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Mark Harris letters to Martha Harris
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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. 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
American author Mark Harris was born November 19, 1922, in Mt. Vernon, New York.
Following military service from 1943-1944, Harris became a journalist and worked on a variety of newspapers and magazines for the remainder of the decade, including the
Daily Item (Port Chester, NY. 1944-1945), PM (New York, NY, 1945), the International News Service (St. Louis, 1945-1946), and in Chicago for the Negro Digest and Ebony (1946-1951). Harris remained active as a journalist for most of his writing career.Harris completed his first novel,
Trumpet to the World , while he was employed in St. Louis; it was published in 1946. Two years later, Harris enrolled as an undergraduate at the University of Denver and eventually went on to receive a master's degree in English (1951) from Denver, as well as a Ph.D. in American Studies (1956) from the University of Minnesota. Harris's dissertation focused on the life and work of the American literary radical Randolph Bourne.Even while he attended school, Harris continued to write fiction. He produced three additional novels, all of which were published by the time he received his Ph.D. Following the receipt of his doctorate, Harris began a long, productive career as a college educator teaching at San Francisco State College (1954-1968), Purdue University (1967-1970), California Institute of the Arts (1970-1973), the University of Southern California (1973-1975), the University of Pittsburgh (1976-1980), and Arizona State University-Tempe (1980-2001).
Harris may be best known for his fictional work,
Bang the Drum Slowly (1956), the second volume in his trilogy devoted to the fictional baseball player, Henry Wiggen. Harris adapted this novel into a screenplay for the 1973 movie of the same name. Several of Harris's novels have received critical acclaim, notably, Something about a Soldier (1957), Wake Up Stupid (1959), The Goy (1970), and Killing Everybody (1973).In addition to his work as a novelist, Mark Harris has produced a variety of works in other literary genres. His critical contributions include editing the poems of Vachel Lindsay in
Selected Poems of Vachel Lindsay (1963) and the journals of James Boswell in Heart of Boswell (1981).Harris has written biographies that include Vachel Lindsay's
City of Discontent (1952), and Saul Bellow's Saul Bellow: Drumlin Woodchuck (1980). Harris's autobiographical books include Mark the Glove Boy; or, The Last Days of Richard Nixon (1964), an account of Harris's coverage of Nixon's unsuccessful California gubernatorial campaign; Twentyone Twice: A Journal (1966), an account of Harris' experiences in Sierra Leone as a member of the Peace Corps; and finally, Best Father Ever Invented: An Authobiography of Mark Harris (1976), which chronicles his life from late adolescence up to 1973.Bannow, Steve. "Mark Harris," inDictionary of Literary Biography(Detroit: Gale Research, 1978). Volume 2 Enck, John. "Mark Harris: An Interview,"Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, 6, No. 1 (Spring-Summer 1965), pp. 15-26. Eppard, Philip B. "Mark Harris," inFirst Printings of American Authors(Detroit: Gale Research, 1977). Volume I. Lavers, Norman.Mark Harris(Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1978). Includes an extensive primary and secondary bibliography.
Martha Harris, sister of American author Mark Harris, was born in 1933 in Mt. Vernon, New York. After Martha Harris graduated from high school, she and her mother moved to Minnesota to live with her brother Mark's family. She later relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was active in the Socialist Workers Party. Martha Harris died November 17, 2020, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Mark Harris letters to Martha Harris consists of letters, printed e-mails, faxes, and photographs that were shared over a period of fifty years between author Mark Harris and his sister, Martha Harris. The correspondence contain updates on family news, advice to Martha on education, publishing and writing, reflections on Mark's career as writer and professor, and his shared diary entries through which the two siblings attempted to reconstruct childhood memories.
The Harris siblings often shared thoughts on the social and political climate occurring at the time of their correspondence, which includes comments on racism, poverty, the Gulf War of 1991 and of 2003, and Guantanamo prison. The two also shared detailed reactions to books, making frequent recommendations.
The letters are arranged chronologically by date.
- Boxes 1-2: Shelved in SPEC MSS manuscript boxes
Gift of Martha Harris, 2009, 2011.
