James T. Farrell Papers

Collection

Identifier: Midwest-MS-156

Staff Only

Scope and Content of the Collection

Collection of seven items and a signed photograph. Includes two long letters to Robert Hardy Andrews, editor of Chicago literary magazine Midweek, in which Farrell discusses his Chicago fiction, and one to someone named “Louis”. Also, four one-page pieces of Farrell commentary on his writing: “Helen I Love You”, “Bernard Clare”, “Collected Short Stories of James T. Farrell”, and “The Stories of James T. Farrell”. The 8x10” photograph shows Farrell at a microphone at the Mobilization of the International Peace and Freedom Day, April 30, 1949, in Paris, France.

Dates

Creation: 1949-1967

Creator

Farrell, James T. (James Thomas), 1904-1979 (Person)

Language

Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

The James T. Farrell Papers are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room (Priority III).

Ownership and Literary Rights

The James T. Farrell 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.

Biography of James T. Farrell

American author.

Born and raised in South Chicago, Farrell is best-known for his Chicago-based Studs Lonigan trilogy, 1932-1935. Having dropped out of college to become a writer, Farrell settled in New York City, where he began a productive writing career. Besides Studs Lonigan, he published short stories, literary criticism, and poetry, and gave numerous lectures and speeches.

Farrell was one of the most influential and well-educated novelists of the 1930s and 1940s, in the tradition of literary intellectuals combining left-wing politics and creative writing. He died in 1979.

Extent

0.1 Linear Feet (8 folders)

Additional Description

Abstract

Seven manuscript items written by author James T. Farrell. Includes two letters to Robert Hardy Andrews, editor of a Chicago literary magazine Midweek; one letter to “Louis”; and four one-page pieces of commentary on his short stories. Also, a large signed photograph of Farrell speaking at the “Mobilization of the International Peace and Freedom Day” in Paris, 1949.