John Leonard papers, 1939-2015, bulk 1950s-2008
John Leonard papers, 1939-2015, bulk 1950s-2008
Summary Information
Abstract
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#1754
- Bib ID:
- 11497208 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Leonard, John, 1939-2008
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 26.5 linear feet (21 record cartons, 2 document boxes, 3 flat boxes)
- Language(s):
- English .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
-
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Description
Summary
There are approximately 26 linear feet of records in this collection. The bulk of the collection is composed of Leonard's professional writing, including manuscript drafts, typescripts, and galley proofs of his articles, essay collections, and novels as well as speeches, transcripts of television reviews, notebooks, and notes, including drafts of unpublished essay collections, notes for an unfinished memoir, and unpublished short fiction. The collection also includes books from Leonard's library, Leonard's extensive personal and professional correspondence, contracts, business files with itineraries and schedules for speaking engagements, research files on travel"Selected Reading" and clippings of articles and essays about Leonard.
Among the collection's personal papers are assorted materials from his memorial service, files on his mother Ruth and late brother Kenneth Leonard, personal scrapbooks, awards, trophies, business cards, address books, passports, identification cards, and personal memorabilia. Additionally, the collection contains a large assortment of photographs and artwork (signed by Kurt Vonnegut and Edward Koren), as well as multimedia documenting Leonard's reviews and interviews on CDs, DVDs, floppy disks, videocassette tapes, and cassette tapes.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged in eight series and several subseries.
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located off-site. You will need to request this material at least three business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
This collection has no restrictions.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); John Leonard Papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Accrual
No additions are expected.
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2014.2015.M141: Source of acquisition--John Leonard. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--6/8/2015.
2015.2016.M004: Source of acquisition--John Leonard. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--7/2/2015.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Papers processed by Sierra Eckert (GSAS) 2015-2016.
Finding aid written by Sierra Eckert (GSAS) June 2016.
Revision Description
2016-06-30 File created.
2016-06-30 XML document instance created by Catherine C. Ricciardi
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Biographical Note
John Leonard (1939-2008) was a renowned cultural and literary critic, best known for his work as the editor of The New York Times Book Review. He attended Harvard University from 1956-58, where he gained his first editorial experience working on the Harvard Crimson before dropping out of Harvard to attend University of California, Berkeley. During the 1960s, he worked as a union and community organizer and as one of a handful of leftist journalists at the conservative magazine, National Review.
Leonard joined The New York Times in 1967, working first as an editor for the Book Review, then as a book critic, and in 1971, as the editor in chief of The New York Times Book Review, a position he served in until 1975. He continued contributing to the Book Review until his death, going on to also write extensively for Harper's Monthly, The New York Review of Books, The Nation, and New York Newsday. Under his leadership, the NYTBR became what Slate magazine would later describe as "the voice of the antiwar movement." Leonard used the platform of the book review as a wider lens to comment upon the cultural turmoil of the 1970s, publishing an early and controversial review of books on the Vietnam War to comment on war crimes.
An "omnivorous" cultural commentator, Leonard wrote on an extensive array of topics, ranging well beyond literary fiction into television, film, politics, and culture. In addition to also reviewing books for The New York Review of Books, The Atlantic Monthly, The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Time Book Review, and The Washington Post Book World, Leonard was also the television critic for Life Magazine and New York Magazine, a columnist for Newsday, a book reviewer for National Public Radio's Fresh Air, and a commentator for CBS Sunday Morning. He wrote four novels and six essay collections and co-edited The Nation with his wife Sue Leonard from 1995 to 1998. Leonard's essays and reviews mix cultural commentary and literary criticism, intermingling reviews on contemporary fiction with commentary that ranged in scope from U.S. race relations to the Persian Gulf War. In the words of Joan Didion, a friend and colleague from his early years with National Review, Leonard "was quite simply our most thrilling observer."
One way Leonard's work helped expand and redefine American cultural criticism and the role of the public intellectual was in bringing a critical eye to new objects and genres. As a television as well as literary critic, his reviews brought serious attention to the role of the television program as a genre in American culture. He was the first reviewer to recognize the work of authors such as Toni Morrison, Don DeLillo, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Mary Gordon, the latter of which described him in her retrospective as having done "a great deal to create a new breed of critic," one who took women writers seriously within the largely male-dominated literary field of the 1970s. Kurt Vonnegut, a close friend, described reading Leonard's writing as akin to listening to a lecture by "the smartest man who ever lived." By his own reckoning Leonard had read and reviewed over 13,000 books over the course of his life. In 2007, the National Book Critics Circle honored Leonard with the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award.
