Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1289

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.5 linear_foot (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

John T. McIntyre draft of Ferment, 1936, Ms. Coll. 1289, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1936 (inclusive)

Creator:

McIntyre, John T. (John Thomas)

Form:

Writings (documents), Drafts (documents), and Novels

Abstract:

John Thomas McIntyre (1871-1951) was an American novelist best known for his 1936 crime novel, Steps Going Down. This collection contains the annotated and corrected draft of his 1937 novel, Ferment.

John Thomas McIntyre was an American novelist who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 26, 1871. Throughout his life, he wrote stories, plays, and novels, and according to the author-description in one of his Ashton-Kirk novels, McIntyre wrote "hard-boiled realistic [descriptions] of Philadelphia life [which often] contain[ed] elements of crime and urban corruption." He is best known for his mystery novels, in particular, his 1936 Steps Going Down. A year after the publication of Steps Going Down, he wrote Ferment, a novel about labor racketeering and strike-breaking in Philadelphia. He also wrote under the pseudonym Kerry O'Neil.

McIntyre never married and appears to have lived in Philadelphia for much, if not all, of his life. McIntyre died on May 21, 1951 at the age of 79.

This collection contains John T. McIntyre's draft of his Ferment, which was written in 1936 and published in 1937. The draft is largely typewritten, with some handwritten pages inserted between typed pages. These handwritten pages were clearly additions and the numbering of the additional pages are designated with 1/2 or occasionally even 1/4. Nearly every page is heavily annotated and corrected, probably by McIntyre. The novel includes 40 chapters. At the end of the final folder are pages numbered 67 to 75, which are radically different from pages 67 to 75 contained in order within the larger manuscript. It is unclear if this set of pages was rejected or part of a previous draft.