TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Scope and Content of the Collection
Series 1: James T. Farrell, ca. 1909-2004
Series 2: Cleo Paturis, 1974-2006
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Inventory of the James T. Farrell-Cleo Paturis Papers, 1909-2006,bulk 1949-2004
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Lisa Janssen and updated by Alison Hinderliter, 2007. ©2007. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
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| Creator | Farrell, James T. (James Thomas), 1904-1979 |
| Title | James T. Farrell-Cleo Paturis Papers |
| Dates | 1909-2006, |
| Dates | bulk 1949-2004 |
| Extent | 2 cubic ft. (4 boxes) |
| Abstract | Stories, articles, manuscript drafts and notes by Farrell; a small collection of Farrell correspondence, miscellaneous material including reviews and appreciations of Farrell’s work, and obituaries. Includes a collection of photographs of Farrell, Paturis, friends and occasions, and a large collection of audio tapes, mostly of Farrell’s lectures and speeches. Also, material relating to Farrell, his life and work, kept by friend Cleo Paturis which includes Paturis' unpublished memoir of her life with Farrell, correspondence mainly after Farrell’s death in 1979, and miscellany concerning conferences on Farrell’s career and posthumous publications of Studs Lonigan. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Midwest MS Farrell-Paturis |
| Collection Stack Location | 3a 38 14 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
James T. Farrell-Cleo Paturis Papers, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Gift of Cleo Paturis, 2004, 2006.
Processed by
Virginia H. Smith, 2005.
Access
The James T. Farrell-Cleo Paturis Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 5 folders at a time maximum (Priority II).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The James T. Farrell-Cleo Paturis Papers are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biography of James T. Farrell
American author.
Born in southwest Chicago in 1904 to immigrant Irish parents, James T. Farrell was the first of his working-class family to attend college. His boyhood was tough, but once he pushed hard for an education and found some success in publishing short stories and newspaper articles, he became committed to a literary career.
Throughout his life Farrell was involved in socialist and liberal committees and causes and was well educated in political and social issues. He was a prolific writer, establishing himself as a realist in the naturalistic tradition of Theodore Dreiser and Frank Norris. He said himself about the consistent themes in his novels, sketches, short stories, articles and plays: “The purpose of these works is…to recreate a sense of American life as I have seen it, as I have imagined it, and as I have reflected upon and evaluated it.”
Perhaps Farrell’s greatest achievement is the Studs Lonigan trilogy, published as a unit in 1935 and then the five books about Danny O’Neill, published between 1936 and 1953. Although all his life he wrote every day and his published work continued to be concerned with capturing aspects of American experience as he perceived it, he is best remembered for the Studs novels.
Farrell was married twice to Dorothy Butler and once to actress Hortense Alden, with whom he had two sons, Kevin and John. In 1965 he settled down in Manhattan, where he had lived for many years, with his close friend Cleo Paturis. After his death in 1979, Paturis devoted herself to preserving his reputation as one of America’s important authors.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Letters, writings, reviews, miscellany, photographs and audio tapes of James T. Farrell and his longtime companion, Cleo Paturis, all relating to Farrell.
Collection includes a small amount of Farrell correspondence and a collection of his notes and short works, mostly in manuscript, miscellaneous items including his address files, inventories of his works, reviews and articles about Farrell, obituaries, and many photographs and audio tapes. The Paturis material includes her unpublished memoir of her time with Farrell, subject material and extensive correspondence with various friends relating to Farrell, most notably with Sidney Hook, Mary McCarthy, Paul R. Porter, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Mr. And Mrs. Kurt Vonnegut. There is a large collection of condolence letters upon Farrell’s death, material relating to the republication of Studs Lonigan, and two Farrell centennial conferences held in 2004, including signatures on reply postcards of Edward Albee, Saul Bellow and Tom Wolfe. Also, a file of clippings about civil rights advocate Bayard Rustin, several pieces of memorabilia and a few photographs. Audiocassettes include lectures and speeches by Farrell, and a 1976 interview of Farrell for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Narrative descriptions of the subject matter, types of material, and arrangement of each series are available through the Organization section of the finding aid.
