Restrictions to Access

CLOSED: Boxes 233, 236-239, 241-246, 284, 294-298, 331-332, 343-346, 362-363, 395-397, and folders 1549-1573 are CLOSED to research until 2030.

RESTRICTED: Materials in boxes 185-186, 255-256, and 259-260 must be screened for sensitive or confidential materials before they can be accessed. Use of these boxes is by appointment only. To make an appointment, please contact the Manuscripts Department in writing via email, fax, or United States post.

Use of audio or visual material may require production of listening or viewing copies.

Use of floppy disks requires special staff assistance.

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 Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill Records #4736, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Louis D. Rubin, Jr., in July 1995 (Acc. 95007, 95073) and from Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C., in April and May 1997 (Acc. 97054, 97069), September 1997 (Acc. 97110), March 1998 (Acc. 98042), June 1998 (Acc. 98152), December 1998 (Acc. 98255), July 1999 (Acc. 98403), January 2000 (Acc. 98535), December 2000 (Acc.98798), January 2001 (Acc. 98824), May 2001 (Acc. 98979), October 2001 (Acc. 99111), January 2003 (Acc. 99392), July 2003 (Acc. 99578), June 2004 (Acc. 99813), August 2007 (Acc. 100755), March 2010 (Acc. 101266), August 2011 (Acc. 101482), February 2012 (Acc. 101555), and February 2018 (Acc. 103329). Websites harvested using Archive-It, beginning in March 2013 (Acc. 101775, 101769).

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.

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.

• Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill (Firm)
• American literature--Southern States.
• Authors and publishers--History--20th century.
• Authors, American--20th century.
• North Carolina--Commerce--History--20th century.
• Novelists, American--20th century.
• Poets, American--20th century.
• Publishers and publishing--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Ravenel, Shannon.
• Rubin, Louis Decimus, 1923-
• Rubin, Robert Alden, 1958-
• Short stories, American.
• Southern States--Literature--History--20th century.
• Taylor Publishing Company.
• Workman Publishing Company.

Subject Headings: Associated Authors and Others
• Abbott, Lee K.
• Adams, Noah.
• Allen, Dwight, 1951-
• Arnold, Janis, 1951-
• Attaway, Roy.
• Atwood, Margaret Eleanor, 1939-
• Balaban, John, 1943-
• Barber, Lylah, 1906-
• Barnes, Harper, 1937-
• Baxter, Charles.
• Bean, Dave.
• Beattie, Ann.
• Bell, Madison Smartt.
• Bennett, Scott.
• Bonner, Cindy, 1953-
• Boyd, Blanch M., 1945-
• Bradley, John Ed.
• Bresee, Clyde, 1916-
• Brown, Carrie, 1959-
• Brown, Larry, 1951 July 9-
• Buck, Polly Stone.
• Buie, Lillian S.
• Burkhalter, Holly.
• Butterworth, Dan, 1955-
• Calisher, Hortense.
• Carr, Granger.
• Carver, Raymond.
• Casey, Dorothy, 1954-
• Chapman, Frances Clausen, 1920-
• Chappell, Fred, 1936-
• Charlet, James D., 1946-
• Chase, Ted.
• Cherry, Kelly.
• Connelly, John, 1949-
• Dabney, Virginius, 1901-
• Dawson, Carol, 1951-
• Doernberg, Myrna, 1939-
• Douglas, Ellen, 1921-
• Driskell, Leon V., 1932-
• Duncan, Jim, 1956-
• Edgerton, Clyde, 1944-
• Elkin, Stanley, 1930-
• Fleming, Stephen, 1945-
• Frye, Harriet.
• Frye, John, 1910-
• Fuller, Edmund, 1914-
• Galliard, Frye, 1946-
• Gardner, John, 1933-
• Gibbons, Kaye, 1960-
• Gildner, Gary.
• Godwin, Gail.
• Gold, Herbert, 1924-
• Gould, Philip, 1925-
• Gover, Paula K., 1955-
• Greco, Claudia, 1960-
• Hagerty, Barbara G. S.
• Hayes, Daniel.
• Hayes, David.
• Helprin, Mark.
• Herbert, Evelyn H.
• Hopkins, William B., 1922-
• Horrigan, Kevin.
• Iida, Deborah, 1956-
• Kaplan, Jim.
• Kercheval, Jesse Lee.
• Kincaid, Nanci.
• Langhorne, Elizabeth Coles.
• Larsen, Eric, 1941-
• Lauterer, Jock.
• Lawton, Manny, 1918-
• Leary, Lewis Gaston, 1906-
• Lo, Steven C.
• Lyle, Katie Letcher, 1938-
• Mandelbaum, Paul, 1959-
• Mason, Robert, 1912-
• Mason, Theodore C., 1921-
• McCorkle, Jill, 1958-
• McIlvoy, Kevin, 1953-
• Michaelson, Greg.
• Mickle, Shelley Fraser.
• Miller, Helen Hill, 1899-
• Mills, William, 1935-
• Morgan, James, 1944-
• Morton, Richard M.
• Murphy, Dale, 1956-
• Murrell, Duncan.
• Nordan, Lewis.
• O'Barry, Richard, 1939-
• O'Toole, Tom.
• Oates, Joyce Carol, 1938-
• Peyton, Jim, 1926-
• Powell, William Stevens, 1919-
• Pringle, Terry, 1947-
• Quigley, Martin Peter, 1913-
• Richardson, Tim.
• Royster, Vermont, 1914-
• Sanford, Annette.
• Scheer, George, 1952-
• Schoenes, Joan R.
• Schulman, Audrey, 1963-
• Shapiro, Laurie Gwen.
• Shields, Mark.
• Silber, Joan.
• Silesky, Barry, 1949-
• Simpson, Bland.
• Simpson, Bob, 1925-
• Singleton, George, 1958-
• Sloane, Philip.
• Solotaroff, Ted, 1928-
• Stark, Stephen, 1958-
• Stump, Al.
• Taylor, Robert Love, 1941-
• Terres, John K.
• Tyler, Anne.
• Updike, John.
• Verdelle, A. J., 1960-
• Verghese, A. (Abraham), 1955-
• Warner, William, 1954-
• Weaver, Gordon.
• Welter, John, 1951-
• Westmoreland, Cherie Holma, 1954-
• Wilkinson, Sylvia, 1940-
• Wing, Stephen.
• Winston, Sarah.
• Woodlief, Ann, 1940-
• Zabytko, Irene.

