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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| Size | 4.0 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1,020 items) |
| Abstract | James Boyd (1888-1944) was an American author and journalist. Papers include more than 400 letters written by Boyd to his parents in Harrisburg, Pa., and other places, beginning in 1906 and continuing through his years at Princeton University, 1907-1910, and Cambridge University, 1910-1912, and while he worked as a journalist and for the Red Cross in New York City. Also included are letters to his wife, Katharine Lamont Boyd, while he was overseas, 1917-1919, serving as an ambulance driver with the American Expeditionary Forces in France, and correspondence with friends, readers, other writers, and publishers about his work, especially about the novels Drums and Bitter Creek and about The Free Company, a group of American writers, producers, and broadcasters who presented radio programs on the ideas of the free world, 1940-1941. Correspondents include Sherwood Anderson, Stephen Vincent Benet, Robert Bridges, Louis Bromfield, Bernard De Voto, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Galsworthy, Frank Porter Graham, Paul Green, Sinclair Lewis, Archibald MacLeish, Thomas Mann, Maxwell Perkins, William Saroyan, Laurence Stallings, John Steinbeck, and Thomas Wolfe. Also included are drafts and copies of manuscripts of stories, articles, radio scripts, and poems; and clippings and pictures. |
| Creator | Boyd, James, 1888-1944. |
| Curatorial Unit | Southern Historical Collection |
| Language | English. |
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Information For Users
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Processing Information
Processed by: Jackie Dean, 1997
Encoded by: Jackie Dean, 1997
Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, April 2011
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Subject Headings
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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Biographical Information
| 1888 | James Boyd born in Harrisburg, Pa., on 2 July. |
| 1910 | Received undergraduate degree from Princeton. |
| 1910-1912 | At Trinity College in Cambridge. |
| 1912 | Became an English/French teacher at Harrisburg Academy. |
| 1914-1916 | Convalesced in Southern Pines, N.C., from a recurrent illness. |
| Fall 1916 | Served on the editorial staff of Country Life in America. |
| 1917 | Married to Katharine Lamont of Millbrook, N.Y. |
| 1917-1918 | Served on the volunteer staff of the Red Cross. |
| June 1918-June 1919 | Served as Second Lieutenant in the United States Army Ambulance Service. |
| 1919 | Settled in Southern Pines, N.C. to begin career as a writer. |
| 1925 | Drums, historical novel about the American Revolution, published. |
| 1927 | Marching On, about the Civil War, published. |
| 1927-1928 | Served as president of North Carolina Literary and Historical Association. |
| 1930 | Long Hunt, about the long hunters on the trans-Appalachian frontier, published. |
| 1935 | Roll River, about a Pennsylvania farm family, published. |
| 1939 | Boyd's last novel, Bitter Creek, set in the Wyoming cattle country, published. |
| 1938 | Awarded honorary degree by the University of North Carolina. |
| 1940 | Organized and served as national chairman of the Free Company Players, a group American writers, producers, and broadcasters who presented radio programs on the ideas of the free world. |
| 1941 | Purchased and became editor of The Pilot, a nearly defunct conservative weekly newspaper, which under Boyd's leadership became a progressive regional newspaper repeatedly honored for its excellence in the North Carolina Press Association. |
| 1944 | Suffered a fatal cerebral attack while attending a seminar at Princeton University on 25 February. |
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Scope and Content
The papers include more than 400 letters written by James Boyd to his parents in Harrisburg, Pa., and other places, beginning in 1906 and continuing through his years at Princeton University, 1907-1910, and Cambridge University, 1910-1912, and while he worked as a journalist and for the Red Cross in New York, N.Y. Also included are letters to his wife, Katharine Lamont Boyd, while he was overseas, 1917-1919, serving as an ambulance driver with the American Expeditionary Forces in France, and correspondence with friends, readers, other writers, and publishers about his work, especially about the novels Drums and Bitter Creek and about the Free Company, a group of American writers, producers, and broadcasters who presented radio programs on the ideas of the free world, 1940-1941. Correspondents include Sherwood Anderson, Stephen Vincent Benet, Robert Bridges, Louis Bromfield, Bernard De Voto, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Galsworthy, Frank Porter Graham, Paul Green, Sinclair Lewis, Archibald MacLeish, Thomas Mann, Maxwell Perkins, William Saroyan, Laurence Stallings, John Steinbeck, and Thomas Wolfe. Also included are drafts and copies of manuscripts of stories, articles, radio scripts, and poems; and clippings and pictures.
