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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.
Size | About 8,000 items (23.5 linear feet). |
Abstract | Betty Smith (1896-1972) was a novelist and playwright of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Ann Arbor, Mich.; and Chapel Hill, N.C. Among her publications were A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1943); Tomorrow Will Be Better (1948), Maggie-now (1958), and Joy in the Morning (1963). She was married successively to George H.E. Smith, Joseph P. Jones, and Robert V. Finch. The collection is largely professional and personal correspondence and writings by Betty Smith, Robert V. Finch (1909-1959), and others. Items are mainly incoming mail that relates to Smith's daily life, her family, and the publication of her works. Included are letters, 1943-1945, from Joe Jones, her second husband, then stationed at Fort Monroe, Va., and letters, 1937-1959, from her third husband, Robert V. Finch, both before and after their marriage, reflecting their personal and professional relationship. Writings are principally typescripts of plays, articles, short stories, novels, and an unfinished autobiography. Also included are scrapbooks, photographs, clippings, and posters. |
Creator | Smith, Betty, 1896-1972. |
Language | English. |
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.
Elisabeth Wehner, professionally known as Betty Smith, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on 15 December 1896, to the children of German immigrants. She never completed high school and moved to Ann Arbor, Mich., when she married George H. E. Smith of Brooklyn, a senior law student at the University of Michigan. While in Ann Arbor, she was permitted to attend the University as a special student without being a candidate for a degree; she took classes in journalism, drama, writing, and literature. Smith won the Avery Hopw00d Award for work in drama and continued her studies at the Yale Drama School with Professor Baker as one of "Baker's Dozen, "thirteen students chosen to study play writing. Smith completed the three-year course, but was not awarded an M.F.A. since she held no other degrees.
Smith moved to New York with her two daughters, Nancy and Mary, in 1934 and worked for the Federal Theater, set up during the Depression by the W.P.A., which relocated her to Chapel Hill in 1936.
Smith and her first husband divorced in 1938. She was married to Joe Jones, a writer, journalist, and associate editor of the Chapel Hill Weekly, from 1943 to 1951. Smith was active in the theatrical community of Chapel Hill for many years, writing and helping with stage productions. She received both the Rockefeller Fellowship and the Dramatist Guild Fellowship for writing and wrote numerous plays before publishing her first novel, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, in 1943. Smith's other novels include Tomorrow Will be Better (1947), Maggie-Now (1958), and Joy in the Morning (1963).
Back to TopIntegration of materials in this collection has been deferred pending additions and changes in ownership and restrictions. Researchers are, therefore, cautioned to review the entire inventory to locate materials that may of be interest.
Back to TopIncluded are volumes of scrapbooks; Smith's correspondence; letters to and about her third husband, Robert Finch; and correspondence with Harper and Brothers about the publication of her works. Note that similar materials may be found in other series.
Arrangement: chronological.
Scrapbooks compiled by Smith with poetry and other clippings, an autograph album, and index cards of Betty Smith. See also oversized volumes of newspaper clippings of articles on Smith in Subseries 4.2.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence, mainly incoming, relating to Smith's day-to-day life as a professional writer; the phenomenal response to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn; the writing, promotion, and sale of her subsequent novels and related motion pictures and musical plays; and family and personal letters.
Personal correspondence includes letters from friends and family members, including her mother, children, and grandchildren, as well as fan letters from all over the world and requests for autographs and personal appearances. There are also more than 400 letters from her second husband, Joe Jones, while he was stationed at Fort Monroe, Va., May 1943-July 1945.
Business correspondence is composed chiefly of letters from various publishing companies with which Smith dealt in the course of her career (see Subseries 1.4 for Harper and Brothers correspondence). Other business correspondence deals with film productions of Smith's novels or translation rights. There is also correspondence pertaining to Smith's collaboration with Jack Woodford, Chase Webb, Jay Sigmund, and Robert Finch.
Throughout the collection, there are letters from Robert Voris Finch (1909-1959), Smith's third husband, who she met at Yale Drama School. They both worked for the Federal Writers Project in Chapel Hill until he moved back to New York City in 1937. He continued to write to Smith until the early 1950s when he returned to Chapel Hill. His correspondence reflects his personal relationship with Smith as well as various aspects of their professional teamwork, such as author agreements and clarifications of plot ideas. In most of their collaborations, Finch devised the plot and Smith staged the play. Finch died in 1959 and correspondence through 1960 deals with his estate (see also Subseries 1.3 for addition Finch materials).
Engagement calendars from 1964 and 1969 are filed at the end of those years. For some years, there are also financial papers (filed at the end of the year's listing). These typically include summaries of royalty accounts, income tax returns, and contracts.
Arrangement: chronological.
Army and military papers, correspondence, and business papers of Robert. V. Finch, Smith's third husband.
Arrangement: chronological.
Correspondence of Harper and Brothers (now Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc.) with Betty Smith and others about editing, production, royalties, rights, and translations of Smith's novels. Also included is the related office correspondence among members of the firm.
Arrangement: chronological.
Principally typescripts of plays, articles, short stories, an unfinished autobiography, and novels. The arrangement is largely chronological, based upon where Smith was living when pieces were written, but the novels and autobiography are treated separately. Also included are plays by Smith's third husband, Robert V. Finch, with whom she collaborated on a few works, and a few works by other authors.
See also Series 3 for writings transferred from the North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Series 4 for printed articles, reviews, etc.; and Series 5 for other writings.
Articles, plays, and stories written by Smith while residing in Michigan, 1921-1931.
