Call Number:

C0569

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 10 boxes
• 3.6 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

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

Date:

1935-1985 (inclusive)

Creator:

Bryan, J., III (Joseph), 1904-1993

Form:

Biographies., Correspondence., Manuscripts., and Typescripts

Abstract:

Joseph Bryan was an author and editor who worked with many prominent magazines and published several novels in the first half of the twentieth century. This collection contains letters to Bryan from his friends H. Allen Smith (about 160 letters, 1954-1976), Frank Sullivan (about 100 letters, 1938-1975), and Finis Farr (about 500 letters, 1935-1981). It also contains page proofs from Merry Gentlemen and a typescript of "Man of Letters: Finis Farr, 1904-1982."

Joseph Bryan was born April 30, 1904 in Virginia. He was part of the Princeton University class of 1927, where he cultivated an interest in the journalism industry. During his writing career, he worked for the Chicago Journal, Time, Fortune, and The New Yorker. He also served as managing editor for Town and Country and associate editor at the Saturday Evening Post. He served in the United States army from 1942 until the end of World War II, following which he wrote several popular novels. He married Elizabeth McIntosh in 1930 and had two children with her. He died April 3, 1993.

The collection contains letters to Bryan and the corrected typescript and page proofs of Merry Gentlemen (And One Lady) (1985) by Bryan (Princeton Class of 1927), which contains biographical portraits of such humorists as Robert Benchley, Nunnally Johnson, S. J. Perelman, Dorothy Parker, and other writers who were connected with the Algonquin Round Table and The New Yorker. The letters to Bryan are from three of his fellow humorists and friends, H. Allen Smith (about 160 letters, 1954-1976), Frank Sullivan (about 100 letters, 1938-1975), and Finis Farr, Princeton Class of 1926 (about 500 letters, 1935-1981). Also included is a typescript, with holograph corrections, of "Man of Letters: Finis Farr, 1904-1982," with an inscription to Bryan's friend Glen Perry.

The following standard abbreviations, or their variations, are used to identify materials in this collection: ACS = autograph card signed, ALsS = autograph letters signed, TLS = typewritten letter signed, TMs = typewritten manuscript.

The letters are arranged chronologically.