Carson McCullers was born in Columbus, Georgia, as Lula Carson Smith on February 19, 1917, the first born of Lamar and Marguerite Waters Smith. Though she moved from the South in 1934 and only returned for visits, most of her writing was inspired by her southern heritage. Her mother felt she had given birth to a genius from the time Carson was very young and always remained her staunchest supporter and strongest ally. When nine years of age, Lula began studying piano and practiced six to eight hours daily, planning a career as a concert pianist. In 1930 she began using the name Carson and studying piano with Mary Tucker. Carson graduated from Columbus High School in 1933, and after her piano teacher moved away in the spring of 1934, Carson moved to New York City to study at the Juilliard School of Music.
Shortly after her arrival she lost most of the money her parents had given her, and to support herself worked at various jobs and attended night classes in creative writing at Columbia and New York University. She focused on short stories at first, portraying adolescent anguish and unrequited love. Carson returned to Columbus in mid 1935 where she met Reeves McCullers, a soldier, whom she married in 1937. They were divorced in 1941 but remarried in 1945. Shortly after she left him in 1953 he committed suicide.
Carson experienced success early with the publication of
After receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1942 and a $1000 grant from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1943, McCullers was able to work on her next novel,
Carson's next project,
In addition to her five novels and two plays, McCullers wrote twenty
short stories, over two dozen articles and essays, and some poetry and verse.
She received numerous awards for her work throughout the years including the
Prize of the Younger Generation in 1965, and the Henry Bellamann Award in 1966
in recognition of her
The 48 boxes of manuscripts and correspondence which make up the bulk of the Carson McCullers Collection, 1924-1976, principally reflect her literary life and career. The material is organized into four series: I. Works, 1940-1971 (23 boxes), II. Letters, 1944-1967 (1 box), III. Recipient 1939-1967 (5 boxes), and IV. Miscellaneous, 1924-1976 (19 boxes). Within each series the material is arranged alphabetically by title or author. This collection was previously accessible only through a card catalog, but has been re-cataloged as part of a retrospective conversion project.
The Works Series consists of holograph drafts, typescripts, galley proofs, page proofs, printed pages, notes, and fragments of poems, articles, essays, memoirs, plays, stories, and novels, some unpublished. Included are many untitled articles, essays, poems, and stories. The Center has extensive manuscript holdings for McCullers' novels,
The Letters Series includes 260 letters written by McCullers to her family, including her husband Reeves, her sister, Margarita, and her mother; to literary friends such as Dawn Langley Gordon Simmons; publisher Houghton Mifflin and Company; literary agent Ann Watkins, Inc.; and her attorneys Fitelson and Mayers.
The Recipient Series contains approximately 1000 letters to McCullers including letters from fans such as Morton Ruge who wrote of the profound effect her work had on his life, and from a high school teacher, B.E. Edelstein, who mailed letters from his students to McCullers describing their reactions to her novels; from literary and artistic friends Newton Arvin, Marielle Bancou, David Diamond, Janet Flanner, Howard Mandel, Dawn Langley Simmons, and Tennessee Williams, among others; from editors André Bay and John Lackey Brown; movie director Fred Zinnemann; her biographer Oliver Evans; her physician and close friend, Mary Mercer; from literary agents Ann Watkins, Inc., Robert Lantz, Liebling-Wood, and Pearn, Pollinger, & Higham Ltd.; publishers Houghton Mifflin and Company and Mondadori Publishing Company, Inc.; attorneys Fitelson and Mayers; organizations such as the Ford Foundation and the National Institute of Arts and Letters; and her family. Additional correspondents can be identified using the Index of Correspondents located at the end of this finding aid.
The Miscellaneous Series contains various adaptations of McCullers' works including
Also included here are manuscripts of articles, books, theses, and dissertations about McCullers by authors such as Hans de Vaal, Oliver Wendell Evans, Lawrence J. McCarthy, Simeon Mozart Smith, and Margaret Sue Sullivan. Especially notable is an article
Works by other authors, among them Elizabeth Bowen, Katherine Garrison Chapin, David Diamond, A. E. Hotchner, Victor Sawdon Pritchett, Vinnie Williams, Vurrell Yentzen, and R. L. York, are also present in this series. Diamond's musical compositions include McCullers'
This series also contains extensive third-party correspondence, much of it pertaining to McCullers and written to her sister, Margarita G. Smith, with the majority from McCullers' attorneys, Fitelson and Mayers, her publisher, Houghton Mifflin and Company, and her agent Robert Lantz. Personal items relating to McCullers are contained here such as several address books, a family Bible, various financial records such as bank records and royalty statements, materials concerning her funeral, and her will. Other items relate to her sister, Margarita G. Smith, and to her mother, Marguerite Waters Smith.
Elsewhere in the Center are forty Vertical File folders which contain playbills, reviews of McCullers' work, and newspaper articles about her life, writings, awards, and death. The Photography Collection contains over 1000 photographs of McCullers, her family, friends, and screen personalities involved in the film versions of her works. In the Personal Effects Collection are numerous articles of clothing, among other things.
Purchases and gifts, 1967-1993 (R3856, 4289, 4591, 4498, 4957, 6041, 6604, 6605, 13058, G9650)
Open for research
Sally M. Nichols, 1998
Index entries followed by the notation (from McCullers) indicate people to whom McCullers wrote. Box and folder numbers followed by a number in parenthesis indicate the number of items by (or to) that person. No parenthetical notation indicates there is just one item. So in the example
Arvin, Newton, 1900-1963--24.2 (from McCullers), 25.4 (5) there is one item from McCullers in box 24, folder 2; and five items from Arvin in box 25, folder 4.