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Harrison Kinney Archive for
James Thurber: His Life and Times
A Guide and Inventory
Spec.rare.cms.108




INTRODUCTION

Harrison Kinney began writing Thurber's biography, James Thurber: His Lfe and Times , in 1962. Kinney read Thurber throughout his childhood and chose Thurber as the subject of his 1949 graduate dissertation at Columbia. Such a topic was considered inappropriate because Thurber was a humorist and, more so, still living. Without the distance of years necessary to certify academic worthiness, Kinney was nevertheless permitted to write the dissertation. During this time, Kinney corresponded with Thurber and eventually met him at the New Yorker offices in 1948. Thurber approved of the dissertation, and one year later, Kinney began working at the New Yorker. The biography was begun in 1962, one year after Thurber's death. E.B. White, a lifelong friend of Thurber's, predicted that such a biography would take 125 years to write. It was completed in 1995 when it was published by Henry Holt and Company. .


Overview of the Collection:

Repository: Rare Books and Manuscripts Library
Identification: spec.rare.cms.108
Creator: Harrison Kinney
Title: Harrison Kinney Archive for James Thurber: His Life and Times
Dates:1948-1995
Quantity:100 linear feet
Description: The Harrison Kinney Archive consists of correspondence, manuscripts, clippings, photocopies, and notes. The materials deal exclusively with Kinney's biography of James Thurber, James Thurber: His Life and Times . Additional information available in the provenance file.


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Box 1

Folders 1-5
  1. Early Kinney MS, 1963-1969
  2. Early drafts, 1970s and 1980s (1 of 4)
  3. Early drafts, l970s and 1980s (2 of 4)
  4. Early drafts, l970s and 1980s (3 of 4)
  5. Early drafts, 1970s and 1980s (4 of 4)
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Box 2

Folders 6-11
  1. MS edited by Patricia Strachen
  2. MS edited by Patricia Strachen
  3. MS edited by Patricia Strachen
  4. MS edited by Patricia Strachen
  5. MS edited by Patricia Strachen
  6. MS edited by Patricia Strachen
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Box 3

Folders 12-16
  1. Partial MS edits from Nora Sayre, H. Kinney, Sandra Blanton and Sara Lippenatt
  2. Partial MS edits from Nora Sayre, H. Kinney, Sandra Blanton and Sara Lippenatt
  3. Part II of MS edited by Patricia Strachen
  4. Part II of MS edited by Patricia Strachen
  5. Part II of MS edited by Patricia Strachen
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Box 4

Folders 17-22
  1. Archives "Thurber Material on Hand" Folders with MS and notes
  2. Holt Correspondence: Kinney/Publisher
  3. Holt Production of James Thurber: His Life and Times
  4. MS edited by Patricia Strachen - Part 1
  5. MS edited by Patricia Strachen - Part 1
  6. MS edited by Patricia Strachen - Part 1
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Box 5

Folders 23-55
  1. "The Life and Times of James Thurber" MS Introduction
  2. Chronology MS
  3. Introduction MS
  4. Preface MS
  5. Ch.2 MS
  6. Ch.3MS
  7. Ch.4 MS
  8. Ch.5 MS
  9. Ch.6 MS
  10. Ch.7 MS
  11. Ch.8 MS
  12. Ch.9 MS
  13. Ch.10 MS
  14. Ch.11 MS
  15. Ch. 12 MS
  16. Ch.13 MS
  17. Ch.14 MS
  18. Ch.15 MS
  19. Ch.16 MS
  20. Ch.17 MS
  21. Ch.18 MS
  22. Ch.19 MS
  23. Ch.20 MS
  24. Ch.21 MS
  25. Ch.22 MS
  26. Ch.23 MS
  27. Ch.24 MS
  28. Ch.25 MS
  29. Ch.26 MS
  30. Ch.27 MS
  31. Ch.28 MS
  32. Ch.29 MS
  33. Ch.30 MS
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Box 6

Folders 56-81
  1. Ch.31 MS
  2. Ch.32 MS
  3. Ch.33 MS
  4. Ch.34 MS
  5. Ch.35 MS
  6. Ch.36 MS
  7. Ch.37 MS
  8. Ch.38 MS
  9. Ch.39 MS
  10. Ch.40 MS
  11. Ch.41 MS
  12. Ch.42 MS
  13. Ch.43 MS
  14. Ch.44 MS
  15. Ch.45 MS
  16. Ch.46 MS
  17. Ch.47 MS
  18. Ch.48 MS
  19. Ch.49 MS
  20. Ch.50 MS
  21. Ch.51 MS
  22. Ch.52 MS
  23. Ch.53 MS
  24. Ch.54 MS
  25. Ch.55 MS
  26. Ch.56 MS
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Box 7