John Leonard died of lung cancer on November 5, 2008.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
Series I, Correspondence
This series consists of Leonard's professional and personal correspondence.
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
(Includes holograph letters fromNew Yorkereditor Richard Arle, Managing editor ofNewsweekKenneth Auchlincloss)
Box 1 Folder 2
(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
(Includes typescript letters from James M. Cain, Dick Cavett, John Cheever, Walter Clemens, Alistair Cooke)
Box 1 Folder 4
(Includes typescript signed letters from Nicholas Delbanco and E.L. Doctorow; holograph signed letter Joan Didion)
Box 1 Folder 5
(Includes typescript signed letter from Nora Ephron, Susan Faludi, James T. Farrell, Xeroxed copy of signed letter from Jules Feiffer)
Box 1 Folder 6
(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
(Includes typescript signed letter from John Irving, Alfred Kazin, Jerzy Kosinski, Doris Lessing, Xerox of signed yong-Kingston)
Box 1 Folder 8
(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
(Includes holograph signed letter from Joyce Carol Oates, Bernadette Peters, Jonathan Raban, Ishmael Reed; typescript signed letters from Richard Powers)
Box 1 Folder 10
(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
(Includes holograph signed letter from Studs Terkel, John Updike; typescript signed letters from Lionel Tiger, Diana Trilling, John Updike)
Box 1 Folder 12
(Includes typescript signed letter from Andrew Vachss, and holograph letters from Kurt Vonnegut)
Box 1 Folder 12
Box 1 Folder 12
Box 1 Folder 12
Box 1 Folder 12
Box 1 Folder 12
Box 1 Folder 13
(Includes typescript signed letter from Dan Wakefield, Barbara Walters, Donald Westlake; holograph signed letter from Elie Wiesel)
Box 1 Folder 14
Box 1 Folder 15
Box 1 Folder 16
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
Box 1 Folder 18
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
Box 1 Folder 20
Box 1 Folder 21
Box 1 Folder 22
Box 1 Folder 23
Box 2 Folder 1 to 2
Box 2 Folder 3
Box 2 Folder 4
Box 2 Folder 5
Box 2 Folder 6
Box 2 Folder 7
Box 2 Folder 8
Box 2 Folder 9
Box 2 Folder 10
Box 2 Folder 11
Box 2 Folder 12
Box 2 Folder 13
Box 2 Folder 14
Box 2 Folder 15
Box 2 Folder 16
Box 2 Folder 17
Box 2 Folder 18
Box 2 Folder 19
Box 2 Folder 20
Box 2 Folder 21
Series II, Writings
Encompassing all of Leonard's career, this series is divided into several subseries by genre and chronology, following Leonard's own arrangement. The first two subseries constitute the bulk of Leonard's writing: drafts and published clippings of Leonard's reviews and essays, grouped chronologically and then alphabetically by author or subject. Later subseries gather together materials not included this arrangement --- consisting most of Leonard's mid- and late-career writing in the 1980s – 2008, working drafts, and other genres (speeches, fiction, nonfiction essay collections). Leonard arranged his materials by filing a draft of a review or essays along with a published clipping of the material. As part of the writing and editing process, Leonard would take extensive notes (handwritten for television and typed for books) and annotate previously written drafts of articles. Occasionally he would file these working notes along with the published piece under the appropriate subheading in "Reviews and Essays." Most unfinished and other working notes can be found under Subseries II.7 "Writing Notes."
This series is divided into several subseries by genre and chronology, following Leonard's own arrangement.
This subseries covers the earliest of Leonard's published writing. It includes his college writing for theHarvard Crimson,his work at University of California, Berkeley for the KPFA radio program, and his early published essays forNational Reviewand other publications.
This subseries is arranged chronologically.
