jewish Daily Forward serialization clippings include those of Meshugah, Scum, and Shadows on the Hudson. Playscripts of Play for the Devil (based on the short story "The Unseen"), Shlemeil the First, and Teibele and Her Demon are present, along with some programs and other production material. Review clippings of many works may also be found in the works series, which is arranged alphabetically by English title.
Correspondence consists mainly of fan mail and requests for lecture appearances, although letters from translators Marie-Pierre Bay and Mirra Ginsburg, publishers, and others are also present. Financial and legal papers are limited to contracts with Centre Saidye Bronfman and the Festival International de la Culture Juive. Photographs of Robert Giroux with Singer, Rachel MacKenzie, and Singer’s son Israel Zamir date from 1960 and 1978; additionally, Polish subjects include reprints of early 20th century photographs of Singer’s brother Israel Joshua Singer, staff, and residents at a children’s home. Clippings about Singer’s receipt of the Nobel Prize are filed with other award material and a brochure for a YIVO exhibition on Singer in Personal Files. Among works about Singer and his work are clippings of various articles about Singer from 1978 until 1997; clippings of interviews; a transcript from an interview with an unidentified person, and reviews and tearsheets of works about Singer. Tearsheets of works by Arthur J. Magida and Kurt Vonnegut are housed in the final series, Works by Other Authors.

Index Terms


People

Bay, Marie-Pierre.
Friedman, Eve.
Singer, Alma Haimann Wasserman.

Organizations

Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
New Yorker.

Subjects

Authors, American.
Authors, Yiddish.
Jewish authors.
Jewish literature.
Jews, Polish.
Short stories, Jewish.
Yiddish literature.

Document Types

Photographs.

Farrar Straus & Giroux Collection of Isaac Bashevis Singer--Folder List

Oversize Materials Box 13