John Leonard papers, 1939-2015, bulk 1950s-2008

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Series I, Correspondence

This series consists of Leonard's professional and personal correspondence.


Subseries I.1, General Correspondence, 1964-2008

This subseries includes personal and professional correspondence received by Leonard. Items of note include letters from prominent individuals in the literary, film, and publishing fields. Also included in this subseries are Leonard's publishing correspondence and travel correspondence.

This subseries is arranged alphabetically.



Box 1 Folder 1 A, 1964-2008

(Includes holograph letters fromNew Yorkereditor Richard Arle, Managing editor ofNewsweekKenneth Auchlincloss)


Box 1 Folder 2 B, 1964-2008

(Includes typescript signed letters from Harold Brodkey, William F. Buckley, Jr and enclosed Xerox of Wilfrid Sheed letter, holograph letter from Carol Burnett.)


Box 1 Folder 3 C, 1964 -- 2008, 1964, 2008

(Includes typescript letters from James M. Cain, Dick Cavett, John Cheever, Walter Clemens, Alistair Cooke)


Box 1 Folder 4 D, 1964 -- 2008, 1964, 2008

(Includes typescript signed letters from Nicholas Delbanco and E.L. Doctorow; holograph signed letter Joan Didion)


Box 1 Folder 5 E-F, 1964-2008

(Includes typescript signed letter from Nora Ephron, Susan Faludi, James T. Farrell, Xeroxed copy of signed letter from Jules Feiffer)


Box 1 Folder 6 G-H, 1964 -- 2008, 1964, 2008

(Includes typescript signed letters from John Kenneth Galbraith, David Grossman, Elizabeth Harwick, Lillian Hellman; holograph letters from Maureen Howard, Irving Howe)


Box 1 Folder 7 I-L, 1964 -- 2008, 1964, 2008

(Includes typescript signed letter from John Irving, Alfred Kazin, Jerzy Kosinski, Doris Lessing, Xerox of signed yong-Kingston)


Box 1 Folder 8 M-N, 1964 -- 2008, 1964, 2008

(Includes typescript signed letters from John MacDonald, Mary McCarthy, Rollo May, Norman Mailer, Mary Tyler Moore, Toni Morrison (including a Xerox copy of form from Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice denying her bookParadiseentrance to a Texas prison), Bill Moyers, Victor Navasky. For more Toni Morrison letters, see Series VII photographs)


Box 1 Folder 9 O-R, 1964 -- 2008, 1964, 2008

(Includes holograph signed letter from Joyce Carol Oates, Bernadette Peters, Jonathan Raban, Ishmael Reed; typescript signed letters from Richard Powers)


Box 1 Folder 10 S, 1964 -- 2008, 1964, 2008

(Includes holograph signed letters from Edward Said, André Schriffrin, Pete Seeger, Wilfrid Sheed, Clancy Sigal, Robert Silvers, Carly Simon, Barbara Solomon, Gloria Steinem; typescript letters from Robert Silvers, Gene Shalit)


Box 1 Folder 11 T-U, 1964 -- 2008, 1964, 2008

(Includes holograph signed letter from Studs Terkel, John Updike; typescript signed letters from Lionel Tiger, Diana Trilling, John Updike)


Box 1 Folder 12 V, 1964-2008

(Includes typescript signed letter from Andrew Vachss, and holograph letters from Kurt Vonnegut)


Kurt Vonnegut correspondence


Box 1 Folder 12 Kurt Vonnegut letters, 1978-2005


Box 1 Folder 12 Kurt Vonnegut, "Fuh-Kar-Wee Indians and the Christian Year 2000" typescript essay inscribed to John and Sue Leonard, 1998 July 31, 1998


Box 1 Folder 12 Kurt Vonnegut, "Remarks by Kurt Vonnegut to Be Delivered at St. Marks on the Bowery on the Night of September Eleventh, 2002" typescript speech, 2002 September 11, 2002


Box 1 Folder 12 Kurt Vonnegut, "Preface," typescript essay


Box 1 Folder 12 Kurt Vonnegut, "Vonnegut's Last Conversation with Kilgore Trout," typescript, 2004 October 1, 2004


Box 1 Folder 13 W, 1964-2008

(Includes typescript signed letter from Dan Wakefield, Barbara Walters, Donald Westlake; holograph signed letter from Elie Wiesel)


Box 1 Folder 14 Unidentified general correspondence, 1964-2008


Box 1 Folder 15 Publishing correspondence, 2001-2008


Box 1 Folder 16 Travel correspondence, 1980s-2000s


Subseries I.2, Fan Letters, 1975-2004

This subseries contains fan letters written to Leonard during his time as a cultural critic for CBS.

This subseries is arranged chronologically by year and alphabetically, keeping Leonard's original arrangement.


Box 1 Folder 17 Fan letters A to Z, 1975 -- 2004, 1975, 2004


Box 1 Folder 18 Fan letters A to Z, 1995


Subseries I.3, Family Letters, 1940-1983

This subseries includes John Leonard's letters to his family: his mother, his brother Ken, and his first wife, Tiana.

This subseries is arranged chronologically.


Box 1 Folder 19 Family letters, [1959?-1960?], undated, [1959?-1960?], undated


Box 1 Folder 20 Family letters, 1940 -- 1949, 1940, 1949


Box 1 Folder 21 Family letters, 1956


Box 1 Folder 22 Family letters, 1957


Box 1 Folder 23 Family letters, 1958



Box 2 Folder 1 to 2 Family letters, 1959, (2 folders)


Box 2 Folder 3 Family letters, 1960


Box 2 Folder 4 Family letters, 1961


Box 2 Folder 5 Family letters, 1962


Box 2 Folder 6 Family letters, 1963


Box 2 Folder 7 Family letters, 1964


Box 2 Folder 8 Family letters, 1965


Box 2 Folder 9 Family letters, 1966


Box 2 Folder 10 Family letters, 1967


Box 2 Folder 11 Family letters, 1968


Box 2 Folder 12 Family letters, 1969


Box 2 Folder 13 Family letters, 1970


Box 2 Folder 14 Family letters, 1971


Box 2 Folder 15 Family letters, 1972


Box 2 Folder 16 Family letters, 1973


Box 2 Folder 17 Family letters, 1974


Box 2 Folder 18 Family letters, 1975


Box 2 Folder 19 Family letters, 1976


Box 2 Folder 20 Family letters, 1977


Box 2 Folder 21 Family letters, 1979-1983