Collection Overview

Summary
Arrangement
Description
Using the Collection

Note: some material may be restricted or offsite

About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Subject Headings
History / Biographical Note

Collection Contents

View All
Series I: Cataloged Correspondence, 1913-1965, undated
Series II: Arranged Correspondence, 1917-1965, undated
Series VI: Photographs, 1890s-1960s
Series VIII: Sketches, Drawings and Other Art Works, 1950s, undated
Series X: Chronological Materials, 1940s-1960s
Series XI: Tim Page Files, 1987-2012

Dawn Powell papers, 1890s-2012, bulk 1890s-1965

After clicking 'Submit Request', users will login with their UNI and password (Columbia affiliates) or their special collections account (external users). Appointments are required and will be arranged according to each individual repository's policy.

Series IV: Professional Files, 1910s-1990s

This series contains clippings files with articles on Powell and reviews of her books and plays, as well as various subject files. There are also files related to Powell's estate kept by her executrix, Jacqueline Miller Rice, from the 1960s-1990s.

Subseries IV.1: Clippings Files, 1920-1965

This subseries contains general clippings files of articles on Powell and reviews of her books.

Articles and clippings that were filed by subject are filed in Subseries IV.2: Subject Files.


Box 42 Folder 23 Articles on the Powell-Gousha Marriage, 1920-1921

On how the couple found the idea of maintaining separate living arrangements to be unsuitable.

Box 42 Folder 24 Articles, 1940s


Box 75 Folder 7 Article by Malcolm Cowley, 1963 July

Powell is mentioned in the article, "The Last of a Lost Generation" by Malcolm Cowley. Equire magazine, July 1963 issue.


Box 42 Folder 25 Article by Maurice Dolbier, 1957

Box 42 Folder 26 Article by Edmund Wilson (New Yorker), 1962 December 17


Box 43 Folder 7 Articles and Reviews, 1926-1929

Includes a few short articles, and reviews for She Walks in Beauty and The Bride's House.

Box 43 Folder 8 Articles and Reviews, 1928-1964


Box 44 Folder 1 Articles and Reviews, circa 1930-1964

Box 44 Folder 2 Articles and Reviews, 1930s-1960s

Clippings, reviews, and fragments. Many of these are very fragile.

Box 44 Folder 3 Articles and Reviews, 1933-1963

Box 44 Folder 4-5 Articles and Reviews, 1941-1964

Box 44 Folder 6 Reviews, 1929-1954

Clippings.

Box 44 Folder 7 Reviews, 1936-1948

Reviews of A Time to Be Born and The Locusts Have No King, with review snippets on her prior novels.

Box 44 Folder 8 Reviews, 1948-1962

Reviews of various works, as well as snippets on prior works.

Box 44 Folder 9 Reviews, circa 1936-1958

Primarily typescripts of snippets and comments on various works.

Box 44 Folder 10 Reviews, 1954-1956

Clippings with reviews or mentions of Wicked Pavillion and Sunday, Monday and Always.


Box 86 Clippings, 1960s, undated

Includes one clipping about Powell, and one clipping of an article written by her.

Accession# 2023-2024-M112

Subseries IV.2: Subject Files, 1917-1965, 1983-1989

This subseries contains subject files that are related to Powell's professional activities. These files include book jackets, catalogs, clippings, contracts, correspondence, programs, remarks, and reviews. Most the files relate to specific projects or works, but there are also files related to awards, copyright, and literary agents.


Box 44 Folder 11 Avon Books--Contract, 1965

Contract for paperback reprint rights for A Cage for Lovers and A Time to Be Born.

Box 44 Folder 12 Big Night, 1933

Includes advertisement, biographical statement, cast list, costume desriptions, clippings, and review of rehersal by John Howard Lawson.

Box 44 Folder 13 Big Night--Program, 1933

Box 44 Folder 14 Book Jackets, circa 1929-1962

Folder contains book jackets for the novels The Bride's House, The Happy Island, Turn Magic Wheel, A Time to be Born, My Home is Far Away, The Golden Spur, and The Locusts Have No King, as well as for the play Jig Saw. These are in poor or fair condition; some are fragments.

Box 44 Folder 15 The Bride's House--Reviews, circa 1929

Clippings.

