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Humanities and Social Sciences Library > Collections > Manuscripts > Finding Aids > The New Yorker Records Researching AuthorsSearching this inventory by an author's name will not necessarily reveal all the material by or relating relating to that author. The following suggestions point out other ways to find manuscripts and correspondence of a particular author. For a full description of the material contained in any series mentioned below please consult the Series Descriptions. Manuscripts Manuscripts in the "Manuscripts: Run & Killed" are listed in alphabetical order within each year or group of years, those in "Magazine Make-Up: Copy and Source" are not. To find manuscripts in "Magazine Make-Up: Copy & Source" it is necessary to know the dates of the issues in which an author’s works were run. A good source for this is An Index to Literature in The New Yorker (available on reference shelves in reading room). Correspondence Editors/Agents Almost all letters by a particular author will be filed under his or her name. Carbons of letters from his or her New Yorker editor(s) usually accompany the author’s letters. However, there may be additional correspondence regarding an author’s work (between editors) or contractual status (between editors or agents and the magazine’s business departments); to find this material it is important to know the name(s) of the author’s editor(s) and agent(s). A partial guide to some major authors’ agents can be found in Appendix A. These names can otherwise be found through the correspondence filed under the author’s name. With Manuscripts Writers’ works were passed among several editors for comments, and if approved, manuscripts were circulated among editors for suggestions and for revisions. These comment memos sometimes accompany the manuscripts in the "Manuscripts: Run & Killed" and "Magazine Make-Up: Copy & Source" series. Some manuscripts are accompanied by correspondence between author and editor(s). "Minor" and "Non-New Yorker" Authors An effort was made to give notable individuals and persons closely associated with The New Yorker their own folders within each series and within each alphabetic sequence within those series. Other figures’ material was filed within folders covering an alphabetic range. Since the index is an index of the inventory (i.e. the folder headings) these names do not appear in the index. Researching Editors And StaffMaterial produced by and relating to the magazine’s staff is scattered throughout the collection. In the cases of Katharine White and William Shawn, there is more material by and relating to them throughout the collection than in the sub-series bearing their names. Searching the inventory by a staff members name may be helpful, but will not cover all the places where material such as letters, memos, announcements, comments, queries, and story suggestions may be found. In some instances it may be impossible, or not entirely useful, to try to track down all the material relating to a given staff member. Here, however, are some places to look: Harold Ross (series 1.1): Under the headings "Editorial," and "Interoffice Memos." William Shawn (series 1.3): Under the heading "Editors, Interoffice Communications." Editorial Correspondence (series 3): Under heading "Interoffice memos," and names of writers and other editors with whom they worked. Manuscripts: Run & Killed (series 6): Memos and notes from editors to writers and other editors often accompany manuscripts; these are found by names of authors with whom the editor worked. However, because pieces were often passed to several editors, editors’ comments and queries often accompany manuscripts of authors with whom they did not usually work. Unsigned pieces written by staff are filed under department name (i.e. "Talk of the Town"). Magazine Make-Up: Copy & Source (series 7): Same as "Manuscripts: Run & Killed" except that manuscripts are found by date of publication. Typescripts of staff pieces appearing unsigned in the magazine are here attributed. The verso of each typescript’s first page bears a slip identifying initials of a piece’s primary editor. Ideas & Assignments (series 4.5): Browsing this series, one may find ideas submitted by specific staff members. Editors often signed memos and other correspondence with initials or were referred to by these initials. The following partial list may aid the reader to match initials with staff members. Some names are followed by dates (or starting date), and duties or departments served.
Roger Angell Bernard Bergman: 1931- James M. Cain Robert Coates: 1931-, art page editor Clifton Fadiman: 1933-1943, book reviewer Wolcott Gibbs: 1927, copy editor in Fiction, drama editor Robert Henderson Gus Lobrano: Fiction editor Ralph McAllister Ingersoll: 1925-1930 St. Clair McKelway: 1920s-1936 reporter, 1936-1939 Fact editor Rachel MacKenzie William Maxwell John Chapin Mosher: 1928- Howard Moss: Poetry editor Ogden Nash Arthur H. Samuels: 1927-1931 James Thurber: 1927, editor, 1927-1935 Talk of the Town, 1930- drawings Sanderson Vanderbilt E. B. White: 1926, staff writer, Newsbreaks, Notes and Comments, Talk of the Town Katharine Sergeant (Angell) White: 1925- Editor, Fiction Editor, contributor Edmund Wilson: 1944- Alexander Woollcott: 1929- Shouts and Murmurs, Profiles Return to Box Listing: Table of Contents |