Call Number:

C0628

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 9 boxes
• 3.4 linear feet

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); John Biggs Collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald Estate Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1936-1978 (inclusive) and 1940-1949 (bulk)

Creator:

Biggs, John, Jr., 1895-1979

Form:

Contracts -- 20th century., Correspondence -- 20th century, Legal documents -- United States -- 20th century., Tax returns -- 20th century., and Wills -- North Carolina -- 20th century.

Abstract:

Consists of the correspondence and legal documents of John Biggs (Princeton Class of 1918) accumulated as executor and trustee of the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Princeton Class of 1917).

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, attended the St. Paul Academy and the Newman School of Hackensack, New Jersey, before entering Princeton University in 1913. Fitzgerald left Princeton in 1917 to enlist in the United States Army. Following his discharge from the army, Fitzgerald worked in advertising in New York City. Fitzgerald's first commercial success as an author came in 1920 with the publication of his novel, This Side of Paradise. Fitzgerald continued to publish novels and short stories throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including the novels The Great Gatsby (1925) and Tender Is the Night (1934). Due to financial difficulties, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood in the late 1930s and worked on scripts for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. Fitzgerald died in 1940. Lifelong friend, John Biggs had been Fitzgerald's roommate at Princeton.

The collection consists of the correspondence and legal documents of Biggs (Princeton Class of 1918) accumulated as executor and trustee of the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Princeton Class of 1917). Included are copies of Fitzgerald's will, publishers' contracts, royalty reports, tax returns, and papers concerning the posthumous publications of The Last Tycoon (1941), Tender Is the Night (1944), and The Crack-Up (1945). There is correspondence with Edmund Wilson, Maxwell Perkins, Harold Ober, Frances Kroll, Nancy Milford, Scottie Fitzgerald Smith (Fitzgerald's daughter), Arthur Mizener, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald, and the law offices of Barry Brannen, as well as papers concerning Zelda's hospitalization and death. Also present are an extra carbon copy of The Crack-Up, a photograph of Scott and Scottie, and miscellaneous articles and printed matter about Fitzgerald.

Series: I. Correspondence; II. Legal Papers; III. Works; IV. Photograph; V. Printed Matter; VI. Bank Statements.