Vanguard Press records, circa 1925-1985

Summary Information

At a Glance

Arrangement

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into 9 series.

• Series I: Cataloged Correspondence
• Series II: Cataloged Manuscripts
• Series III: Joyce Carol Oates Galleys
• Series IV: Cataloged Artwork
• Series V: Cataloged Photographs
• Series VI: Editorial Files
• Series VII: Photographs
• Series VIII: Clippings
• Series IX: 1997 Addition, 1997

Description

Summary

The collection consists of the editorial and production archives of Vanguard Press: correspondence, manuscripts, contracts, memoranda, galley proofs, photographs, clippings, and printed materials. The correspondence and editorial files contain a wealth of detailed information about individual authors and the growth and development of the Press. Among the cataloged correspondents are: Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Stephen Vincent Benét, William Rose Benét; Phyllis Bottome; Pierre Boulle; Jocelyn Brooke; Cyril Connolly; A.J. Cronin; Nigel Dennis; John Dewey; Max Eastman; James T. Farrell; Vardis Fisher; Richard Garnett; Theodor Seuss Geisel; Louis Golding; Paul Goodman; Horace Gregory; Geoffrey Grigson; Lillian Hellman; William Heyen; Harold L. Ickes; Christopher Isherwood; Alfred Kazin; Philip Lamantia; Sinclair Lewis; Emanuel Litvinoff; Dwight Macdonald; Archibald MacLeish; Marshall McLuhan; Thomas Mann; Edgar Lee Masters; H. L. Mencken; William Meredith; Joyce Carol Oates; Katherine Anne Porter; Barbara Pym; William Sansom; William Saroyan; Ramon J. Sender; Upton Sinclair; Rex Stout; Edith Sitwell; Paul Theroux; Lionel Trilling; Harry S. Trumam; Louis Untermeyer; Eudora Welty; Richard Wilbur; and Thornton Wilder. There are some manuscripts by Bellow; Bottome; Boulle; Farrell; Grigson; Litvinoff; MacDonald; Oates; John Cowper Powys; Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.; Patrick Tanner; William Targ; Theroux; and Sitwell

• Series I: Cataloged Correspondence

• Series II: Cataloged Manuscripts

• Series III: Joyce Carol Oates Galleys

  This is a group of 24 boxes (preservation cases) of galley sheets and page proof of many of her novels

• Series IV: Cataloged Artwork

• Series V: Cataloged Photographs

• Series VI: Editorial Files

• Series VII: Photographs

• Series VIII: Clippings

• Series IX: 1997 Addition, 1997

Using the Collection

Rare Book and Manuscript Library

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.

Cataloged Material Boxes 1-29 and Flat Boxes (preservation cases) 388-411 are located on-site. The remainder of 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

Single photocopies 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); Vanguard Press records; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Accruals

Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.

Ownership and Custodial History

Gift of Random House, 1989.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Records: Method of acquisition--Gift.

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information

Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library

Processing Information

Records Entered in AMC 02/--/91.

Revision Description

2010-04-02 Legacy finding aid created from Pro Cite.

2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.

Subject Headings

The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches at Columbia University through the Archival Collections Portal and through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, as well as ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.

All links open new windows.

Genre/Form

Subject

History / Biographical Note

Biographical / Historical

Established with money out of the Garland Fund in 1926, the Vanguard Press under the editorial guidance of James Henle and Evelyn Shrifte established and maintained a reputation for publishing promising new fiction writers, as well as informed and challenging nonfiction. In the fall of 1988, Vanguard Press was sold to Random House.