Box 3 Folder 1 to 2
Box 3 Folder 3
Box 3 Folder 4
Box 3 Folder 5
The bulk of this subseries consists of reviews and essays published during Leonard's work withThe New York Times:as a reviewer for the "Daily Books Column," as editors and contributor toThe New York Times Book Reviewfrom 1971-1975, and as a critic and reviewer from 1976-1981. The material is broken up into three larger subsections: Reviews, Essays, and Television writing (which included both Leonard's writing on television and his cultural and literary reviews for broadcast television on CBS "Sunday Morning"). Reviews are arranged alphabetically by either the author or subject of the work under review. Essays are arranged alphabetically by subject. In addition to his writings for TheNew York Times,these files contain writing for other publications and venues as well, including CBS Sunday Morning,New York Magazine, Life Magazine, Ms. Magazine,andVanity Fair,among others. The files themselves include draft typescripts, often accompanied by clippings of the final piece and (occasionally) working notes for the piece.
The material in this subseries maintains Leonard's original arrangement in alphabetical subject files.
Box 3 Folder 6
Box 3 Folder 7
Box 3 Folder 8
Box 3 Folder 9
Box 3 Folder 10
Box 3 Folder 11
Box 3 Folder 12
Box 3 Folder 13
Box 3 Folder 14
Box 3 Folder 15
Box 3 Folder 16
Box 3 Folder 17 to 18
Box 3 Folder 19 to 20
Box 3 Folder 21 to 22
Box 3 Folder 23
Box 3 Folder 24 to 26
Box 3 Folder 27 to 28
Box 4 Folder 1
Box 4 Folder 2 to 3
Box 4 Folder 4 to 5
Box 4 Folder 6 to 9
Box 4 Folder 6
Box 4 Folder 10
Box 4 Folder 11 to 12
Box 4 Folder 13 to 14
Box 4 Folder 15 to 18
Box 4 Folder 19 to 20
Box 4 Folder 21
Box 4 Folder 22
Box 4 Folder 23 to 24
Box 4 Folder 25
Box 4 Folder 26
Box 4 Folder 27
Box 4 Folder 28
Box 5 Folder 1
Box 5 Folder 2
Box 5 Folder 3
Box 5 Folder 4
Box 5 Folder 5
Box 5 Folder 6
Box 5 Folder 7 to 8
Box 5 Folder 9
Box 5 Folder 10
Box 5 Folder 11
Box 5 Folder 12 to 14
Box 5 Folder 15
Box 5 Folder 16 to 17
Box 5 Folder 18
Box 5 Folder 19
Box 5 Folder 20
Box 5 Folder 21
Box 5 Folder 22
Box 5 Folder 23
Box 5 Folder 24
Box 5 Folder 25
Box 5 Folder 26
Box 5 Folder 27
Box 5 Folder 28
Box 5 Folder 29
Box 5 Folder 30
Box 5 Folder 31
Box 5 Folder 32
Box 5 Folder 33
Box 5 Folder 34 to 35
Box 5 Folder 36
Box 5 Folder 37
Box 5 Folder 38
Box 5 Folder 39
Box 5 Folder 40
Box 5 Folder 41
Box 6 Folder 1 to 2
Box 6 Folder 3
Box 6 Folder 4
Box 6 Folder 5
Box 6 Folder 6
Box 6 Folder 7 to 8
Box 6 Folder 9
Box 6 Folder 10
Box 6 Folder 11 to 15
Box 6 Folder 16 to 18
Box 6 Folder 16
Box 6 Folder 19 to 26
Box 7 Folder 1 to 2
Box 7 Folder 3 to 4
Box 7 Folder 5 to 8
Box 7 Folder 9 to 16
Box 7 Folder 9
Box 7 Folder 10
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 12
Box 7 Folder 13
Box 7 Folder 13
Box 7 Folder 14
Box 7 Folder 15
Box 7 Folder 16
Box 7 Folder 17 to 21
Box 7 Folder 22 to 23
Box 7 Folder 24 to 27
Box 8 Folder 1 to 19
Box 8 Folder 20
Box 8 Folder 21 to 23
Box 8 Folder 24 to 29
Box 9 Folder 1
Box 9 Folder 2
Box 9 Folder 3
Box 9 Folder 4
Box 9 Folder 5
Box 9 Folder 6
Box 9 Folder 7
Box 9 Folder 8
The materials in this subseries are essays and articles that Leonard did not arrange in Series II.2. While a few pieces date slightly earlier, the bulk of these materials were written later in his career, during the 1980s – 2008. Notable among the reviews are his the articles and reviews of Toni Morrison, Norman Mailer, John Updike, Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Eduardo Galeano, Kurt Vonnegut, John Barth, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Michael Chabon, Doris Lessing, Robert Stone, E.L. Doctorow, Dave Eggers, Carlos Fuentes, Toni Cade Bambara, Salman Rushdie, Norman Rush, Richard Powers, and Studs Terkel, among others.
