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Jack Fuller papers

 Collection
Identifier: Midwest-MS-FullerJ

Scope and Content of the Collection

The collection contains literary and journalistic works, correspondence, files, and personal and family documents of Chicago journalist and novelist Jack Fuller. Also included are newspaper articles written by Fuller's father, Ernest Fuller, a former financial reporter for the Chicago Tribune.

Multiple drafts of Fuller's published books as well as drafts of several unpublished works constitute the bulk of the collection. Also included are magazine articles, poetry, newspaper editorials and articles from the Chicago Tribune, Pacific Stars and Stripes, the Washington Post, and other newspapers, speeches and lectures, personal, job-related, and publisher correspondence, teaching materials, and documents related to Fuller's tenure at the Department of Justice. Photographs are of Fuller during childhood and at various stages in his career, of family, and those Fuller took while in the United States Army. Vietnam materials include color slides and black and white contact sheets.

The earliest material in the collection are related to Jack Fuller's mother's side of the family, the Tegges of Papineau in Iroquois County, Illinois. They include information about land in Iroqois County from the 1850s to the 1960s when Dorothy Tegge Fuller sold the family property. Much of the history of this side of the family is fictionalized in Jack Fuller's novel, Abbeville.

Dates

  • Creation: 1850-2016
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1951-2009

Creator

Language

Materials are chiefly in English. Some 19th century certificates are in German.

Access

The Jack Fuller papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The Jack Fuller 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 at reference@newberry.org.

Biography of Jack Fuller

Chicago journalist and author.

Jack William Fuller was born in Chicago, Illinois, on October 12, 1946. The son of Ernest B. Fuller (1915-1974), a financial reporter for the Chicago Tribune, and Dorothy (Tegge) Fuller (1910-2009), Fuller followed his father into journalism, beginning as a copyboy at the Chicago Tribune at age 16. He received his BS degree in Journalism from Northwestern University in 1968, and also attended Yale Law School, receiving his JD degree in 1973.

Fuller's law studies were interrupted when he was drafted into the United States Army during the Vietnam War. From 1969-1970 he served as a Vietnam correspondent for Pacific Stars and Stripes. During the summer of 1972, Fuller wrote for the Washington Post.

From 1973-1975 he worked as a general assignment reporter for the Chicago Tribune, but left the paper to join the U.S. Department of Justice as special assistant to Attorney General Edward Levi. Fuller rejoined the Tribune as Washington correspondent in 1977, and in 1978 returned to Chicago as an editorial writer. He served as Editorial Page Editor from 1981-1987, was appointed Executive Editor in 1987, and Vice President and Editor in 1989. From the late 1980s to the early 1990s, he devoted the bulk of his writing to jazz criticism for the Tribune. Fuller was named Publisher of the newspaper in 1994, and President of the Tribune Publishing Company in 1997. He was named to the board of directors in 2001.

In 1986, Fuller won a Pulitzer Prize for his editorial writing on constitutional issues. Though he retired from the Tribune Company in 2004, he continued to write editorials for the paper as well as lecture on various journalistic issues. In 2005 Fuller was named to the Board of Directors of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, a private, independent grantmaking institution based in Chicago. He also served as a Trustee of the University of Chicago and the Field Museum.

Fuller published eight novels: Convergence, 1982; Fragments, 1984; Mass, 1985; Our Fathers' Shadows, 1987; Legends' End, 1989; The Best of Jackson Payne, 2000; Abbeville, 2008; and one from without, 2016. Fuller also authored the nonfiction works News Values: Ideas for an Information Age, 1996; and What is Happening to News: The Information Explosion and the Crisis in Journalism, 2010. Finally, he co-edited with Larry D. Kramer an anthology of works by Edward H. Levi entitled Restoring Justice: The Speeches of Attorney General Edward H. Levi in 2013.

Fuller was married to Alyce Tuttle from 1972-2002 and the couple had two children, Timothy and Katherine. Fuller married Debra Moskovits in 2004. Jack Fuller died on Jun. 21, 2016.

Extent

33.7 Linear Feet (77 boxes and 1 oversize box)

Abstract

The literary and journalistic works, correspondence, and personal materials of Chicago journalist and novelist Jack Fuller.

Organization

Papers are organized in the following series

Series 1: Works, 1963-2016
Boxes 1-53
Series 2: Correspondence, 1970-2008
Boxes 54-64
Series 3: Personal, 1850-2016
Boxes 65-70
Series 4: Career, 1968-2004
Boxes 70-72
Series 5: Working Files, 1970s-2005
Boxes 73-76
Series 6: Photographs, 1954-2004
Box 77
Series 7: Oversize, 1878-2001
Box 78

Collection Stack Location

1 19 2-4; 1 16 7

Provenance

Gift of Jack Fuller and Debra Moskovits, 2004-2020.

Processed by

Kelly Kress, 2007; Alison Hinderliter, 2021.

Acknowledgements

This inventory was created in part with the generous support of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this inventory do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Processing of additions was completed with the generous support of Debra Moskovits.

Title
Inventory of the Jack Fuller papers, 1850-2016, bulk 1951-2009
Status
Completed
Author
Kelly Kress, 2005; Alison Hinderliter, 2021.
Date
©2021.
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the The Newberry Library - Modern Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
60 West Walton Street
Chicago Illinois 60610 United States
312-255-3512