• Louis D. Rubin Jr. Papers (#03899)
• Clyde Edgerton Papers (#04616)

In 1982, University of North Carolina English Professor Louis Rubin Jr., and Shannon Ravenel, a Saint Louis fiction editor who had been one of Rubin's creative writing students, formed Bright Leaf Press, Inc. Headquartered in Chapel Hill, N.C., the new publishing company's sought to publish non-fiction and literary fiction of unpublished young writers. Rubin and Ravenel's goal was to offer the kind of personalized editing that characterized American publishing earlier in the century. Ravenel has said that she remembers Rubin vision for Algonquin as "a business modeled after early versions of Scribner's, Atheneum, and Knopf, where writers were loyal to their publishers because of their relationship with editors who truly cared about the craft of fiction."

From its beginnings in a garage at Rubin's home with resources that allowed for a printing of only 1,500 copies of its first book, Algonquin, by 1993, had published 178 books. Among the authors it "discovered" were Clyde Edgerton, Dori Sanders, Jill McCorkle, Larry Brown, and Lewis Nordan.

Although a hit with authors and many book buyers, Algonquin was apparently on shaky financial ground when it turned over some of its operations to Taylor Publishing Company of Dallas in 1987. In 1989, Algonquin was acquired by the Workman Publishing Company of New York City. While Workman allows Algonquin complete editorial control over works of fiction, non-fiction books must be approved by Workman. In 1990, Rubin turned over control of Algonquin to his son Robert and to Ravenel, who closed down the company's office in her home in St. Louis and moved to Chapel Hill.

In the early 1990s, the staff of five editors read more than 2,000 manuscripts per year. In addition to literary works, Algonquin had always published non-fiction works, such as military histories, to support those fiction titles that did not sell well. Along with a new emphasis on publicity and marketing in recent years, Algonquin has also tried to broaden its publishing spectrum, including more "gift books" and calendars in its offerings. In 1995, Algonquin celebrated its first offering to make the New York Times best seller list.

(Loosely based on an article by Bob Nowell in the Chapel Hill News, 12 November 1993.)

The records of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Inc., include correspondence and other papers of the company's founder Louis D. Rubin Jr., who served as president and editor-in-chief, and of Shannon Ravenel, vice-president and senior editor. There are also author files containing correspondence, biographical information, and contracts relating to authors whose work was published by Algonquin. Editorial materials include rejection letters, edited manuscripts, comment sheets, and other items; production materials include notebooks on production of individual titles and correspondence between members of production teams. Many files relate to New Stories From the South. There are also materials used in books published by Algonquin, including dust jackets and illustrations; advance uncorrected proofs of books published by Algonquin; material concerning advertising and sales of Algonquin titles; book reviews and review requests; material concerning the licensing of subsidiary rights to publications; financial records of the company, including accounts received, general ledgers, accounts with vendors, auditors' reports, stock offering memoranda, and papers relating to the sale of Algonquin operations to Taylor Publishing Company of Dallas in 1987 and to Workman Publishing Company of New York City in 1989; inventory records; a few electronic files; and legal files concerning libel and privacy risk management and other legal concerns.

The addition of April 2013 is Workman Publishing Company's Algonquin Books website and the Algonquin Books blog, both harvested using Archive-It, beginning in March 2013. The Workman Publishing site provides content and purchasing information about Algonquin titles. The Algonquin blog consists of periodic posts relating to Algonquin publications, authors, and events; a sidebar displays the company's Twitter feed.

Files are largely in the original order as received at the Southern Historical Collection from Algonquin Books so as to reflect the business practices of the company. In most cases, original file titles have been retained. Because of the somewhat idiosyncratic nature of the file order and file titles, researchers are advised to scan each series list carefully for materials of potential interest.

Researchers should also note that only selected materials have been transferred to the Southern Historical Collection. Many files remain in the Algonquin offices; these will be transferred and added to the collection when Algonquin staff determine that they are no longer active.