Collection Summary
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
McMurtry, Larry, 1936-2021
Larry McMurtry Collection
1960-1976
Manuscript Collection MS-02777
6 boxes (2.52 linear feet)
The Larry McMurtry Collection consists of
typed manuscript drafts for several of his works dating from the 1960s and 1970s,
correspondence related to those works, and contracts and royalty statements. Several of the
manuscripts were acquired directly from McMurtry, but the bulk of the collection was
acquired from McMurtry’s agent, Dorothea Oppenheimer. The materials are arranged in three
series: I. Works, 1960-circa 1975; II. Correspondence, 1960-1974; and III. Contracts and
Royalty Statements, 1960-1976. The collection was previously accessible through a card
catalog but has been recataloged as part of a retrospective conversion project.
English
Biographical Sketch
Larry Jeff McMurtry was born on June 3, 1936, in Wichita Falls, Texas. His father and
grandfather were cattle ranchers and McMurtry grew up near Archer City, Texas, traveling
between the small town and his grandparents’ ranch, and witnessing the end of an era of
cattle ranching. Drawn toward books more than the physical life of ranching, after graduating from high school in 1954 McMurtry
enrolled at Rice University in Houston, Texas. He soon transferred to North Texas State College in Denton, Texas (now the University of North
Texas) and studied literature.
McMurtry earned a B.A. degree from North Texas in 1958, and then returned to Rice for an
M.A. degree. In July of 1959, he married Jo Ballard Scott with whom he had a son, James
Lawrence McMurtry, before divorcing in 1966. After completing his master's degree in 1960,
McMurtry accepted a fellowship to study at Stanford University and published his first novel
Horseman, Pass By (1961), which won the 1962 Texas Institute of
Letters Jesse H. Jones Award.
McMurtry taught creative writing and literature courses at Texas Christian University in
Fort Worth, Texas, from 1961 to 1962 and at Rice in 1963. He published two more works,
Leaving Cheyenne (1963) and The Last Picture Show (1966), focusing on the decline of small town,
west Texas life also portrayed in his first book. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in
1964 and pursued a passion for book collecting while living in Houston in the mid-1960s,
working as a book store scout and dealer.
In 1969, McMurtry moved near Washington, D.C. and taught for a short time at George Mason
University and American University. He wrote a second trilogy of novels,
Moving On (1970), All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers
(1972), and Terms of Endearment (1975), all set in Houston and
marking a move in his work from rural to urban settings. While living near Washington,
McMurtry purchased a rare and used book store in Georgetown, which he renamed Booked Up. He
later opened branches in Archer City, Texas; Houston, Texas; and Tucson, Arizona.
McMurtry served as president of the American Center of PEN from 1989 to 1991, leading
efforts by the organization to support author Salman Rushdie after a fatwa was proclaimed
against him in February of 1989. He continued to write numerous novels, essays, and
other books, some reprising characters and stories from earlier works. Many of his books,
including the Pulitzer Prize winning
Lonesome Dove (1985), have been
made into acclaimed feature films and television movies, and McMurtry worked on film
adaptations of his own and other works, and shared an Academy Award for the screenplay of
Brokeback Mountain in 2006.
McMurtry died on March 25, 2021, in Archer City, Texas.
Sources:
“Larry McMurtry.”
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 2. Detroit:
Gale, 1978.
“Larry McMurtry.”
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 143. Detroit:
Gale, 1994.
“Larry McMurtry.”
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 256. Detroit:
Gale, 2002.
“Larry McMurtry.”
Contemporary Authors, http://galenet.galegroup.com
(accessed 28 April 2008).
Index Terms
Subjects
Texas--Fiction.
Western stories--Fiction.
Scope and Contents
The Larry McMurtry Collection consists of typed manuscript drafts for several of his works
dating from the 1960s and 1970s, correspondence related to those works, and contracts and
royalty statements. Several of the manuscripts were acquired directly from McMurtry, but the
bulk of the collection was acquired from McMurtry’s agent, Dorothea Oppenheimer. The
materials are arranged in three series: I. Works, 1960-circa 1975; II. Correspondence,
1960-1974; and III. Contracts and Royalty Statements, 1960-1976. The collection was
previously accessible through a card catalog but has been recataloged as part of a
retrospective conversion project.
