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Edmund Wilson Collection
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
A graduate of Princeton (Class of 1916), where he befriended F. Scott Fitzgerald, Edmund Wilson became an important American literary critic, essayist, and journalist. Many consider Wilson the preeminent American literary critic of his day and, perhaps, of the twentieth century.
The collection consists of a collection of various letters and manuscripts by or about Wilson, spanning the years 1917 to 1971, from just after his graduation from Princeton to a letter written in 1971 to Charles Scribner about F. Scott Fitzgerald. Included are letters to Charles Hathaway, Allen Tate, Gilbert and Janet Troxell, Frank Jewett Mather, Willard Thorp, Julian Boyd, Isaac Thomas, his daughter, Rosalind Baker Wilson, and the only extant letter (1936) to his first wife, Mary Blair Wilson. Manuscripts of Wilson include a poem, "A Rose Found in a Greek Dictionary," a typescript and galleys of an article, "Thoughts on Being Bibliographed," a short reminiscence (circa 1934) on "Talcottville," New York, corrected proofs of a review of Andre Malraux's first volume of his The Psychology of Art, entitled "Museum Without Walls," and several pages of autograph additions for Wilson's book The Bit Between My Teeth, A Literary Chronicle of 1950-1965 (1965). Also present are an article about Wilson by Christian Gauss, a checklist of Wilson's works by Arthur Mizener, a photograph, and tearsheets from the New Yorker magazine.
Organized in order of acquisition.
Gift of Charles Hathaway. 2 Letters to Miss Hudson, "Thoughts on Being Bibliographed", etc. were transferred from Coleman Archives. Letters from Wilson were purchased and partially gifted from Rosalind Baker Wilson in 1997. Letters from Wilson to the Morrises were purchased from Barbara Morris in 2000. 4 Notes and 1 signature from Wilson and Letter from Margaret Nicholson purchased from David Holmes in 2005.
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed in 2001. Finding aid written in 2001.
No appraisal information is available.
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2001
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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