Box 44 Folder 16 A Cage for Lovers, 1952-1961, 1983-1985

Includes correspondence, clippings, and copyright registration forms.

Box 44 Folder 17 A Cage for Lovers--Reviews, 1957-1958

Box 44 Folder 18 Collected Shorts, 1951, undated

Correspondence.

Box 44 Folder 19 Copyright, 1942-1955

Box 44 Folder 20 Correspondence and Notes, circa 1952-1962

Includes correspondence and notes on earnings, as well as notes related to writing projects, including The Golden Spur.

Box 44 Folder 21 Correspondence and Other Materials, 1940s-1950s

Includes correspondence with MacMillan and Frank W. Vincent, Inc., notes on writing projects and a few typescript pages, notices and programs for regional productions of "The Lady Comes Across," and a few clippings and sketches.

Box 44 Folder 22 Dance Night, circa 1930

Includes a press release and a review.

Box 44 Folder 23 Dance Night--Copright Renewal Form, 1958

Box 44 Folder 24 Everything is a Wife--Contract, 1959


Box 45 Folder 1 The Golden Spur, 1962

Clippings, snippets from letters, reviews.

Box 45 Folder 2 The Golder Spur--Contract, 1958

Box 45 Folder 3 The Golden Spur--Reviews from the English Press, 1963

Clippings from newspapers in England.

Box 45 Folder 4 The Golden Spur--Viking Catalog, 1962

Box 45 Folder 5 The Happy Island, 1938


Box 56 Folder 6 I'm Looking for a Lady" (Play)--Program, 1917 January 20

Play was written by Powell, and she also played a part in it.


Box 45 Folder 6 Indiana University Writers Conference, 1963

Box 45 Folder 7-8 Jig Saw, 1934-1947

Clippings and notes.

Box 45 Folder 9 The Locusts Have No King, circa 1948

Clippings.

Box 45 Folder 10 Made in Heaven--Contract, 1944

Box 45 Folder 11 My Home is Far Away--People's Book Club Jury Reports, 1944-1945

Box 45 Folder 12 My Home is Far Away--Reviews, 1944

Box 45 Folder 13 My Home is Far Away--Reviews, 1953

Excerpts from English reviews of the W.H. Allen edition.

Box 45 Folder 14 My Late Husband, 1940

Correspondence from Paramont on possible film.

Box 45 Folder 15 Letters (Literary), 1927-1945

Primarily publishers.

Box 45 Folder 16-20 Plays--Articles and Reviews, 1930-1936

Articles about theater, the theater scene, and reviews of Powell's works. Clippings are fragile.

Box 45 Folder 21 Promenade Pieces, 1928-1989

Clippings, drafts of book jacket copy, etc.

Box 45 Folder 22 Records of Works and Marketing, 1950-1959

Notebook. This includes several short story titles, notes publications to which the manuscripts were sent, and the dates.

Box 45 Folder 23 Red Dress--Cast Ideas, circa 1937-1938

Address Books. Cast ideas listed in the front cover, with actors listed under their last names in the address book.

Box 45 Folder 24 Royalty Statements--Miscellaneous, 1924, 1935-1963

Box 45 Folder 25 She Walks in Beauty, 1928-1929

Clippings and reviews.

Box 45 Folder 26 Short Stories--Rejections, 1935-1936


Box 50 Folder 1 Short Story Collection--List of Titles, undated

List of titles, the number of words of each, and the publication in which they were orginally published.

Box 50 Folder 2 Sunday, Monday and Always--Reviews, 1952-1955

Box 50 Folder 3 Sunday, Monday and Always--Reviews (English and Other), 1955

Box 50 Folder 4 Tenth Moon--Correspondence, 1936

Reader correspondence.

Box 50 Folder 5 Theater--Correspondence, 1935-1937

Includes correspondence from Theater Guild and a rejection for the play "Red Dress."

Box 50 Folder 6 A Time to Be Born, 1942

Reviews.

Box 50 Folder 7 A Time to Be Born, 1942 September 7

Review from Time magazine.

Box 50 Folder 8 Turn Magic Wheel, circa 1936

Review snippet on postcard.

Box 50 Folder 9 Turn Magic Wheel--Reviews, 1935-1936

Includes negative and a print of a Powell photograph used in a review, but it appears the image was made from the clipping by Rice and that the original photograph is lost.