Series I. Works contains typed drafts of
Horseman, Pass By (1961), The Last Picture Show (1966), Terms of Endearment (1975), and an early version of Moving On (1970) titled The Water and the Blood. Several drafts of Horseman, Pass By are present in the series, as is a six-page
excerpt from the work titled Lonnie Bannon: The City
Lights. Also present is a screenplay draft of All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers (1972); a typed draft of
the essay Cowboys, Movies, Myths, and Cadillacs: Realism in the
Western, first published in 1967 and included in McMurtry’s book of collected
works, In a Narrow Grave(1968); and a typed draft of McMurtry’s speech at
the 1962 Texas Institute of Letters awards dinner. Most of the typed manuscripts contain
handwritten changes and some include handwritten draft fragments. The series is arranged
alphabetically by title.
Series II. contains correspondence to and from McMurtry, primarily between him and his
agent, Dorothea Oppenheimer. Also present are Oppenheimer’s correspondence files related to
McMurtry’s works, containing her correspondence with third-parties. The materials are
arranged as two types: outgoing correspondence from McMurtry, and Oppenheimer’s
correspondence. McMurtry’s outgoing correspondence consists of single letters to Andreas
Brown and Franklin Gillian. Oppenheimer’s files are arranged as incoming from McMurtry,
outgoing to McMurtry, and third-party, with each group arranged chronologically.
Series III. Contracts and Royalty Statements consists of business papers related to print
and film versions of McMurtry’s early works. The bulk of the series contains employment and
memoranda agreements dating from 1960 to 1974. Also included are screenwriting and other
writing agreements from the early 1970s, and royalty statements dating from 1962 to
1976.
Acquisition:
Purchases, 1964 (R2072); 1976 (R7266)
Note: Several of the manuscripts were acquired directly from McMurtry, but the bulk of the
collection was acquired from McMurtry’s agent, Dorothea Oppenheimer.
Access:
Open for research
Processed by:
Katy Hill, 2008
Additional Larry McMurtry materials are located in several other collections at the Ransom
Center. These include the manuscript collections for Judson Crews, J. Frank Dobie,
Genesis West, Elizabeth Hardwick, Norman Mailer, and Laura Wilson.
The Vertical File Collection also includes additional McMurtry material acquired from
Dorothea Oppenheimer.
Other Larry McMurtry manuscript collections are located at Rice University in Houston,
Texas; The University of North Texas in Denton, Texas; Texas State University in San Marcos,
Texas; and The Center for American History at The University of Texas in Austin, Texas.
Container List
Series I. Works, 1960-circa 1975, undated
1.1
All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers
(1972), photocopy typed screenplay draft, undated
1.2
Cowboys, Movies, Myths, and Cadillacs: Realism in
the Western, typed draft, undated
Horseman, Pass By (1961)
1.3-5
Typed draft number one, undated
1.6-7
Typed draft number two, 1960
2.1-2
Typed draft number five, 1960
2.3
Lonnie Bannon: The City Lights, typed
