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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 | 8.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1000 items) |
Abstract | Simmons Jones was born in Charlotte, N.C., in 1920, the son of Morehead Jones and Cornelia Dowd Jones. He served in World War II from 1941 to 1945 and afterward attended the University of North Carolina and Pembroke College at Oxford University. He later lived in New York City, working in the production end of the Broadway Theater and as a fashion photographer. He returned to Charlotte in 1974 where he completed his novel, Show Me the Way to Go Home, published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 1992. He died in May 2006. The collection consists primarily of correspondence, drafts of writings, and journals. Correspondents include Robert Rubin of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Albert Chatham, Robert Cluett, and Thomas Gleaner, the last of whom's letters consist of elaborate collages. Full and fragmented drafts are included of Show Me the Way to Go Home and several unpublished novels. There are also drafts of short stories, poems, other works, and reviews of Show Me the Way to Go Home. Journals of Simmons Jones discuss daily life; alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous; homosexuality; aging; writing ideas; and other writers including William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, and Flannery O'Connor, among others. Other materials include passports; clippings; genealogical materials for the Dowd family and the Jones family; an 1864 portrait of Jones's relative Edward Stuart Jones; collected quotes and poems; a brief biography of Simmons Jones; two rosters for the 771st Tank Destroyer Battalion; and various cards, notes, and other items. |
Creator | Jones, Simmons, 1920-2006. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
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.
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Simmons Jones was born in Charlotte, N.C., in June 1920, the son of Morehead Jones and Cornelia Dowd Jones. As a young man, Jones wrote obituaries and ran the Poet's Corner for the Charlotte News, a newspaper owned by his mother. He served in World War II from 1941 to 1945 with the 771st Tank Destroyer Battalion. Following the war, he attended the University of North Carolina and Pembroke College at Oxford University, graduating from neither. He lived in Paris, Rome, and in New York City for twenty years working in the production end of the Broadway Theater and as a fashion photographer. He returned to Charlotte in 1974 and lived in the Fourth Ward's Poplar Apartments, where he completed his novel, Show Me the Way to Go Home, published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 1992. An exhibition of his fashion photography was held at Charlotte's The Light Factory in 2002. He died in May 2006.
Back to TopPapers of author and photographer Simmons Jones of Charlotte, N.C., and New York, N.Y., consist primarily of correspondence, drafts of writings, and journals. Correspondents include Robert Rubin of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Albert Chatham, Robert Cluett, and Thomas Gleaner, the last of whom's letters consist of elaborate collages. Full and fragmented drafts are included of Jones's published novel, Show Me the Way to Go Home (formerly titled "Summer Solstice"), and unpublished novels "Traveling Light" and "Passing Muster" (formerly titled "The Skin I'm In"). Also included are drafts of short stories, poems, other works, and reviews of Show Me the Way to Go Home. Journals of Simmons Jones discuss daily life; alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous; homosexuality; aging; writing ideas; and other writers including William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, and Flannery O'Connor, among others. Other materials include passports, clippings, genealogical materials for the Dowd family and the Jones family, an 1864 portrait of Jones's relative Edward Stuart Jones, collected quotes and poems, a brief biography of Simmons Jones, two rosters for the 771st Tank Destroyer Battalion, and various cards and notes and other items.
Back to TopArrangement: alphabetical.
Correspondents include Robert Rubin of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, Albert Chatham, "Cousin" Robert Cluett, Thomas Gleaner, the Greensboro Preservation Society, International Creative Management, and Senior Resources Inc. Letters from Thomas Gleaner consist of elaborate collages, and Gimpel and Weitzenhoffer Gallery and Gruenebaun Gallery correspondence includes slides from Simmons Jones of a Joseph Glasco painting. Also included are floppy disks that contain letters from Jones to Robert Cluett, among others.
Arrangement: by content.
Full and fragmented drafts of Jones' published novel, Show Me the Way to Go Home (formerly titled "Summer Solstice"), and unpublished novels "Traveling Light" and "Passing Muster" (formerly titled "The Skin I'm In"). Also included are drafts of short stories, poems, other pieces, and reviews of Show Me the Way to Go Home. For the most part, drafts are undated.
Arrangement: chronological.
Journals of Simmons Jones discuss daily life; alcoholism and Alcoholics Anonymous; homosexuality; aging; writing ideas; and other writers including William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, and Flannery O'Connor, among others.
Includes passports, literary and other clippings, Dowd and Jones family genealogical materials, a portrait of Jones's relative Edward Stuart Jones, collected quotes and poems, a brief biography of Simmons Jones, two rosters for the 771st Tank Destroyer Battalion, and various cards and notes, among other items.
Folder 138 |
Clippings |
Folder 139-141
Folder 139Folder 140Folder 141 |
Genealogical papersGenealogical papers for the Dowd and Jones families. Includes one 1911 photograph of a Buick Racer and one photograph of an unidentified building. Also included are original family letters from Mary Stuart Jones to her mother and from unidentified persons, and slides of a portrait by William Garl Browne of an unidentified girl. |
Museum Item MU-5292/1 |
Portrait of Edward Stuart Jones, 1864Edward Stuart Jones was a son of Johnston Blakely Jones and relative of Simmons Jones. |
Folder 142 |
Passports, Morehead Alumni 1985 booklet, photograph of Simmons Jones |
Folder 143 |
771st Tank Destroyer Battalion rosters from 1 June 1993 and 12 January 1996, brief biography of Simmons Jones, collected poems and quotes, various notes and cards |