Folders 82-96
  1. Ch.57
  2. Ch.58
  3. Ch.59
  4. Ch.60
  5. Ch.61
  6. Ch.62
  7. Ch.63
  8. Ch.64
  9. Ch.65
  10. Ch.66
  11. Ch.67
  12. Ch.68
  13. Ch.69
  14. Ch.70
  15. Biographical Update
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Box 8

Folders 97-102
  1. Drawings
  2. Photos and Photo negatives
  3. Photos and negatives accrued for "JT: His Life and Times"
  4. Various photos, Drawings and Correspondence
  5. Miscellaneous Manuscript Sheets
  6. "James Thurber: The Case for the Daydreamer" (Kinney's dissertation)
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Box 9

Folders 103-111
  1. Newsweek correspondence
  2. New Yorker correspondence
  3. Branscomb Interviews
  4. Pat Stone commentary
  5. James Thurber, Correspondence 1958
  6. Thurber Obituaries
  7. Tim Costello, Pub and Steakhouse
  8. Where are they now obituaries
  9. Algonquin Hotel
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Box 10

Folders 112-179
  1. Blair, Carson correspondence (original) Thurber classmate
  2. Butler, Florence (original) Thurber's domestic cook
  3. Cain, James M. (original) Novelist / New Yorker editor
  4. Caniff, Milton (original)
  5. Connell, Mrs. Richard (original) Thurber's friend
  6. Cooke, Alistair (original)
  7. Cooke, Charles (original)
  8. Cornell Library (originals) (Joel White)
  9. Damon, V.G., M.D. (original) Thurber classmate
  10. Davis, Linda (original) Katherine White's biographer
  11. Deitch, Joseph (original) to Cremin
  12. De Vries, Jan (original)
  13. Dolenski, Leo M. (original) Bryn Mawr college library
  14. Elledge, Scott (original)
  15. Fredman, Stan (original)
  16. Gill, Brendan (original)
  17. Gude, J. (original) Thurber agent and friend
  18. Hahn, Emily (original)
  19. Harreman, Margaret Case (original)
  20. Honeycutt, Ann (original)
  21. Hynes, Sam (original)
  22. Ingersoll, Ralph (original)
  23. Johnson Ebba (original) New Yorker librarian
  24. Karpen Donia (original) New Yorker
  25. Keefe Fred (original) New Yorker staff
  26. Keillor, Garrison (original)
  27. Kramer, Dale (original) author at New Yorker
  28. Leghner, Alice (original)
  29. Liebling, A.J. (original)
  30. Luplow, Sally (original) Minette Fritts's daughter
  31. Kinney / OSU correspondence
  32. Maclean, Kenneth (original) Thurber neighbor
  33. Sister Magdalen, Mary (original)
  34. McDowell, Charles (original)
  35. McNulty, Faith (original)
  36. Miller, Dorothy (original)
  37. Muir, Frank (original) edited Thurber Anthology
  38. New Yorker staff (originals)
  39. Nugent, Elliott (original)
  40. Orr, Kip (original) New Yorker editor
  41. OSU / Kinney correspondence
  42. O'Hara, John (original)
  43. Oulahan, Dick (original)
  44. Packard, Eleanor (original)
  45. Phillips, Arlene
  46. Randall, Tony (original)
  47. Reid, Elliott (original) actor
  48. Riegel, O.W. (original) Paris, 1920's
  49. Sayre, Nora (original)
  50. Schwed, Peter (original) Simon & Schuster
  51. Shenker, Israel (original)
  52. Simont, Marc (original) 13 Clocks: illustrator
  53. Sneed, Wilford (original)
  54. Stafford, Jean (original)
  55. Sullivan, Frank (original)
  56. Thurber related correspondence
  57. Thurber, Helen (original)
  58. Thurber, Robert
  59. Thurber, Rosemary
  60. Van Dolen, Mark (original)
  61. Walker, Stanley (original)
  62. Warfield, Frances (original) New Yorker contrib. 1930s
  63. Waugh, Alec (original)
  64. Weekes, Hobert (original)
  65. West, Rebecca (original)
  66. Wharton, Don (original)
  67. White, E.B. (original)
  68. White, Katherine (original)
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Box 11

Folders 180-184
  1. Jay Hoster and Helen Thurber correspondence
  2. OSU and Thurber
  3. History of Columbus
  4. Samuel Bernard Baker - Ohio
  5. Holmes, Charles - Bells of Columbus
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Box 12

