Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Sam Byrd Papers, #3975, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. Walter Theron Cherry of Mt. Olive, N.C., in memory of her husband, 1972.

Additional materials received from John Flowers III, of the North Carolina Collection, Unvirsity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, August 1973, and William Bridges, of Bronx, N.Y.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Kate Stratton and Jodi Berkowitz, September 2009; Dawne Howard Lucas, July 2021

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

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.

• Byrd, Samuel.
• Europe--Description and travel.
• Historical drama, American--North Carolina.
• Joyce, James, 1882-1941.
• Joyce, James, 1882-1941. Ulysses.
• Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950.
• Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950. Domesday book.
• Novelists, American--North Carolina--20th century.
• Sailors--United States--History--World War, 1939-1945.
• Sayler, Oliver Martin, 1887-
• Stage adaptations.
• Theater--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.
• Theatrical producers and directors--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.
• United States. Navy--Sea life.
• World War, 1939-1945--Naval operations.

• Sam Byrd Scrapbooks, North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sam Byrd (1908-1955) was an author, actor, and producer. Byrd was born in Mt. Olive, N.C., and attended the University of Florida but dropped out to go to New York City, where he started with small roles in Broadway plays. He played the original Dude Lester, 1933-1936, in Tobacco Road and received the Literary Digest Award for Best Young Actor on Broadway for the 1933-1934 season. He was Curley in Of Mice and Men, 1937-1938, and at the same time produced Caldwell's Journeyman. In 1940 he produced Roark Bradford's dramatization of the John Henry stories, and in 1941 produced a play, Good Neighbor.

He published three books: Small Town South (1942); South Atlantic Shakedown (for the United States Navy in World War II) and Hurry Home to My Heart, following the Normandy landing; and two celebration pageants, "For Those who Live in the Sun," for the Jewish Congregation in Charleston, S.C., and "The Duplin Story" for Kenansville and Duplin County, N.C. At the time of his death he was working on two novels and dramatic productions of Edgar Lee Masters' Domesday Book and James Joyce's Ulysses.

His wife was Patricia Bolam. He first met her during World War II when she was a child, adopted her in 1946 when she was 12, brought her to his home Prospect Hill Plantation near Charleston, S.C., educated her at Ashley Hall there and in Paris and married her in 1951.

The collection is chiefly correspondence, clippings, and other material, 1940-1955, relating to Byrd's activities in the United States Navy in World War II; his novel, Hurry Home to My Heart (1945); the staging of a historical pageant in Duplin County, N.C., in 1949; and especially his proposed co-production, with Oliver Sayler, of stage adaptations of Edgar Lee Masters's Domesday Book and James Joyce's Ulysses in New York City, 1954-1955. Volumes include a photograph album and a European travel notebook, 1953.

Correspondence, 1940-1949, deals with Samuel Byrd's naval affairs and his receipt of the Guggenheim Fellowships. There are items about Byrd's being an ensign and various military matters, 1942; his receiving the Bronze Star, 1946; and his being promoted to lieutenant commander, 1948. There is some material on Byrd's novel Hurry Home to My Heart, 1945, and publishers' opinions on a projected work, 1948. Correspondence in 1949 relates to Byrd's contributions to the Duplin County Historical Association's Bicentennial Celebration.

Material from 1950-1953 consists mainly of financial data. Byrd was in England and New York City during this time. Some of the most significant correspondence begins in 1954 and involves dramatic productions of Edgar Lee Masters' Domesday Book and James Joyce's Ulysses. Much of this correspondence consists of letters from Sayler to Byrd and exchanges between Sayler and Trevor Passmore. Plans for the productions are discussed extensively, 1954-1955, including matters of direction, casting, script-writing, and music. Padraic Colum wrote the outlines for the Joyce production, "Ulysses in Nighttown," and there are typescripts of his outlines for acts one and two, 1955. There is also comment in correspondence on the Joyce Trustees and their attitudes toward stage and film rights.

Items dated after Byrd's death in 1955 involve the Wayne Historical Society's commemoration of Byrd in the form of a speech delivered by William Bridges, in Mt. Olive, N.C., 1958, and correspondence with the University of North Carolina Library about the papers, 1971-1972.

Also included are clippings related to Byrd's stage career, marriage, and receipt of the Guggenheim fellowships; play programs, playbills, and bookjackets; photographs; a European travel notebook, 1953; and an original copy of "The Story of Duplin."

• Photographs (P-3975/1-68)
• Photograph album (PA-3975/1)