draft excerpt, circa 1960
2.4
The Last Picture Show (1966), typed draft
fragment, undated
2.5-8
Terms of Endearment (1975), photocopy typed
draft, undated
2.9
Texas Institute of Letters, awards dinner speech, typed mimeo copy,
1962
3.1-3
The Water and the Blood (Moving On, 1970), typed
draft, undated
Series II. Correspondence 1960-1974, undated
McMurtry outgoing
3.4
Brown, Andreas, undated
3.5
Gillian, Franklin, undated
Oppenheimer, Dorothea
3.6-4.2
Incoming from McMurtry, 1960-1969
4.3-4.6
Outgoing to McMurtry, 1960-1974
4.7-5.8
Third-party, 1960-1974
Series III. Contracts and Royalty Statements 1960-1976
Employment and memoranda of agreements
6.1
A-Se, 1960-1974
6.2
Sh-Z, 1966-1972
6.3
Screenwriting, writer’s deal, and writer’s flat deal, 1971-1974
6.4
Royalty statements, 1962-1976
Index of Third-Party Correspondents
- Adams, Ray & Rosenberg -- 5.2
- Agence Hoffman -- 4.9
- Agenzia Letteraria Internazionale SRL -- 4.9, 5.7
- Albert Müller Verlag A.G. -- 4.9
- Albert S. Ruddy Productions -- 5.7
- Allen's Press Clipping Bureau -- 4.8
- A. M. Heath & Co. -- 4.8-9, 5.1, 5.3-8
- Armstead, Dolores -- 5.2
- Asano, Kiyoshi -- 5.4-5
- Asher, Aaron -- 4.10
- The Atlantic Monthly Press -- 4.7, 4.11, 5.1, 5.8
- Audience -- 5.6
- Avco Embassy Pictures -- 5.4
- A. W. Bruna & Zoon -- 4.9
- Aygarn, Vida -- 4.8
- Bantam Lecture Bureau -- 5.6
- Baron, Richard (Richard W.) -- 5.2
- Barron, Theodosia -- 4.9
- Bart-Palevsky -- 5.8
- Bart, Peter -- 5.8
- Bechtle Verlag -- 4.9
- Bender, Ursula -- 5.5
- Berendt, John, 1939- -- 4.7
- Bernau, Gustav -- 5.6
- Bernheim, Kurt -- 4.9, 5.4, 5.6
- Blair, Stephen L. -- 5.5-6
- Bomser & Oppenheim -- 5.7
- Book Publishers' Association of Israel -- 5.6
- Boušek, Karel -- 5.6
- Brehaut, Patricia K. -- 4.8, 4.10
- Brigden, Madeline Tracy -- 4.8
- British Broadcasting Company -- 5.6
- Broder, Robert -- 5.3
- Brough, Joanne -- 5.8
- Brown, Robert -- 5.1
- Brown, Ned -- 5.7
- Büchler, Ursula -- 5.4
- Bureau Littéraire D. Clairouin -- 5.4-6, 5.8
- Burkhalter, Betty -- 4.7
- Bursten, David I. -- 5.1
- Butler, David -- 5.7
- Buysse, Maddy -- 4.11
- Calmann-Lévy (Firm) -- 5.6
- Cannon Productions -- 5.3, 5.6
- Carroll, Joseph -- 4.7
- CBS Television Network-- 5.8
- Charles E. Tuttle Co. -- 4.9, 5.2, 5.4-5
- Cherry, Richard L. -- 5.8
- Christian Wegner Verlag -- 5.4
- Cinema Funding Company -- 5.7
- Coleman, Larry -- 5.8
- Colon, Carmen -- 5.7
- Comert, Anne-Marie -- 5.6
- Costa, Nicolás -- 5.6, 5.8
- Coulter, Elliott H. -- 5.7
- Covici, Pascal -- 4.8
- Cowley, Malcolm -- 4.10
- Darmour, Lorna -- 5.7-8
- Davison, Peter -- 4.11
- Decker, William B. "Bill" -- 4.11, 5.1-5.2
- Dell Publishing Company -- 5.2, 5.5-6
- Del Monte, Helen -- 5.4-5
- Develdère, D. -- 5.8
- Dial Press -- 4.9, 4.11, 5.1-3, 5.5-6
- Diegnon, Joseph -- 5.3
- Dilia -- 5.4, 5.6
- Diogenes Verlag -- 4.9
- Diskant, George -- 5.4, 5.6
- Distribuidora Record -- 5.6, 5.8
- Doctorow, E. L., 1931- -- 5.3
- Dolin, Arnold -- 5.5
- Drier, Eugene -- 5.5
- Earl, Sandra -- 4.8
- Editorial Bruguera S. A. -- 5.4
- Editorial Extemporáneos -- 5.6
- Editorial Noguer -- 5.6
- Ehrmann, Paul -- 4.10
- Eisenberg, Lee, 1946- -- 5.5