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Series Quick Links
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Series 1. Correspondence, 1906-1969 and undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence includes more than 400 letters written by James Boyd to his parents in Harrisburg, Pa., and other places, beginning in 1906 and continuing through his years at Princeton University, 1907-1910, and Cambridge University, 1910-1912, and while he worked as a journalist and for the Red Cross in New York, N.Y. Also included are letters to his wife, Katharine Lamont Boyd, while he was overseas, 1917-1919, serving as an ambulance driver with the American Expeditionary Forces in France, and correspondence with friends, readers, other writers, and publishers about his work, especially about the novels Drums and Bitter Creek and about the Free Company, a group of American writers, producers, and broadcasters who presented radio programs on the ideas of the free world, 1940-1941. Correspondents include Sherwood Anderson, Stephen Vincent Benet, Robert Bridges, Louis Bromfield, Bernard De Voto, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Galsworthy, Frank Porter Graham, Paul Green, Sinclair Lewis, Archibald MacLeish, Thomas Mann, Maxwell Perkins, William Saroyan, Laurence Stallings, John Steinbeck, and Thomas Wolfe.
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Series 2. Miscellaneous Materials.
| Folder 78 |
PicturesThere are several small photographs that were originally enclosed in letters from Boyd to his wife, 1918-1919. Also included are photographs of Boyd preparing for a radio broadcast as a member of the Free Company, as well as other members of that group. |
| Folder 79 |
Clippings |
| Folder 80 |
Clippings, pamphlets, and miscellany referring to the Free Company |
| Folder 81a |
Bibliographical informationIncluded is The Princeton University Library Chronicle, Volume VI, Number 2, February 1945. The issue is dedicated to James Boyd and contains several of his writings as well as a bibliography of his works. Also included is miscellaneous other bibliographical information. |
| Folder 81b |
James Boyd biographical information (photocopies) |
| Folder 81c |
Lamont family record |
| Folder 82 |
Miscellaneous manuscripts, fragments, and notes |
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Series 3. Writings.
Arrangement: alphabetical.
Writings include drafts of short stories, poems, radio and film scripts, and articles.
| Folder 83 |
Adjudication |
| Folder 84 |
Away! Away! |
| Folder 85 |
The Blockade Runners |
| Folder 86 |
Bloodhound |
| Folder 87 |
Civic Crisis |
| Folder 88 |
Co-E |
| Folder 89 |
F |
| Folder 90 |
H-M |
| Folder 91 |
Roll River (pieces) |
| Folder 92a |
Rose Dusk, part I |
| Folder 92b |
Rose Dusk, part II |
| Folder 93 |
S |
| Folder 94 |
T-U |
| Folder 95 |
W |
| Folder 96 |
Clippings: Items written by James Boyd |
| Folder 97a |
Poems and verses for special occasions |
| Folder 97b |
Poems and verses, A-B |
| Folder 97c |
Poems and verses, C-G |
| Folder 97d |
Poems and verses, H-J |
| Folder 97e |
Poems and verses, J |
| Folder 97f |
Poems and verses, K-L |
| Folder 97g |
Poems and verses, M-W |
| Folder 98 |
Speeches |
| Folder 99 |
Radio script: "Above Suspicion" |
| Folder 100 |
Radio script: "Jim Crow" |
| Folder 101 |
Movie script, 1932 |
| Folder 102 |
William Saroyan: The Ship's Company |