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Susanna Moore Papers
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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
Susanna Moore is an American novelist. Born in Pennsylvania on December 9, 1945, Susanna Moore soon moved to Hawaii with her family. At seventeen, she left Hawaii for the mainland, where she lived in New York and Los Angeles, working as a model and script reader. In 1983, she published her first novel, My Old Sweetheart , which won the PEN Hemingway Citation and the Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The Whiteness of Bones (1989) and Sleeping Beauties (1993) followed, forming a loose trilogy of coming-of-age novels set in Hawaii. After spending two years with NYPD homicide detectives, Moore dramatically departed from her earlier work with In the Cut (1995), a thriller set in New York. Later works explore nineteenth-century British India (One Last Look , 2004) and the world of women's prisons (The Big Girls , 2007), based in part on her time spent teaching in detention centers. She also teaches creative writing at Princeton University. The American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded her a Prize for Literary Achievement in 1999.
The papers consist of drafts of novels and nonfiction books, correspondence with writers and artists, teaching materials from her time spent teaching incarcerated writers and Princeton undergraduates, photographs, and audiovisual material.
Regular accruals from the author are expected.
Gift of Susanna Moore, 2010-2022 (AM 2010-143, 2012-97, 2013-26, 2013-34, 2013-106, 2014-19, 2015-91, 2016-17, 2016-49, 2016-59, 2016-69, 2016-90, 2016-103, 2017-11, 2017-65, AM 2017-80, AM 2018-43, AM 2019-19, AM 2019-59, AM 2019-67, AM 2020-2, AM 2021-29, AM 2022-019, AM 2022-123, AM 2023-068).
This collection contains digital files, which may require specific software or hardware for access. Refer to our Tips on Accessing Born-Digital Content for information on how to render these file formats.
This collection was processed by Alyssa Meyers in 2011. Finding aid written by Alyssa Meyers in 2011. Finding aid updated periodically with new accessions by Kelly Bolding in 2015-2022.
Some of the born-digital materials in this collection have been processed according to Princeton University Library's Born-Digital Processing Workflows. For more information on the workflow, please read our full Born-Digital Processing Information Note. Other born-digital materials on floppy disks and optical media are unprocessed.
No materials were separated from the collection during 2015-2022 processing.
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2011
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research with the exception of the following:
Correspondence with Joan Didion, Kiki Smith, and Arabella Stuart is restricted for their lifetimes. Correspondence with Michael Arlen, William Chillingworth, Annabel Davis-Goff, Glen Duncan, Joyce Carol Oates, and Shelley Wanger is restricted until 2031. Correspondence containing student records is restricted until 2087 in accordance with FERPA. (All restricted material is housed in Box B-001918.)
- Use Restrictions
-
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Collection Inventory
This series contains notebooks, manuscript drafts, correspondence, and clippings associated with Moore's books, as well as clippings of her articles for magazines and newspapers.
This series is arranged by type of writing into the following subseries: 1A: Books, 1B: Journalism, and 1C: Other Writings. Titles are listed alphabetically.
Physical Description26 boxes
Contains notebooks, manuscript drafts, correspondence, and clippings associated with Moore's books, as well as some computer disks.
Materials are arranged alphabetically by book.
Physical Description25 boxes
2 boxes
6 folders
1 folder
1 folder
3 folders
1 folder
1 box
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
2 folders
5 boxes
2 folders
2 folders
2 folders
1 folder
1 folder
2 folders
Paperback copy of Spanish translation of In the Cut.
Physical Description1 folder
Paperback copy of Norwegian translation of In the Cut.
Physical Description1 folder
1 disk containing pp. 1-260
Physical Description1 box
Contains notes for In the Cut, as well as quotations from various authors.
Physical Description1 folder
7 boxes
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
3 folders
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Paperback copy of book.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Previously Box 21, Folder 8.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Digital files, which were extracted from a flash drive kept in this folder, consist primarily of photographs of Susanna Moore and her friends and family (many of which are digital scans of older photographs dating back as far as the 1940s). There are also several other files related to the Life of Objects.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Previously Box 22, Folder 3.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Email printouts regarding reactions to The Life of Objects.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
2 boxes
1 folder
1 folder
2 boxes
Computer printout draft, corrected by hand.
Physical Description2 folders
1 folder
3 notebooks.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Copy of published book.
Physical Description1 folder
2 boxes
2 folders
1 folder
1 folder
Paperback copy of German translation of My Old Sweetheart.
Physical Description1 folder
5 boxes
1 folder
6 folders
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
3 folders
2 folders
3 folders
1 folder
4 computer disks
Physical Description1 box
4 boxes
Manuscript draft in spiral notebook.
Physical Description1 folder
Printout draft with hand corrections.
Physical Description2 folders
Manuscript draft.
Physical Description1 folder
Printout draft with hand corrections.
Physical Description2 folders
1 folder
Printouts heavily marked up with post-it notes.
Physical Description5 folders
Printouts heavily marked up with post-it notes.
Physical Description1 folder
Hardbound copy of book.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
3 boxes
2 folders
1 folder
1 folder
2 folders
1 folder
1 folder
2 folders
3 folders
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
5 boxes
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
3 folders
3 folders
1 folder
1 folder
Notebook containing a manuscript draft, with additional manuscript pages inserted.
Physical Description1 folder
Photocopies and clippings of articles by Susanna Moore.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description1 folder
Arranged by accession.
Consists of writings that do not appear to relate to one particular project, as well as interviews, articles, notes, and ephemera that were added to the collection after the original accession.