- Eisenheimer, Lisel -- 5.7
- Emecé Editores -- 5.5
- Esquire -- 4.7-8, 5.1, 5.3, 5.5
- Etevèy, Jeanne -- 4.9
- Európa Könyvkiadó -- 5.6
- Evergreen Review -- 5.1
- Faerstein, Vicki -- 5.6
- Feiden, Robert "Bob" -- 5.3, 5.6
- Fidlon, Elizabeth -- 5.7
- Fifth Avenue Hotel (New York, N.Y.) -- 4.11
- Filippone, H. E. -- 4.11
- Filmtree -- 5.8
- Finn, Marina -- 5.6
- Fischer, John -- 4.7
- Fletcher, Bobbi Collins -- 5.8
- Foreman, John C. -- 5.4
- Fox, J. M. -- 4.11
- Frank Cooper Associates Agency -- 4.8
- Fred A. Niles Communications Centers -- 5.2
- Friedman, Arlene -- 4.7-8, 4.10-11
- Friedman, Stephen -- 5.3
- Fritz, Paul -- 4.9
- Gherardo Casini Editore -- 4.9
- Girod, Marie-France -- 5.4
- Godwin, Tony -- 5.4
- Goldfarb, Robert -- 4.8
- Goulden, Mark -- 5.1, 5.3
- Graves, Ruth -- 5.2
- Granara, Jack -- 5.2
- Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst -- 5.2, 5.8
-
Grieg, Michael -- 4.7
- Hanna-Kirsti Koch (Firm) -- 5.4
- Hansen, Lillian -- 4.9
- Harben, Robert -- 4.9, 5.4
- Harper & Brothers -- 4.7-11
- Harper & Row, Publishers -- 4.9, 5.1-2, 5.4, 5.6-7
- Harper's Magazine -- 4.7, 5.2, 5.3
- Harrison, Alfred C. -- 5.1
- Hart, A. L., Jr. -- 5.5
- Henne, Dagmar -- 4.9
- Hills, L. Rust -- 4.7-8
- Holahan, James -- 5.8
- Holiday -- 4.8, 4.10, 5.2
- Honne, K. -- 5.4
- Houbolt, P. J. -- 5.2
- Hudspeth, Frances H. -- 4.7
- Ibach, Sabine -- 5.6
- Iniochus & Delphi, Publishers -- 5.6
- International Editors Co. -- 5.4, 5.6, 5.8
- International Management Associates -- 4.8
- Jacobson, Susan -- 5.3
- Japan UNI Literary Agency -- 5.4-8
- Jeeves, Heather -- 5.6
- Johnston, Albert "Johnny" -- 5.2
- Jonas, Sophia -- 5.1-2
- Jonathan Cape (Firm) -- 5.3
- Juniper Press -- 5.8
- K___, Dolly -- 4.7
- Kanin, Fay -- 5.6
- Kaplan, Martha -- 5.3
- Karl Rauch Verlag -- 4.9
- Karp, Beverly -- 4.8
- Katahira, Y. -- 4.9
- Kern, Gail -- 5.2
- Kesim, Nurcihan -- 5.7
- Kessie, Jack -- 4.7
- Kohler, Renate -- 5.6
- Korda, Michael V. -- 5.2-3, 5.5
- Krummel, I. A. -- 4.9
- Kurt Desch Verlag -- 4.9
- The Ladies' Home Journal -- 5.3, 5.5, 5.8
- Lahn, Ilse -- 5.6
- Lapautre, Michelle -- 5.6, 5.8
- Lasoń, Irena -- 5.4
- Law Offices of Cohn, Glickstein, Lurie & Ostrin -- 5.5
- Law Offices of Schwartzman & Greenberg -- 5.8
- Leggett, John "Jack" -- 4.7-11
- Lennart Sane Agency AB -- 5.6
- Editions Robert Laffont -- 5.3, 5.6
- Levy, Phyllis -- 5.3, 5.5, 5.8
- Lifezis, Annie R. -- 5.4, 5.6
- Lish, Gordon -- 5.3, 5.5
- Little, Suzanne -- 5.3-4
- Losito, Beatrice -- 5.1
- Lubcke, Gunda -- 5.4
- Macauley, Robie -- 5.5
- Machado, Alfredo C. -- 5.6, 5.8
- Mademoiselle -- 4.8
- Manning, Robert, 1919- -- 5.8
- McCall's -- 5.4-5, 5.7
- McCombs, Philip N. -- 4.8
- McGowan, Kenneth Wayne -- 5.2
- McKenna, Frank -- 5.1
- McMurtry, Larry -- 4.8, 4.10, 5.1-2
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer -- 5.1, 5.7
- Meyer, Catharine -- 5.2
- Michael Joseph, Ltd. -- 4.9
- Michaelson, Judy -- 5.4
- Milford, Toni -- 4.9
- Miyata, Noboru -- 5.6-7
- Mohrbooks AG -- 5.6
- Monteagudo, Isabel -- 5.6
- Mori, Tom -- 5.4
- Morris, Willie -- 5.3
- Morton, Charles W., 1899-1967 -- 4.7
- Moya, José -- 5.4
- Nakai, Sumio -- 5.8