This subseries is arranged chronologically, following the same subject divisions that Leonard used in arranging his earlier writing.
Box 9 Folder 9
Box 9 Folder 10
Box 9 Folder 11
Box 9 Folder 12
Box 9 Folder 13 to 16
Box 9 Folder 17 to 26
Box 10 Folder 1 to 6
Box 9 Folder 25 to 26
Box 10 Folder 1
Box 10 Folder 7 to 12
(Includes essays published in Ms. Magazine, The National Review, as well as an op-ed essay delivered on Channel 13 during the NY Times strike)
Box 10 Folder 7
Box 10 Folder 7
Box 10 Folder 7
Box 10 Folder 7
Box 10 Folder 7
Box 10 Folder 7
Box 10 Folder 7
Box 10 Folder 7
Box 10 Folder 8
Box 10 Folder 8
Box 10 Folder 8
Box 10 Folder 8
Box 10 Folder 8
Box 10 Folder 8
Box 10 Folder 8
Box 10 Folder 8
Box 10 Folder 9
Box 10 Folder 9
Box 10 Folder 9
Box 10 Folder 9
Box 10 Folder 10
Box 10 Folder 10
Box 10 Folder 10
Box 10 Folder 10
Box 10 Folder 10
Box 10 Folder 10
Box 10 Folder 10
Box 10 Folder 11
Box 10 Folder 11
Box 10 Folder 11
Box 10 Folder 11
Box 10 Folder 12
Box 10 Folder 12
Box 10 Folder 12
Box 10 Folder 12
Box 10 Folder 13
This subseries gathers together Leonard's notes and drafts for speeches, talks, and introductions (for oral presentation and print formats). For speeches and memorials by others, see Series V. Posthumous Papers, 2008 – 2015.
Arranged alphabetically by type of document.
Box 21 Folder 31
Box 10 Folder 14
Box 10 Folder 14
Box 10 Folder 14
Box 10 Folder 14
Box 10 Folder 14
Box 10 Folder 14
Box 10 Folder 14
Box 10 Folder 15
Box 10 Folder 15
Box 10 Folder 16
Box 10 Folder 17
Box 10 Folder 18
Box 10 Folder 19
Box 10 Folder 20
Box 10 Folder 21
Box 10 Folder 22
Box 10 Folder 23
Box 10 Folder 24
This subseries consists of the typescript drafts, computer print outs, working drafts, and notes for Leonard's collections of essays. In the course of the drafting process, Leonard would often re-arrange the order in which his essays appeared in the collection, change the subheadings, subtitles and working titles, and expand previously published pieces. Many of the drafts are undated – the numbering of the drafts does not necessarily reflect the order they were written in. Partial drafts are collated under their respective subheading or subtitle. Also included in this subseries is the posthumously published essay collection,Reading for My Life,edited by Sue Leonard.
Arranged alphabetically by work title.
Box 10 Folder 25
Box 10 Folder 26
Box 10 Folder 27 to 30
Box 10 Folder 31 to 33
Box 10 Folder 34
Box 11 Folder 1
Box 11 Folder 2
Box 11 Folder 3 to 4
Box 11 Folder 5 to 7
Box 11 Folder 6 to 11
(Some files labeled under the working title,Love and Death in the Falklands)
Box 11 Folder 12 to 19
Box 11 Folder 20 to 29
Box 12 Folder 1
Box 12 Folder 2 to 3
Box 12 Folder 4
Box 12 Folder 5 to 7
(This collection edited posthumously by Sue Leonard. Some files labeled under the working titlesWriting for His LifeandThe Smartest Man in the World)
Box 12 Folder 8
Box 12 Folder 9
Box 12 Folder 10
Box 12 Folder 11
Box 12 Folder 12 to 17
Box 12 Folder 18 to 21
Box 12 Folder 22
Box 12 Folder 23
Box 12 Folder 24
(unbpublished)
Box 12 Folder 25
Box 12 Folder 26
Box 12 Folder 27
Box 12 Folder 27
(unpublished book set, Viking Press potential publisher)
Box 12 Folder 26
(Posthumous)
Box 12 Folder 28
Box 12 Folder 29 to 30
Box 12 Folder 31
(unpublished)
Box 12 Folder 25
Box 12 Folder 26
(Posthumous)
Box 13 Folder 1 to 4
Box 13 Folder 5 to 11
Box 13 Folder 12
Box 13 Folder 13
Box 13 Folder 14 to 18
Box 13 Folder 19 to 21
Box 13 Folder 22
Box 13 Folder 23 to 26
Box 13 Folder 27 to 28
Box 14 Folder 1 to 2
Box 14 Folder 3 to 6
Box 14 Folder 7 to 10
This subseries brings together materials relating to Leonard's creative writing and work as a novelist. This material includes the working notes, drafts, galley proofs, and publishing correspondence pertaining to his work as a fiction writer.