Folders 184b-198
  1. (b) Acosta, Elizabeth (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  2. Angell, Roger (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  3. Blair, Carson (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research) [xeroxes]
  4. Cooke, Alistair (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  5. Cooke, Charles (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  6. Cowley, Malcolm (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  7. De Vries, Peter (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  8. Fritts, Minette (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  9. Gardiner, Ted (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  10. Gibbs, Wolcott (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  11. Gill, Brendan (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  12. Gude, John (Jap) (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  13. Hahn, Emily (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  14. Honeycutt, Ann (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  15. Ingersoll, Ralph (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
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Box 13

Folders 199-208
  1. Kramer, Ross and New Yorker (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  2. McKelway, St.Clair (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  3. McNulty, John (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  4. Miller, Dorothy and Herman (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  5. Miller, John Duncan (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  6. Nugent, Elliott (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  7. O'Hara, John (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  8. Pollard, James (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  9. Prout, Eva (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
  10. Thurber's Publishers (misc. manuscripts - Kinney research)
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Box 14

Folders 209-223
  1. Ross/Thurber correspondence (xeroxes from Yale)
  2. Sayre, Joel
  3. Shawn, William
  4. Smallsreed, George
  5. Sullivan, Frank
  6. Terry, Daise (New Yorker office manager until 1962)
  7. Thurber, Charles
  8. Thurber, Helen
  9. Thurber, Mame
  10. Thurber, Robert
  11. Thurber to his Columbus family
  12. Thurber to William Thurber
  13. Thurber/Hawley, Truax (xeroxes from Yale Library)
  14. Van Doren, Mark, Dorothy
  15. Walker, Stanley
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Box 15

Folders 224-229
  1. Bermuda/Thurber/Reynold St. Jane William Bermudian
  2. Thurber to E.B. White
  3. White, E.B. to Thurber
  4. White, Katherine
  5. Wilson, Edmund
  6. Wolfe, Tom
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Box 16

Folders 230-232
  1. Kinney Notes 1894-1935
  2. Kinney Notes 1936-1942
  3. Kinney Notes 1943-1949
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Box 17

Folders 237-251
  1. Thurber MS: The Wings of Henry James (copy)
  2. Thurber MS: The Crazy Wagon (copy)
  3. Thurber MS: Nightingale (copy) 1924
  4. Credos & Curios Columbus Dispatch
  5. Columbus Dispatch Reporter (Thurber)
  6. NY Evening Post (Thurber)
  7. Thurber's Divorce 1935
  8. Thurber: The Last Flower 1939
  9. Thurber: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty 1939
  10. Thurber: Fables for Our Time, The Male Animal, and newsclippings 1940 PM (Thurber column 1940-41)
  11. Thurber: Carnival & The White Deer 1945
  12. Thurber: The Beast in Me and Other Animals
  13. Thurber: The 13 Clocks and correspondence (T.S. Elliot) 1950
  14. Walter Mitty film
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Box 19

Folders 252-266
  1. Post death activity
  2. 1962
  3. 1963
  4. 1965
  5. 1966
  6. 1969
  7. 1970
  8. 1972 Thurber Country
  9. 1973
  10. 1975
  11. 1981 Selected Thurber Letters
  12. Thurber House
  13. Helen Thurber (aftermath)
  14. Bernstein book
  15. Bernstein typescript
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Box 20

Folders 267-271
  1. Bermudian Magazine
  2. Thurber album 1950 - 52
  3. Thurber Country 1953
  4. Years with Harold Ross 1957 - 59
  5. A Thurber Carnival 1959 - 1961
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Box 21

Folders 272-274
  1. James Thurber: His Life and Times part 1 - uncorrected proof
  2. James Thurber: His Life and Times part 1 - uncorrected proof - copy 2
  3. James Thurber: His Life and Times part 2 - uncorrected proof
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Box 22

Folders 275-279
  1. James Thurber: His Life and Times part 2 - uncorrected proof - copy 2
  2. The Thurber Letters - advanced uncorrected reader's proof
  3. Thurber Biography Edited #1 part 1
  4. Thurber Biography Edited #1 part 2
  5. Thurber Biography Edited #1 part 3
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Box 23

Folders 280-284
  1. Thurber Biography Edited #2 part 1
  2. Thurber Biography Edited #2 part 2
  3. Thurber Biography Edited #2 part 3
  4. Thurber Biography Edited #3 part 1
  5. Thurber Biography Edited #3 part 2
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Box 24

Folders 285-286
  1. Publishing Agreement for "The Thurber Letters"
  2. Publishing Agreement for "The Thurber Letters" - with handwritten notes
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Page last revised: November 23, 2009

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