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University of Texas at Austin

Carolyn Osborn:

An Inventory of Her Papers at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator: Osborn, Carolyn, 1934-
Title: Carolyn Osborn Papers
Dates: 1956-2012
Extent: 20 document boxes (8.40 linear feet)
Abstract: The Carolyn Osborn papers were created between the years 1956 and 2012 and comprise manuscripts, correspondence, proofs, photographs, clippings and printed material documenting the career of the American short story writer, novelist and teacher Carolyn Osborn.
Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-03119
Language: English
Access: Open for research. Some materials restricted due to fragile condition; photocopies are available. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials.
Use Policies: Ransom Center collections may contain material with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in the collections 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 Ransom Center and The University of Texas at Austin assume no responsibility.
Restrictions on Use: Authorization for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the owner of the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Ransom Center's Open Access and Use Policies.


Administrative Information


Preferred Citation: Carolyn Osborn Papers (Manuscript Collection MS-03119). Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin.
Acquisition: Gifts (12-08-002-G, 12-08-012-G), 1992, 2012
Processed by: Bob Taylor, 2022
Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Biographical Sketch


Carolyn Osborn was born to William Culbert and Katherine Truett Culbert on July 11, 1934, in Nashville, Tennessee; brother Billy was born two years later. The Culbert family's life was profoundly disrupted by the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and America's entry into World War II. William Culbert, an Annapolis graduate with three years' naval service in the 1920s, accepted an army commission in 1942 and was ordered to California. Katherine quickly followed with their children, only to return to Tennessee by 1943.
Soon after returning to Tennessee, Katherine was admitted to a psychiatric facility, with Carolyn and Billy being sent to stay with relatives in Tennessee and in Pennsylvania. By the end of the war, William had divorced Katherine and married Mabel Winters, to whom he had been introduced while serving in his new assignment at Camp Hood near Gatesville, Texas. In mid-1946 he returned to Tennessee with Mabel to pick up the children and begin a new life in Gatesville.
Carolyn and Billy found rural Gatesville, with its ranching-based economy and arid summers a very different world from the green and mild Tennessee they had known previously. Nevertheless, they soon embraced this very "western" place where frontier times were only a few decades in the past. Carolyn entered the eighth grade in September 1947 and progressed academically and socially, serving three years as cheerleader, along with a year in the high school band.
After graduation from Gatesville High School in May 1951 Carolyn decided to pursue a bachelor's degree in journalism at the University of Texas (UT). Carolyn had been an active reader since her grammar school days, and her work on the high school newspaper along with a stint as a stringer for the Gatesville Messenger suggested journalism as an attractive educational match.
After graduating from UT in 1955 Carolyn married Joe Osborn, a law student soon to be commissioned an army lieutenant. Periods of news writing for an Augusta, Georgia newspaper and for an El Paso radio station followed during Joe's military service in the period September 1955 to August 1957. This hands-on experience helped to convince Carolyn that she was more interested in people's interior life than in their public activities, leading the couple to return to Austin in the fall of 1957, Joe to complete his law degree, Carolyn to enter UT to work on an MA degree in English literature.
Carolyn's first efforts at writing short stories were in the English 325 creative writing class. This interest in the short story led to her 1959 master's thesis "Eunice B., and other stories", a collection of six pieces. The birth of three children in the early 1960s along with a teaching assistantship in the years 1960-1962 perhaps reduced time available for writing, but even so her first published short story, "The Land Man", appeared in Go Magazine in September 1962. By the late '60s Osborn was placing stories regularly as well as serving as an instructor (1968-1978) in the UT English Department.
When the Ransom Center received the original gift of literary papers from Osborn in 1992, with an addition in 2012, there were manuscripts, correspondence and other material documenting the 61 published short stories represented, comprising nearly half of the entire collection. Her position as a significant figure in American short fiction was recognized by the O. Henry prize for "The Grands" in 1990, as well as the Distinguished Prose Award (2003) of The Antioch Review, and the Texas Institute of Letters' Lon Tinkle Award (2008).
In the period after 2005, Osborn's writing increasingly centered on nonfiction essays, many concerned with family history. At the same time, she was able to bring her two novels, Uncertain Ground and Contrary People, into their final forms for publication.
Collections
  • A Horse of Another Color (Urbana, Ill. : University of Illinois Press, 1977)
  • The Fields of Memory (Bryan, Tex. : Shearer Publishing, 1984)
  • Warriors and Maidens (Fort Worth : Texas Christian University Press, 1991)
  • Where We Are Now (San Antonio : Wings Press, 2015)
  • Durations : A Memoir and Personal Essays (San Antonio : Wings Press, 2017)
Novels
  • Uncertain Ground (San Antonio : Wings Press, 2010)
  • Contrary People (San Antonio : Wings Press, 2012)

Sources:


In addition to material in the Papers, the following sources were used:
"Carolyn Osborn" [printout vita and bibliography, 2012]
"Osborn, Carolyn" in Contemporary Authors, vol. 93-96