Organized alphabetically by work title.
Box 14 Folder 11
Box 14 Folder 12 to 14
Box 14 Folder 15
(In a file which includes publishing contracts for three novels and Leonard's list of material sent to the Boston University archive in 1967 later added to this collection)
Box 14 Folder 16 to 19
Box 14
Box 14 Folder 15
(In a file which includes Leonard's list of material sent to the Boston University archive in 1967 later added to this collection)
Box 14 Folder 20
Box 14 Folder 21
Box 14 Folder 22
Box 14 Folder 23
Box 14 Folder 24 to 27
(Possibly notes for the novel that later becameBlack Conceit, this set of draft materials includes a fragment of dedication to John Leonard's brother, Kenneth)
Box 15 Folder 1
Box 15 Folder 2
Box 15 Folder 3
(Some folders labeled with the working title:To Walk by the Lake at Geneva)
Box 14 Folder 15
(In a file which includes publishing contracts for three novels and Leonard's list of material sent to the Boston University archive in 1967 later added to this collection)
Box 15 Folder 4
Box 15 Folder 5 to 7
Box 15 Folder 8
(Script by Richard Powers, performed by Leonard and Powers, introduction by Leonard)
Box 15 Folder 9
As part of his reviewing process, Leonard compiled extensive writing notes. This subseries consists of Leonard's preparatory material for his reviews: handwritten notebooks for television reviews, and typed print –outs with selected quotes and notes from literary and nonfictional works. Some completed drafts are also present, as Leonard's revision and note-taking practice included writing annotations on previously written drafts of articles.
Arranged alphabetically.
Box 15 Folder 10
Box 15 Folder 11 to 25
(Includes typescripts with reading notes, as well as drafts with annotations)
Box 15 Folder 26
(This set of notes consisted of a series of still images from the Ed Sullivan Show, material that was later published in book format asA Really Big Show, with accompanying text by Leonard, edited by Claudia Falkenbug and Andrew Solt. See Series VIII. for accompanying VHS tape of the Ed Sullivan Show)
Box 25
Box 16
Published essays and reviews, drafts, and completed work by others comprise this subseries. Broken into two parts, the first part of the subseries is arranged alphabetically by subject files labeled by Leonard – including praise and criticism of his work, selected reading, and research material – while the second part of the material is arranged alphabetically by author.
Box 17 Folder 1 to 7
(Includes reviews and criticism on John Leonard's work)
Box 17 Folder 1
Box 17 Folder 2
Box 17 Folder 3
Box 17 Folder 4
Box 17 Folder 5
Box 17 Folder 6
Box 17 Folder 7
Box 17 Folder 8 to 9
Box 17 Folder 10 to 13
Box 17 Folder 14
Box 17 Folder 15 to 19
Box 17 Folder 20
Box 17 Folder 21
Box 17 Folder 22
Box 17 Folder 23
Box 17 Folder 24
(Court case involving Knopf, publisher of Leonard'sPrivate Lives in the Imperial City)
Box 17 Folder 25
Box 17 Folder 26
Series III, The Nation, with Sue Leonard, 1995-1999
This small series brings together material from John Leonard and Sue Leonard's editorial work The Nation Magazine. Included here are business files from 1995-1998 and from John Leonard's work editing These United States for Nation Books.
Arranged alphabetically.
Box 17 Folder 27
Box 17 Folder 28
Box 17 Folder 29
Series IV, Memorabilia, Personal Papers, 1939-2011, bulk 1939-2008
Included in this series are early writings, awards, files and documents of a more personal nature.