Physical Description2 folders
Consists of notebooks containing writings that do not appear to relate to one particular project. Notebooks pertaining to specific books can be found with other materials related to those books.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
This series consists of Susanna Moore's correspondence with friends and colleagues. Most material after 2000 is printed-out emails. An additional group of correspondence regarding The Life of Objects can also be found in Series 1. Chronological correspondence includes later correspondence with many of the same people listed under the alphabetical correspondence.
Arranged in two subseries, Subseries 2A. Alphabetical Correspondence and 2B. Chronological Correspondence.
Physical Description14 boxes
Moore's correspondence with such friends as Joan Didion and Kiki Smith. Mostly consists of printed-out emails.
Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.
Physical Description5 boxes
1 folder
DVD of The Water Diary removed to Box 18.
Physical Description1 folder
Previously Box 11, Folder 6.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
Previously Box 11, Folder 8.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Previously Box 13, Folder 3.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
Previously Box 13, Folder 6.
Physical Description1 box
6 folders
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
2 folders
1 folder
Moore's correspondence arranged by date. Includes personal and business correspondence with Candice Bergen, Peter Davis, and Eric Steel, among others. Later correspondence includes continuations of correspondence with people listed in alphabetical correspondence.
Temporarily restricted correspondence was pulled from chronological correspondence files and is stored in Box 28.
Arranged chronologically.
Physical Description10 boxes
Includes correspondence with Candice Bergen, Frank Conroy, Peter Davis, Sam Spiegel, and Peter Viertel.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence with Candice Bergen, Maude Schuyler Clay, Mary Gaitskill, Nicholas Haslam, Diana Michener, Siri Hustvedt, Victoria Tennant, and Suzanne Tenner.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence with Min Hogg, Robert Knoke, Charlotte Mosley, Kate O'Toole, and John Wray.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence with Clarissa Eden, Warren Hoge, Steve Martin, Charlotte Mosley, Kate O'Toole, Wilmott Ragsdale, Charles Ryskamp, Nan Talese, and Paul Theroux.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence with Maggie Conroy, Clarissa Eden, Matvey Levenstein, Elaine Negroponte, Wilmott Ragsdale, Sarah Stonich, and Rebecca Stott.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence with Ross Anderson, Cynthia Beatt, Clarissa Eden, and Phillip Phan.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence with Cynthia Beatt, Peter Davis, Hermine Ford, Pico Iyer, Tracey Jackson, Elizabeth King, Howard Norman, and Mary Ann Rogers.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence with Cynthia Beatt, Flora Biddle, Peter Davis, Terence Eagleton, Jeanne Halpern, Pico Iyer, and Kate O'Toole.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence with Peter Davis, Eric Steel, and Linda Yablonsky.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence with Maureen Gibbon, Caryl Phillips, Laurie Simmons, and Eric Steel.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
2 folders
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
3 folders
1 folder
1 folder
Arranged by location of teaching and type of material.
This series contains correspondence, evaluations, and student writings from Moore's stints as a professor of creative writing at Princeton University and her time spent teaching creative writing at the Brooklyn Federal Detention Center. Also includes writing by young children.
Physical Description2 boxes
Consists of correspondence and teaching evaluations
Arranged alphabetically by genre of material.
Physical Description1 box
Printed email correspondence with colleagues.
Physical Description1 folder
Printed anonymous student evaluations of Moore's classes.
Physical Description1 folder
Manuscripts and correspondence from incarcerated writers and GED students. Also includes children's writings.
Arranged by genre of material.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 folder
Writing by children
Physical Description1 folder
Collection of writing by children entitled "Our Stories"
Physical Description1 folder
2 folders
5 folders
Consists of clippings and photocopies of book reviews and profiles of Susanna Moore, awards, and copies of related publications by others.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description5 boxes
Primarily clippings and photocopies.
Physical Description3 folders
Copy of book by Moore's husband, William S. Chillingworth.
Physical Description1 folder
Published by the Halekulani Corporation. Contains a photograph of Susanna Moore.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
This series consists of photogrraphs of Susanna Moore and her family as well as photographs of Frank Conroy, Deborah Eisenberg, Michael Laughlin, Mike Nichols, Jack Nicholson, Michelle Phillips, Roman Polanski, Wallace Shawn, and Richard Sylbert. Also includes images of Moore as a model.
Arranged by subject of photograph.
Physical Description2 boxes
41 photographs of Moore. Also includes 4 images from her modeling portfolio and of artwork inspired by her.
Physical Description3 folders
4 photographs
Physical Description1 folder
Frank Conroy, Deborah Eisenberg, Michael Laughlin, Mike Nichols, Jack Nicholson, Michelle Phillips, Roman Polanski, Wallace Shawn, and Richard Sylbert. 7 photographs.
Physical Description1 folder
Advertisement for an Island Records event with photographs of Susanna, Rick, and Mike Moore.
Physical Description1 folder
This series consists of audiocassette, CD, and DVD recordings of Moore's interviews, and a VHS tape of a film in which Moore appeared.
Arranged by type of material.
Physical Description1 box
Audiocassette containing recording of Susanna Moore's appearance on WNYC.
Physical Description1 box
Recording of interview by Charlie Rose focusing on In the Cut.
Physical Description1 box
CD with recording of Moore's appearance on Studio 360.
Physical Description1 box
CD of interview by Richard Wolinsky on KFFA-FM Berkeley.
Physical Description1 box
CD containing interview aired on WPS1.
Physical Description1 box
DVD of Moore's appearance on Rutgers RU-tv network.
Physical Description1 box
CD of interview aired on Studio 360.
Physical Description1 box
DVD containing interview with Leslie Wilcox for Long Story Short on PBS Hawaii (30 minutes). 2 copies.
Physical Description1 box
VHS of movie in which Susanna Moore had a small part (credited as "Susannah Moore").
Physical Description1 box
Short film by Jane Campion.
Physical Description1 box