Call Number:

C0205

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 2 boxes
• 1.2 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Selected Papers of Wright Morris, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1930-1958 (inclusive)

Creator:

Morris, Mary Ellen and Morris, Wright, 1910-1998

Form:

Letters., Manuscripts (for publication), Photographs., and Watercolors.

Abstract:

Consists of selected papers of award-winning American novelist and photographer Wright Morris, including many letters written to his friend and fellow Western writer Robert J. Horton.

Raised in Nebraska, Wright Morris was a successful novelist and photographer. Two of his novels won the National Book Award: The Field of Vision (1956) and Plains Song: For Female Voices (1980). He also published several books that juxtaposed photographs with fictional text, which he dubbed "photo-text." Morris died in 1998.

Raised in Nebraska, Wright Morris was a successful novelist and photographer. Two of his novels won the National Book Award: The Field of Vision (1956) and Plains Song: For Female Voices (1980). He also published several books that juxtaposed photographs with fictional text, which he dubbed "photo-text." Morris died in 1998.

The collection contains nineteen photographs and over 140 letters, cards, and telegrams by Morris, as well as the original typed manuscript of My Uncle Dudley, with holograph corrections and pencilled printer's marks. The letters, all addressed to Robert J. Horton, are friendly and personal, often revealing the author's sharp humor. Most of the photographs (of sites in Nebraska, Virginia, and elsewhere) have been inscribed and signed by Morris; four are large, mounted on board. Also included in the collection are two watercolors (one, titled "Alley Crossing," is signed), a folder of letters by Mary Ellen Morris, the author's wife, to the Hortons, and a folder of newspaper clippings pertaining to the literary career of Morris.