James Villas Papers, 1930s-2013

Collection Number: 05591

Collection Title: James Villas Papers, 1930s-2013

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.

Expand/collapse Collection Overview

Size	13.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 5000 items)
Abstract	James Villas (1938-2018), a gay white man, grew up in North Carolina and was best known as a food writer in New York. The James Villas Papers, 1930s-2010, include correspondence, drafts and published versions of writings and speeches, diaries, menus, appointment books, photographs, and other materials of the award-winning author and food and wine editor of Town & Country. The collection documents extensive contacts with faculty mentors and friends at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1960s and 1970s; the world of cooking, dining, and cuisine from the 1970s through the 1990s; and Villas's social life, sexual relationships, and travels, including cruises aboard the Queen Elizabeth II.
Creator	Villas, James.
Curatorial Unit	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language	English

Expand/collapse Information For Users

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 James Villas Papers #5591, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information: Purchased from James Villas in May 2014 (Acc. 102034) and received from his estate in May 2019 (Acc. 103600).

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.

Expand/collapse Processing Information

A preliminary summary description was created in October 2017 to provide information about unprocessed materials in Wilson Special Collections Library.

Encoded by: Laura Smith

Processed by: Nancy Kaiser, June 2019

Since August 2017, we have added ethnic and racial identities for individuals and families represented in collections. To determine identity, we rely on self-identification; other information supplied to the repository by collection creators or sources; public records, press accounts, and secondary sources; and contextual information in the collection materials. Omissions of ethnic and racial identities in finding aids created or updated after August 2017 are an indication of insufficient information to make an educated guess or an individual's preference for identity information to be excluded from description. When we have misidentified, please let us know at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu.

Expand/collapse 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.

Expand/collapse Biographical Information

James Villas (1938-2018) was best known as a food writer, primarily focused on southern cooking. He authored more than a dozen cookbooks and books on food and drink, including a memoir. Villas also was the food and wine editor of Town & Country for twenty-seven years, and wrote many articles for Bon Appétit, Gourmet, and Esquire.

Villas, a gay white man, grew up in North Carolina. He earned his doctoral degree from the University of North Carolina, where he studied under Jacques Hardré. He also attended the University of Grenoble in France, 1961-1962, as a Fulbright Scholar. Among his many foodwriting awards, Villas won the James Beard Journalism Award in 2000 and was twice nominated for the James Beard Book Award. Villas died on 17 August 2018, in East Hampton, N.Y.

(Biographical note adapted from Harvard Press's online bio of James Villas.)

Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The James Villas Papers, 1960s-2010, consists of correspondence, drafts and published versions of writings and speeches, diaries, menus, appointment books, photographs, and other materials of the award-winning author and food and wine editor of Town & Country. The correspondence documents connections and extensive contacts of Villas, a gay white man from North Carolina and New York, with his mentors Jacques Hardré and Wallace Fowlie, as well as Reynolds Price, Joel Fleishman and others at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1960s and 1970s. Correspondence also provides insights into the 1970s through 1990s world of cooking, dining, and cuisine, which was dominated at the time by many of his close friends, including James Beard, Craig Claiborne and M.F.K. Fisher. Villas's social life, sexual relationships, and travels are also well documented.

Contents list

Expand/collapse Papers, 1950s-2000s (Original deposit of May 2014).

2200 items.

Acquisitions Information: Accession 102034

Correspondence, drafts and published versions of writings and speeches, diaries, menus, appointment books, photographs, and other materials. The correspondence documents connections and extensive contacts of Villas, a gay white man, with his mentors Jacques Hardré and Wallace Fowlie, as well as Reynolds Price, Joel Fleishman and others at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the 1960s and 1970s. Correspondence also provides insights into the 1970s through 1990s world of cooking and cuisine, which was dominated at the time by many of his close friends, including James Beard, Craig Claiborne, and M.F.K. Fisher. Villas's social life, sexual relationships, and travels are also well documented.

Oversize Box OB-05591/1

Menus, 1950s-1990s

Including Four Seasons, Mama Leones, Caravelle, Maxwell's Plum, Fleur de Lis, Paul Bocuse, Cote Basque, Wheelers, Rules, Le Cirque, Windows on the World, Maxim's, Comme che Soi, Laurent, Luchow's Latin Quarter, QEII, Savoy Grill, French Line, Moulin de Mougins, Taillevent, Villa Lorraine, and others.

