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The papers of Texas author Norma Patterson span a writing
career of six decades and include her best selling romance novels published
in
the United States and Britain, as well as short stories published in newspapers
and magazines worldwide. Patterson's novels are present, as are published
and
unpublished short stories, correspondence, scrapbooks, and talks before a
variety of audiences. |
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The collection is organized in three series: Series I. Works,
Series II. Correspondence, and Series II. Career-Related. |
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The works in Series I. are arranged in four subseries: A.
Novels, B. Short Stories, C. Other Writings, and D. Unpublished Works. Both
handwritten notes and typescripts are present for the novels, published in
the
1930s and 1940s, some serialized in magazines. Patterson's numerous short
stories appeared in magazines and newspapers published in the United States,
and also England, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, and Sweden. She was
frequently published in
McCall's, Today's Housewife, Good Housekeeping, People's Home Journal and
Britain's
Woman's Journal. Beginning as
early as the 1910s, her stories continued to be published into the 1960s.
Patterson's other writings in Subseries C include a series of letters published
during the war for London's
Woman's Journal. Other
journalism, including editorials and essays, is also present. Unpublished works
in Subseries D include handwritten notebooks, a novel, and short stories. |
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Series II consists primarily of correspondence with agents,
editors, and publishers regarding her novels and short stories. Also present
are inquiries from motion picture companies expressing interest in film
versions of her novels. Correspondents include W. F. Bigelow, John Farrar,
Margaret Foley, Frankie McKee, Nancy Pearn, George Sessions Perry, Laurence
Pollinger, Murray Pollinger, Stanley Rinehart, Constance Smith, and Rowe
Wright. |
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The career-related material in Series III contains a small
amount of biographical material for dust jacket copy, scrapbooks of publicity
and reviews, and talks to student and women's club groups, as well as radio
interviews. |
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The papers contain brittle material that should be handled
with care. Otherwise, the collection is in good condition and is open for
research. Copies of Patterson's novels received with the papers have been
transferred to the HRC Library. |