- Nasatir, Marcía -- 5.3-5
- Ned Brown Associated Agency -- 5.7
- Neidieck Linder AG -- 4.9, 5.4
- Newman-Foreman Co. -- 5.4
- New York Times -- 5.1
- New Yorker Magazine -- 5.7
- Nurchian Kesim Literary Agency -- 5.7
- Nussbaum, Jeremy -- 5.8
- Olson, Virginia -- 5.7
- Oppenheim, Robert L. -- 5.7
- Oppenheimer, Evelyn -- 4.7
- Oringer, Jaqui -- 5.7
- Pace, Donald -- 5.1
- Pan Books -- 5.6
- Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy (Firm) -- 5.4
- Paris Review -- 4.7
- Paul Kohner Agency -- 5.6
- Payne, Tom -- 4.7
- Pelikan, Maria -- 5.3
- Pennsylvania State University -- 5.8
- Petersdorf, Rudolph -- 5.2
- Pilpel, Harriet F. -- 5.2
- Playboy -- 4.7, 5.5, 5.7
- Pollack, Merrill -- 5.2
- Praeger Publishers -- 5.5
- Pryor, David -- 5.5
- Random House (Firm) -- 4.11
- Redbook -- 4.8, 5.5
- Robert Harben Literary Agency -- 4.9, 5.4
- Rose, Max H. -- 5.5
- Rosenberg, Lee -- 5.2
- Ruddy, Albert S., 1934- -- 5.7
- Ryan, Pat -- 5.6-7
- Sachs, Charles L. "Chuck" -- 5.6
- Sale, J. Kirk -- 5.1
- Sane, Lennart -- 5.6
- Sanford, Geoffrey -- 5.2-3
- San Francisco Examiner -- 4.7
- Saturday Evening Post -- 5.1-2
- Schébéko, Marie -- 5.4-6
- Schochet, Victoria -- 5.6
- Schrader, Donna -- 5.1
- Scriptorium Associates -- 5.6
- Shapiro, Ethel -- 5.5
- Shawn, William "Bill" -- 5.7
- Shukat, Scott -- 5.6
- Siegel, Jerome "Jerry" -- 5.7
- Siegel, Rosalie -- 5.3, 5.6
- Simon & Schuster -- 5.2-5
- Sind, Cathy Wyler -- 5.4
- Slovenská Literárna Agentúra -- 5.6
- Smrikavov, Mircho G. -- 5.8
- Solomon, Diane -- 5.2
- Somlo, Eva -- 5.6
- Sorfer, L___ -- 5.6
- Sparr, Marianne -- 4.9
- Sphere Books Limited -- 5.6
- Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza "Czytelnik" -- 5.7-8
- Sports Illustrated -- 4.7, 5.6-7
- Stachovičovā, Mária -- 5.6
- Stanwood, Susan -- 5.1
- Stirling, Charlotte -- 5.6
- Stoeger, Irene M. -- 4.8
- Strauss, Helen -- 4.8, 4.10
- Street, James -- 5.1
- Swanson, H. N. -- 5.1-2
- Taketomi, Yoshio -- 5.6-7
- Texas Quarterly -- 4.7
- Thomas, Michael -- 4.8-9, 5.1, 5.3-8
- Thomas, Peter -- 5.2
- Thorpe, Neal G. -- 5.5
- Timourian, Sylvia -- 5.7
- Trevelyan, Raleigh -- 4.9
- Tutbooks, Tom -- 5.4
- Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation -- 5.7-8
- Uitgeverij A. J. Luitingh -- 5.2
- Uitgeverij Hollandia B.V. -- 4.9
- Uitgeverij H. Nelissen B.V. -- 4.9
- Universal City Studios -- 5.2
- Universal Pictures (Firm) -- 5.2
- Universitas -- 5.2, 5.6
- Vanguard Productions -- 5.1-2
- Verlag Fritz Molden -- 5.5
- Victor, Ed -- 5.3
- Viking Press -- 4.8, 4.10
- Wagner, James C. -- 5.7
- Wallace, A. M. -- 5.4
- Warner Bros.-Seven Arts -- 5.2
- Weidenfeld and Nicolson (Firm) -- 5.4, 5.7
- W. H. Allen & Co. -- 5.1, 5.3
- Wheeler, Marion E. -- 5.6
- Wilkinson, Stephan -- 4.8, 4.10
- William Aspenwall Bradley -- 4.9
- William Morris Agency -- 4.7-8, 4.10-11, 5.1, 5.6
- Wood, Jane -- 5.1
- Writers Guild of America, West -- 5.6
- Wunsch, Robert -- 5.2
- Wyeth, M. S., Jr. -- 5.1, 5.4, 5.7
- Yáñez, J. F. -- 5.2, 5.6
- Yano, Kozaburo -- 5.4-8
- Yoshimizu, Yuri -- 5.4
- Zarvanos, Demetrius -- 5.6
- Ziegler, Evarts "Zig" -- 4.10, 5.2
- Ziegler-Ross Agency -- 4.10, 5.2
- Ziegler Ross Tennant, Inc. -- 5.3-6