Articles, plays, and other writings from the three years Smith was enrolled in the Yale Drama School.
Folder 310 |
"The Country Lawyer" #03837, Subseries: "2.1.2. Yale Years, 1931-1934." Folder 310 |
Folder 311 |
"Divorce Lawyer" #03837, Subseries: "2.1.2. Yale Years, 1931-1934." Folder 311 |
Folder 312-313
Folder 312Folder 313 |
"You Promised Me" #03837, Subseries: "2.1.2. Yale Years, 1931-1934." Folder 312-313 |
Folder 314-315
Folder 314Folder 315 |
"Interne" #03837, Subseries: "2.1.2. Yale Years, 1931-1934." Folder 314-315 |
Folder 316-317
Folder 316Folder 317 |
Printed material from a Yale drama course #03837, Subseries: "2.1.2. Yale Years, 1931-1934." Folder 316-317 |
Short stories and other writings from the period when Smith moved back to New York City and attempted to find work as a writer or playwright there.
Articles, plays, and other shorter works of fiction from the period after Smith was transferred by the W.P.A. to Chapel Hill and where she remained for the rest of her life.
Folder 329-330
Folder 329Folder 330 |
Federal Theater: "King Cotton" #03837, Subseries: "2.1.4. Chapel Hill Years, 1936-1971." Folder 329-330 |
Folder 331-337
Folder 331Folder 332Folder 333Folder 334Folder 335Folder 336Folder 337 |
Federal Theater: Living Newspaper #03837, Subseries: "2.1.4. Chapel Hill Years, 1936-1971." Folder 331-337 |
Folder 338 |
Book reviews, foreword, articles #03837, Subseries: "2.1.4. Chapel Hill Years, 1936-1971." Folder 338 |
Folder 339 |
Articles #03837, Subseries: "2.1.4. Chapel Hill Years, 1936-1971." Folder 339 |
Folder 340 |
"Story Told in Indiana" and "An Understanding Heart" #03837, Subseries: "2.1.4. Chapel Hill Years, 1936-1971." Folder 340 |
An unfinished, unpublished autobiography of Smith. Smith's daughter apparently regarded this telling of Smith's life as highly embellished.
Folder 341 |
"A Child, A Tree, A Book" #03837, Subseries: "2.2. Autobiography, undated." Folder 341 |
Folder 342 |
"A Child, A Tree, A Book" and "Look Back with a Smile" #03837, Subseries: "2.2. Autobiography, undated." Folder 342 |
Folder 343-344
Folder 343Folder 344 |
"Look Back with a Smile" #03837, Subseries: "2.2. Autobiography, undated." Folder 343-344 |
Folder 345 |
Notes #03837, Subseries: "2.2. Autobiography, undated." Folder 345 |
Folder 346-347
Folder 346Folder 347 |
"Hummel Saga" #03837, Subseries: "2.2. Autobiography, undated." Folder 346-347 |
Folder 348-350
Folder 348Folder 349Folder 350 |
Notes #03837, Subseries: "2.2. Autobiography, undated." Folder 348-350 |
Folder 351 |
Pages from which a fresh type draft for submission was taken #03837, Subseries: "2.2. Autobiography, undated." Folder 351 |
Folder 352-354
Folder 352Folder 353Folder 354 |
Notes #03837, Subseries: "2.2. Autobiography, undated." Folder 352-354 |
Drafts of novels written by Smith. See also Series 3 and Series 4.
Plays written by Finch and a few collaborative writings with Smith. See also Series 5.
Writings by other authors, including Smith's children and her second husband, Joe Jones.
Mainly unidentified writings or fragments found among Smith's papers.
Manuscripts relating to published works of Betty Smith that were transferred from the North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. See also Series 2 (especially Subseries 2.3) for related writings. Note that similar materials may be found in other series.
Chiefly newspaper clippings and other printed material collected by Smith, some of which were mounted in oversize scrapbooks. Also included is biographical information, a taped interview, and materials relating to her novels and other works. Note that similar materials may be found in other series.
Newspaper clippings and other material of interest to Smith, including articles by and about her; biographical information; audiotapes of an interview with Smith and her daughter going through her papers after her mother's death; and other items pertaining to the publication of her novels and the release of the film, Joy in the Morning.
Oversize volumes of clippings of articles by or about Smith, especially relating to the publication of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.
RESTRICTED: No photocopying of materials is permitted without permission from a trust officer of the Wachovia Bank and Trust Company.
This addition to the Betty Smith Papers consists almost entirely of typed manuscripts of plays, novels, short stories, and articles by Betty Smith, as well as rough drafts, partly completed works, and handwritten notes. There are also works, chiefly plays, that Smith wrote in collaboration with others, particularly her third husband, Robert V. Finch, and writings by Finch and other authors.
The remainder of the material includes correspondence, mostly between Smith and her agent and publishers; biographical information on Smith; and assorted clippings. Twenty photographs, most of which are publicity stills from the film version of Smith's 1963 novel Joy in the Morning, are filed separately.
Note that similar materials may be found in other series.
Additions from the estate of Betty Smith in 1990 and the Joseph P. Jones Papers. These additions include scripts for play, papers from the 1951 Smith/Jones divorce, and insurance papers from Smith's house in Chapel Hill while she was married to Jones. Also included are materials relating to the Mangum family and letter from Smith to François Henroid.
Integration of materials in this collection has been deferred pending additions and changes in ownership and restrictions. Researchers are, therefore, cautioned to review the entire inventory to locate materials that may of be interest.
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