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Organization
Papers are organized in the following series:
- Series 1: James T. Farrell, ca. 1909-2004. Box(es) 1
- Series 2: Cleo Paturis, 1974-2006. Box(es) 2
- Series 3: Photographs, 1912-2004. Box(es) 3
- Series 4: Audiocassettes, 1955-1982 and undated . Box(es) 4-6
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Cave, Eldon
- Draper, Louis
- Farrell, James T. (James Thomas), 1904-1979
- Farrell, James T. (James Thomas), 1904-1979 -- Portraits
- Fertik, Irene
- Hook, Sidney, 1902-1989
- Krementz, Jill
- McCarthy, Mary, 1912-
- Paturis, Cleo
- Porter, Paul R. (Paul Robert), 1908-2002
- Rustin, Bayard, 1912-1987
- Schlesinger, Arthur M. (Arthur Meier), 1917-2007
- Vonnegut, Kurt
Subjects
- American literature -- Irish-American authors
- American literature -- 20th century
- Audiocassettes -- 1955-1982
- Authors, American -- 20th century
- Correspondence -- 1950-2004
- Manuscripts, American
- Novelists, American - 20th century
- Photographs -- 1912-1979
- Sound recordings -- 1955-1982
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Container List
Series 1: James T. Farrell, ca. 1909-2004 |
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| A small amount of Farrell correspondence, a collection of articles, short stories, notes and sketches, two poems, address files, works inventories, obituaries, reviews and articles about Farrell. | |||||||||||
| Arranged by type of material. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence, outgoing (8 letters), 1977-1979 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Correspondence, incoming (7 letters), 1971-1979 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Works: "Berthe's Telephone Call", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Works: ""The Big Choke-up" (2 versions), 1979 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Works: "Christmas Cards", 1949 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Works: "Cigarette Card Baseball Pictures", 1978 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Works: "Civic Pride", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Works: "Day by Day - Fashions and the Civil War", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Works: "Day by Day - The Guy Who Beat Up Jud Jennings", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Works: "The Dentist's Wife", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Works: "Destinies and Friendships", 1979 | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Works: "Discovery" (fragment), undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Works: "Dressing Room Scene", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Works: "The Golden Years With Golden Memories", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Works: "New York, New York", 1970 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Works: "Note" - on the 40th anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, 1979 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Works: "Pat", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Works: "Random and Not So Random Thoughts on How I work", (fragment), undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Works: "Scenes from the Life of Henry Wallenstein", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Works: " Tom Roberts in Washington" (fragment), undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Works: "The World Is To Day", undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Works: Note on a letter from Eleanor Hays to Alan Wald, Feb. 2, 1976 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Works: Notes, draft of a letter (in notebook), 1979 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Works: Poems (2), 1962, 1966 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Miscellaneous: Address Files, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 26a | Miscellaneous: Cigarette Baseball Cards (Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs), 1909-1910 | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Miscellaneous: Handwriting Analysis (incomplete), Nov. 15, 1951 | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Miscellaneous: Inventories of Works, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Miscellaneous: Mss. of E. A. Ryan, "Apartment Building" with Farrell editing, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Miscellaneous: Obituaries, 1979 | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | Miscellaneous: Reviews, articles re Farrell, undated, 1968-2004 | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | Miscellaneous: "Salute to James T. Farrell", 1976 | |||||||||