Box 50 Folder 10 Viking Press, 1961-1962

Correspondence pertaining to The Golden Spur with editor Helen Taylor.

Box 50 Folder 11 Waite Award--Remarks, 1964

Typescript.

Box 50 Folder 12 W.H. Allen--Contracts, 1954-1955, 1963

Contracts, with carbon of 1963 letter written by Powell.

Box 50 Folder 13 Wicked Pavillion, 1955-1959

Correspondence, corrections, review, and book jacket.

Box 50 Folder 14 Wicked Pavillion--Reviews, 1955

Box 50 Folder 15 Wicked Pavillion--Reviews (English and Other), 1955

Box 50 Folder 16 Wicked Pavillion--W.H. Allen Catalog, 1957

Subseries IV.3 Estate Files, 1920s-1990s

This subseries contains files and materials kept by Jacqueline Miller Rice from the 1960s-1990s. These files primarily contain correspondence, and financial and legal records. There is some original material from Powell mixed in with these files, as well, for reasons that are unclear.

Rice photocopied some of Powell's records and created a set of files, perhaps for reference. These files are now in Boxes 48 and 49. These files include copies of correspondence, as well as copies of articles, drafts of manuscripts, notes, reviews written by Powell, reviews of Powell's works, and copyright and financial information. It is possible that these might be helpful to researchers, as some original clippings are fragile, and these files pull together correspondence that may be scattered in different parts of Powell's papers at this point.


Box 46 Folder 1 Author/Claimant Copyright Search, 1992

Box 46 Folder 2 Ballantine--Correspondence with Jacqueline Rice, 1967-1994

Correspondence regarding rights to Powell materials, etc.

Box 46 Folder 3 City Lit Theatre (Chicago)--Correspondence with Jacqueline Rice, 1989-1992

Correspondence and related material regarding the theatre's interest in dramatizing The Wicked Pavillion.

Box 46 Folder 4 Correspondence and Royalty Statements, 1986-1993

Primarily in German.

Box 46 Folder 5 Financial / IRS, 1990s

Box 46 Folder 6 Legal Correspondence and Notes, 1986-1993

Box 46 Folder 7 Literary Estate--File on Fire Damage, 1979-1982

File on damages sustained by the Rices in a fire, which included some material from the Powell estate.

Box 46 Folder 8 Jacqueline Rice--Miscellaneous Estate Correspondence, 1967-1997


Box 47 Jacqueline Rice--Estate Files, 1960s-1990s

This box contains Rice's estate files on various subjects including expenses, finances, royalties, permissions, and publishers. There also some lists of the Powell materials that were in her possession in the early 1990s.


Box 46 Folder 9 Rockefeller Foundation--Correspondence with Jacqueline Rice, 1967

Correspondence regarding possible grant funds for Rice's plans to complete a volume on Powell. Includes a list of press comments on Powell's novels.

Box 46 Folder 10 Theater--Miscellaneous Correspondence, 1942-1949

Photocopies.

Box 46 Folder 11 Miscellaneous Materials, circa 1928-1992

This contains a few items of correspondence to Jacqueline Rice, as well as copies of various clippings, letters, manuscript pages, and a book jacket (circa 1990s). There are also several original drafts, manuscript pages, and correspondence items related to Powell.

Box 46 Folder 12 Miscellaneous Materials, 1980s

This contains a few items of correspondence to Jacqueline Rice, Gore Vidal's 1987 article on Powell, and photocopies of several items of Powell's correspondence from the 1950s.

Box 46 Folder 13 Miscellaneous Materials, circa 1990s

This contains a few items of correspondence to Jacqueline Rice, as well as a copy of a 1990 article on Powell, notes, a list of foundations written to, and copies of some items related to Powell.


Box 48 Photocopies

Photocopies of collection material made by Jacqueline Miller Rice. Includes photocopies of correspondence with friends, family, and Lake Erie College, as well as copies of articles, reviews, etc.


Box 49 Photocopies

Photocopies of collection material made by Jacqueline Miller Rice. Includes photocopies of correspondence, drafts of Powell's manuscripts, reviews written by Powell, reviews of Powell's work, notes, copyright and financial information.