This short subseries consists of awards and prizes, mostly from Leonard's early years, ranging from high school accolades, trophies, and diplomas to his National Book Critics Circle Ivan Sandorf Lifetime Achievement Award.
Box 18
Box 18
Box 18
Box 19
This subseries includes personal and professional artifacts, including address books, address rolodex, calendar, business cards, passport and passport photos, identification cards, and a historical newspaper from 1939, the year Leonard was born.
Box 18
Box 19
Box 19
Box 19
Box 19
Box 19
Box 19
This subseries consists of two scrapbooks, containing early photographs, files and documents from elementary school and college, as well as newspaper clippings pertaining to Leonard's professional career.
Box 19
Box 20
Gathered in this subseries are printed materials relevant to Leonard's personal life, including bulletins and brochures from graduations and reunions. A subsection of this series consist of personal files, which include files and documents of a personal nature on John, his brother Ken, his mother Ruth Woods Leonard Smith, and friends. Leonard's own files contain material related to his time in rehab. Also included are two files added after his death with material relating to the memorial services of two family friends.
Box 21 Folder 1
Box 21 Folder 2
Box 21 Folder 3
Box 21 Folder 4
Box 21 Folder 5
(Includes some posthumous material)
Box 21 Folder 5
Box 21 Folder 6
Box 21 Folder 7
Box 21 Folder 8 to 10
Box 21 Folder 11
Box 21 Folder 12
Box 21 Folder 13 to 14
Box 21 Folder 15
Box 21 Folder 16 to 17
(Includes some posthumous material)
Box 21 Folder 18
Box 21 Folder 19
Box 21 Folder 20
Box 21 Folder 20
Series V, Posthumous Papers, 2007-2009
Gathered in this series are posthumous materials collected by Sue Leonard after John Leonard's death. Arranged alphabetically by subject, this material consists of material from John Leonard's memorial service, condolence letters, memorial articles and obituaries. Along with material created posthumously, this series also includes documents gathered together after Leonard's death, including his Ivan Sandorf Lifetime Achievement speech and Sue Leonard's notes for Reading for My Life.
Box 21 Folder 21
Box 21 Folder 22 to 24
Box 21 Folder 25 to 27
Box 21 Folder 28
Box 21 Folder 29
Box 25
(See series VIII for CDs of memorial service)
Box 21 Folder 30
Box 21 Folder 31
Box 21 Folder 32
Box 21 Folder 33
Box 21 Folder 33
Series VI, Books and Printed Matter from Leonard's Library, 1964-2012
This series consists of books written by Leonard, books that Leonard served as a contributor for, and books authored by others. Included in the series are books inscribed to Leonard and books with Leonard's annotations. Also included in this series are selected full issue magazines that include Leonard's published essays.
Box 22 Folder 1 to 3
Box 22
Box 22
Box 23
(Includes uncorrected proof ofTimequake, Kurt Vonnegut and published copy ofOh What a Paradise It Seems, by John Cheever, both inscribed to John Leonard)
Series VII, Photographs and Artwork, 1969-2008
This series brings together the photographic images, visual artwork, and other graphic arts collected by Leonard. Among the photographs are photographs of Leonard with Toni Morrison and Kurt Vonnegut. The artwork notably includes a signed poster with a Kurt Vonnegut quotation and a series of handmade cards made by the staff of the New York Times Book Review during the 1970s.
Arranged by media format and alphabetically.
Box 24 Folder 1
Box 24 Folder 2
Box 24 Folder 3
(Includes three photographs from the Nobel Ceremony in Stockholm, 1993)
Box 21 Folder 1
Box 21 Folder 15
Box 21 Folder 15
Box 18
Box 24
Box 24
Box 24
Box 24
Box 24
Box 24
Box 24
Box 24
Series VIII, Audio/Visual Material, 1962-2009
This series consists of compact discs, audio cassette tapes, rewritable discs, floppy discs, and VHS tapes. CDs include Leonard's early career work for KPFA radio, and posthumous recordings of his memorial service. VHS tapes comprise the vast majority of this series; these include taped sessions of the CBS segments, Leonard's television appearances, as well as material Leonard intended to review. The floppy discs hold back up drafts of Leonard's writing from the 1990s.
The items in this collection are arranged by media format and then chronologically.
Box 25
Box 25
Box 25
Box 25
Box 25
Box 25
Box 25
Box 25
Box 25
Box 25
Box 26