| 1 | 32a | Miscellaneous: St. Cyril High School, "The Oriflame", 1922-1923 | |||||||||
| 1 | 33 | Miscellaneous: Tombstone, Calvary Cemetery, Evanston, Ill., 1980-1981 | |||||||||
Series 2: Cleo Paturis, 1974-2006 |
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| Correspondence, mostly dated after Farrell’s death, with friends and acquaintances of Farrell and Paturis. Notable correspondents are Sidney Hook, Mary McCarthy, Paul R. Porter, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and Kurt and Jill Vonnegut, (with subject material on Hook, McCarthy and Porter), and a large collection of condolence letters. Also a sympathy list, and a few pieces of memorabilia, signatures of Edward Albee, Saul Bellow and Tom Wolfe, clippings regarding Bayard Rustin, material regarding two Farrell centennial conferences in 2004, and the republication of Studs Lonigan by the Library of America and Penguin Putnam. | |||||||||||
| Arranged by type of material. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 2 | 34 | Correspondence: outgoing, A-W (4 letters), undated-1995 | |||||||||
| 2 | 35 | Correspondence: incoming, unidentified (1 letter), 1978 | |||||||||
| 2 | 36 | Correspondence: incoming, A-D (12 letters), 1978-2004 | |||||||||
| 2 | 37 | Correspondence: incoming, E-J (14 letters), 1979-1986 | |||||||||
| 2 | 38 | Correspondence: incoming, M-W (19 letters), 1979-2004 | |||||||||
| 2 | 39-43 | Correspondence: condolence letters, 1979 | |||||||||
| 2 | 44-45 | Correspondence and Subject File: Sidney Hook, 1980-1990 | |||||||||
| 2 | 46-47 | Correspondence and Subject File: Mary McCarthy, 1975-1989 | |||||||||
| 2 | 48 | Correspondence: Paul R. Porter, 1982-1986 | |||||||||
| 2 | 49 | Correspondence: Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., 1979-2004 | |||||||||
| 2 | 50 | Correspondence: Kurt and Jill Vonnegut, 1979-1994 | |||||||||
| 2 | 51 | Memoir: James T. Farrell, a biography by Cleo Paturis, 2006 | |||||||||
| 2 | 52 | Miscellaneous: Bayard Rustin Material, 1976-1988 | |||||||||
| 2 | 53 | Miscellaneous: Condolence flowers, cards and info, 1979 | |||||||||
| 2 | 54 | Miscellaneous: Memorabilia, 1974-2004 | |||||||||
| 2 | 55 | Miscellaneous: Signatures: Edward Albee, Saul Bellow, Tom Wolfe, 1980 | |||||||||
| 2 | 56 | Miscellaneous: Sympathy List, 1979 | |||||||||
| 2 | 57 | Miscellaneous: New York Farrell Centennial Conference, Feb. 2004 | |||||||||
| 2 | 58 | Miscellaneous: Paris, France Farrell Centennial Conference, June 2004 | |||||||||
| 2 | 59 | Miscellaneous: Library of America Material, 2001-2003 | |||||||||
| 2 | 60 | Miscellaneous: Introduction to Penguin Studs Lonigan, 2001 | |||||||||
| 2 | 61 | Miscellaneous: Penguin Putnam, Inc. republication of Studs Lonigan, 1999-2003 | |||||||||
Series 3: Photographs, 1912-2004 |
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| Portraits and snapshots of James T. Farrell, including two 1979 images by Eldon Cave, Farrell in group pictures, “A Salute to James T. Farrell” at the St. Regis hotel in 1976 with photos by Jill Krementz, and miscellaneous proof sheets. Also, photos of Cleo Paturis and friends, 1982-2003, the Farrell Centennial Conference in 2004, undated negatives, and one signed portrait of Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph by Irene Fertik. | |||||||||||
| Arranged by type of material. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 3 | 62 | James T. Farrell: portraits, ca. 1912-1979 | |||||||||
| 3 | 63 | James T. Farrell: 2 portraits by Eldon Cave, undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 64 | James T. Farrell with others, 1979 and undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 65 | James T. Farrell with friends by Louis Draper, undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 66 | "Salute to James T. Farrell" at the St. Regis Hotel, N.Y., N.Y., 8 photographs by Jill Krementz, 1976 | |||||||||
| 3 | 67 | Miscellaneous proof sheets, undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 68 | Cleo Paturis and Sidney Hook, 1982 | |||||||||