Scope and Contents


The Carolyn Osborn papers were created between 1956 and 2012 and include manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, proofs, printed materials, and clippings belonging to the American short story writer, novelist, and teacher Carolyn Osborn. These papers are in an arrangement created by the Ransom Center. The papers are organized into two series: Series I. Works, 1960-2012 and Personal Material, 1956-2011. The Works Series embraces the majority of the papers and is subdivided into five subseries: A. Short Story Drafts, 1960-2009; B. Essays, 2000-2011; C. Novel Drafts, 1969-2012; D. Short Story Collections, 1975-2000; and E. Plays, 1967-1976. Series II. Personal Material, 1956-2011 comprises minor pieces by and about Osborn, photographs, and an extensive literary correspondence.
Short Story Drafts (8 boxes) includes all published stories, 1960-2009, arranged by title. For each title there are Osborn's folders of "records" and of "drafts." The records folders typically contain a sheet indicating date of each submission of the manuscript to (in most cases) a literary periodical, noting date sent, and date returned or accepted for publication. For most of the journals some correspondence—running from a proforma printed "decline" card to significant notes commenting on the submission in some detail—is present. This finding aid indexes all such correspondence containing individualized responses. Many of the conventional printed form responses will be present for nearly all titles and are not indexed as correspondence.
The typical draft folder contains an early handwritten draft story along with two or three later typed or printout drafts, often with additional handwritten revisions. The individual drafts generally lack indication of date of creation. In addition to the drafts present in each draft folder there are not infrequently found late drafts in the "records" folders. Researchers should check both folders for each title to insure not overlooking draft texts.
Essays (1 box) comprises five nonfiction essays, three of which ("My Father's Guns", "Sheep May Safely Graze", and "Under Guard") appeared in Durations: a Memoir and Personal Essays and two others (Perseverance and The War Victim) which were published elsewhere.
Novel Drafts (6.5 boxes) consists of Osborn's two novels, Uncertain Ground and Contrary People. Both were products of revision and reconsideration over an extended period of time before their publication in 2010 and 2012 respectively. The correspondence relating to this activity is found not only in the indicated folders for each title but also in Osborn's early correspondence with agent Maurice Crain located in the Personal Material series.
Short Story Collections (2 boxes) includes the publication files for The Fields of Memory, A Horse of Another Color, and Warriors and Maidens. For The Fields of Memory, two typescript drafts, one marked for the printer, together with galleys and correspondence are present. A Horse of Another Color is represented by correspondence relating both to the original short story collection as well as to the projected film version, along with reviews, submission sheet, and film treatment. Present also in this file is a typescript essay in photocopy titled "The Luckenbach Syndrome" and seemingly written by Don Graham. The Warriors and Maidens file contains page proofs, correspondence, and reviews.
Plays (1 box) contains the two plays written by Carolyn Osborn. She wrote Confetti in the Bathtub as a one-act play in 1967 and later expanded it into a two-act work performed in Austin in 1971. A 1976 draft includes a vocal score by Osborn and Toni Clem; multiple drafts, along with photographs and reviews, are also present. The Somebodies, a Puppet Play, produced in 1971 for children is represented here by correspondence and a submission record.
Some drafts are on paper that has become brittle and too fragile to handle. In such cases, originals are restricted from use and replaced with photocopies. Additionally, documents containing Osborn's social security number are restricted due to privacy concerns and have been replaced with redacted photocopies.
Significant files found in Series II. Personal Material (1.5 boxes) are the short stories Carolyn Osborn wrote for the English 325 course in the 1957/58 school year and the folders of literary correspondence. The correspondence covers the period from her earliest professional writing through the date the papers were received by the Ransom Center and in part relates to specific works by Osborn. Files of The Antioch Review, Lawrence Clayton, Maurice Crain Inc., and the Texas Institute of Letters are among the correspondence found here.

Separated Material


The following materials were transferred for specialized housing and description:
Unpublished, non-commercial audio recordings were transferred to the Center's Sound Recordings Collection.
Unpublished, non-commercial film recordings were transferred to the Center's Moving Image Collection.

Index Terms


People

Alter, Judy, 1938- .
Banks, Carolyn.
Core, George.
Corey, Stephen, 1948- .
Crain, Maurice, 1901-1970.
Curley, Daniel.
Fogarty, Robert S.
Hoggard, James.
Hood, Mary.
Peabody, Richard, 1951- .
Terry, Marshall, 1931-2016.
Whaley, Charlotte, 1925- .

Organizations

Shearer Publishing.
Texas Christian University. Press.
Texas Institute of Letters.
Wings Press (San Antonio, Tex.)

Subjects

Authors, American--20th century.
Texas--Intellectual life--20th century.

Document Types

Correspondence.
Drafts (documents).
Manuscripts (documents).
Typescripts.

Container List