Processed and encoded by Christopher La Casse, September 2009; updated 2011.
People
Subject
- Authors, American--20th century--Correspondence
- Publishers and publishing--United States--History--20th century
Occupation
- Publisher
- University of Delaware Library Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
- Finding Aid Date
- 2009 September 22
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/
Collection Inventory
Letters regarding Martha's 18th birthday and life decisions; advice on education; political awakening; family matters such as the arrival and naming of Martha's first-born, Jacob, and the birth of daughter Jamileh; legal matters concerning their father's will; references to Mark's teaching, baseball books, the student movement on his campus, a return to novel writing, and an autobiographical work about his "Nixon experience." Newsclipping related to Vachel Lindsay laid in with 1952 letter.
Physical Description22 items
Two photographs of Anthony, Henry, and Hester (Mark's children), letters regarding Mark's new job, the release of the new novel,
Killing Everybody , and the premier of the film, Drum . Also included: Martha's attempt at publishing children's fiction, hand-written letter from "Aunt" Ruth Finkelstein, and a copy of a review by Gail Rock. Physical Description11 items
Exchange of letters concerning political and social stances, Mark's "identity" within the academy, Martha's acceptance into the Pratt Institute Graduate School of Library and Information Science, and Mark's move to Pittsburgh.
Physical Description7 items
Correspondence that Mark sent from Arizona in which he encourages Martha to write, provides feedback to one of her stories, advice on where to submit short fiction, and how to select an agent. Also included: a list of faculty from the writing program at the University of Pittsburgh and their publications, a copy of Mark's bibliography, two photographs whose subjects are Mark, Jacob, and Hester.
Physical Description11 items
References to family matters, visiting acquaintances, a photograph, and Mark's habits as a diarist.
Physical Description9 items
Letter to Martha detailing the plot outline of Mark's manuscript, a letter exchange between Mark and the University of Delaware's Special Collections, and a clipping of an article about baseball written by Mark Harris in
The New York Times . Physical Description7 items
Series of letters through which Mark and Martha share memories of their parents, references to the Iraq War, and a clipping that is the review of Mark's book,
Speed . Physical Description5 items
References to politics, the ease of letter writing with the word processor, modern medical technology, memories from childhood, and an exchange of letters with Juliet Levin.
Physical Description8 items
Mark's memories as a boy at camp, references to a telephone interview conducted by Said concerning Mark's writing habits, clippings related to social causes, a detailed advice in response to Martha's story.
Physical Description4 items
Print-offs of e-mail exchanges concerning updates on children, Mark's writing and students, Said's interest in writing, a letter from the Harris children regarding Mark and Josephine's 50th wedding anniversary.
Physical Description21 items
Letters, print-offs of e-mail exchanges, and clippings, concerning family updates, writing progress, book recommendations, and commentary on excerpts from Mark's diaries.
Physical Description10 items
Letters and several print-offs of e-mail exchanges, concerning family updates, politics, Alger Hiss, comments about e-mail and letter writing, and retirement from the University.
Physical Description14 items
Letters and faxes concerning plans for travels and family visits, family updates, writing and publishing, an updated bibliography, and a letter to Martha signed "Jo" (Josephine Harris).
Physical Description9 items
Letters concerning racism, politics, Twain's influence on Mark's writing, book recommendations, dated excerpts from diary, and clippings about Ernest Gaines.
Physical Description8 items
Letters mention birth of grandchild, shared memories of their father, book reflections and advice on book agents, a flier announcing Mark's new book, clipping of Mark's article on Joe Dimaggio, and a letter from Martha.
Physical Description9 items
Letters discuss Ring Lardner, Jr., and Norman Mailer, the media and baseball pitcher John Rocker; and other thoughts on baseball.
Physical Description3 items
Letters and faxes concerning Mark's move to California, family visits, reflections on books, and a letter from Martha that mentions political and social issues such as Guantanamo prison and immigration.
Physical Description5 items
Letters discuss Iraq War, reflections on reading habits and society, and difficulties writing.
Physical Description5 items
Letters discuss trouble with memory and mental decline; a story written to his grandson Eli; visits to family and family news.
Physical Description6 items