| 3 | 69 | Cleo Paturis, 3 miscellaneous photos, 1988-2003 | |||||||||
| 3 | 70 | James T. Farrell Centennial Conference, N.Y., 2004 | |||||||||
| 3 | 71 | Negatives, undated | |||||||||
| 3 | 72 | Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph, signed photo by Irene Fertik, undated | |||||||||
Series 4: Audiocassettes, 1955-1982 and undated |
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| James T. Farrell lectures, speeches and an interview, 1955-1975 and undated; Farrell Memorial service, Sidney Hook’s birthday party, and several tapes found in the apartment of Hortense Alden. Also, several unidentified tapes and five labeled but empty cassette boxes. | |||||||||||
| Arranged in 3 small boxes chronologically and by type of material. | |||||||||||
| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 4 | 73 | Lectures and Speeches: Band music, then Q&A by Farrell. Venue unknown, Feb. 18, 1955 | |||||||||
| 4 | 74 | Lectures and Speeches: "20th Century Novel". USIS Library, New Delhi, India, June 8, 1956 | |||||||||
| 4 | 75 | Lectures and Speeches: "John Dewey - The Role of His Ideas". Stanford University, Feb. 17, 1960 | |||||||||
| 4 | 76 | Lectures and Speeches: "Theodore Dreiser and Literature". Stanford University, Feb. 18, 1960 | |||||||||
| 4 | 77 | Lectures and Speeches: "The Modern American Writer". Yale University, March 3,1965 | |||||||||
| 4 | 78 | Lectures and Speeches: "A Portrait of the Artist", Part 1. Venue unknown, Sept. 19, 1973 | |||||||||
| 4 | 79 | Lectures and Speeches: "Frank Cowperwood". Venue unknown, Oct. 23, 1973 | |||||||||
| 4 | 80 | Lectures and Speeches: "Character of Frank Cowperwood". Venue unknown, Nov. 6, 1973 | |||||||||
| 4 | 81 | Lectures and Speeches: "The Critics of Dreiser". Venue unknown (Glassboro College?), Dec. 4, 1973 | |||||||||
| 4 | 82-83 | Lectures and Speeches: Symposium at Glassboro College. Dec. 5, 1973 | |||||||||
| 4 | 84 | Lectures and Speeches: "The Bulwark". Venue unknown, Dec. 11, 1973 | |||||||||
| 4 | 85 | Lectures and Speeches: Prof. Vasta's Class. Venue unknown, March 4, 1975. | |||||||||
| 4 | 86 | Lectures and Speeches: S. R. Kolbenschlag's Class. Venue unknown, March 5, 1975 | |||||||||
| 4 | 87 | Lectures and Speeches: Prof. K. Moore's American Culture and Subcultures Class. Venue unknown, March. 5, 1975 | |||||||||
| 4 | 88 | Lectures and Speeches: Ken Kinslow's Freshman Class. Venue unknown, March 6, 1975 | |||||||||
| 5 | 89 | Lectures and Speeches: Jane Robinett's Freshman Class. Venue unknown, March 6, 1975 | |||||||||
| 5 | 90-91 | Lectures and Speeches: Lecture at Southampton College, July 15, 1976 | |||||||||
| 5 | 92 | Lectures and Speeches: Lecture at Foreign Language Group. Glassboro College, 1976 | |||||||||
| 5 | 93 | Lectures and Speeches: Speech to Social Democrats. Columbia University, April 5, 1977 | |||||||||
| 5 | 94 | Lectures and Speeches: Speech to the New School, April 7, 1977 | |||||||||
| 5 | 95 | Lectures and Speeches: "The Rise of David Levinsky". Venue unknown, Oct. 10, 1977 | |||||||||
| 5 | 96-97 | Lectures and Speeches: Talk at Episcopal Academy, May 8, 1979 | |||||||||
| 5 | 98 | Lectures and Speeches: Reading at Glassboro College, undated | |||||||||
| 5 | 99 | Lectures and Speeches: Notre Dame - Sophomore Literary Festival, undated. | |||||||||
| 5 | 100-101 | Lectures and Speeches: "Technical Writers". Venue unknown, undated | |||||||||
| 5 | 102 | Lectures and Speeches: Trilogy: "The Financier", "The Titan", and "The Stoic". Venue unknown, undated | |||||||||
| 5 | 103 | Lectures and Speeches: Writer's Forum. Venue unknown, undated | |||||||||
| 5 | 104-105 | Lectures and Speeches: No title, no venue, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 106 | Interview with Patrick Hynan of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Dec. 6, 1976 | |||||||||
| 6 | 107 | Miscellaneous: Farrell with Hortense and Kevin, undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 108-109 | Miscellaneous: Tapes found in Hortense Alden's apartment after her death, ca. 1978 | |||||||||
| 6 | 110 | Miscellaneous: "Jim's Memorial service", undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 111 | Miscellaneous: Sidney Hook's Birthday, Oct. 29, 1982 | |||||||||
| 6 | 112 | Three unidentified tapes. Undated | |||||||||
| 6 | 113 | Five labeled but empty cases | |||||||||