MU-05591/1-3

MU-05591/1

MU-05591/2

MU-05591/3

James Beard medals

IB-05591/1-2

IB-05591/1

IB-05591/2

Food world, friends

Black-and-white and color prints, color slides

Portraits and snapshots of James Villas and friends in the food world, including Craig Claiborne, James Beard, Pierre Franey, Paul Bocuse, and others. Some photographs are annotated by James Villas.

Box 1

Jacques Hardré

Jacques Hardré was a professor of romance languages at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of numerous books and essays on French surrealists, as well as a mentor to James Villas. Correspondence, mostly in French, offers advice on academic career and personal relationships and documents the lives of two single homosexual men of different generations.

Wallace Fowlie, 1965-1970s

Wallace Fowlie (1908-1988) was an America writer and professor of literature, as well as a mentor to James Villas. In French and English, regarding travels, mutual friends, works.

Ned Rorem, 1966-2004

Ned Rorem is a Pulitzer prize-winning American composer and diarist, best known for his song settings. Correspondence references friends, Wallace Fowlie, James Holmes, shared acquaintances, travels.

James Lord, 1990s

Travel, shared friends, magazine essay by Villas.

William Baskin

Miscellaneous correspondence

Mostly academic-related.

Russell Oberlin

Alfred Engstrom, 1970s

Correspondence regarding mutual academic interests, generally relating to Villas's tenure at Rutgers University and Hunter College.

Academic and family papers and correspondence

Letters, passports, and grade books.

Academic-related correspondence

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Guggenheim fellowship.

Other letters, 1970s-1990s

Julia Child on Villas writings, 1994; Craig Claiborne on personal matters and travels, 1980s-1990s; M.F.K. Fisher on articles, recipes, friends, and his visit, 1970s-1980s; Pauline Trigere on cook books; Leslie Caron, 1997; Paul Bocuse, 1970s-1980s; Jeremiah Tower regarding Alice Waters Chez Panisse controversy, 1980s; Frank Zachary, Town and Country correspondence; Emeril Lagasse, 1986; Ella Brennan commander's palace, 1998; Helen Gurley Brown, Cosmopolitan essay; Julia Reed; Mimi Sheraton, 1986; Cunard ship paraphernalia; Charles Clegg, on Lucius Beebe, 1970s; Liz Smith, Esquire piece and personal problems; Ivana Trump, Hotel and Esquire article, 1989; Jacob Epstein, publishing project, 1983; Harold Hayes, Esquire, 1970s; Don Erickson, 1970s-1980s; Ruth Reichl, Los Angeles Times, 1989; John Mariana, 1980; Tony Vallone, 1991; Jovan Trboyevic, 1991.

Miscellaneous correspondence on food, cuisine

Box 2

Moira

Manuscript corrected and typed versions

Pearl Byrd Foster correspondence

Lectures

Ocean liners and magazine writing.

Awards, press, interviews

Lucius Beebe article

Business correspondence

Chiefly Town & Country.

Personal correspondence, 1960s-2000s

Includes letters from sexual contacts.

Personal correspondence

Correspondents include Reynolds Price, Alan Gurganus, and others.

Jack Undank

Published and unpublished writings, 1950s-1990s

Academic papers, novels, cookbook material, offprints of articles, thesis on Gérard Nerval, notes, and other manuscripts.

Fulbright, 1961-1962

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill commencement, 1966

Box 3

Diaries, 1964-2010

Includes references to friends and visits, Truman Capote, Williams, Lord, and others.

Box 4

Appointment books, 1971-2003

Appointments, dinner parties, visits with Capote, Williams, and others.

Box 5

Writings

Handwritten and typed manuscripts, book proposals.

Box 6

French literature 1 and 2, 1950s

Student papers from coursework at University of North Carolina.

Expand/collapse Papers, 1930s-2013 (Addition of May 2019).

2800 items.

Acquisitions Information: Accession 103600

The Addition of May 2019 includes clippings and research files, scrapbooks, photographs, articles and other writings by James Villas (many for Town & Country), recipes, and personal diaries. These materials document Villas’s research, primarily on Southern food; recipe development; personal and family life; and international travel, especially aboard the Queen Elizabeth II (QE2).

Box 7

PA-05591/1

PA-05591/2

PA-05591/3

PA-05591/4

PA-05591/5

PA-05591/6

Childhood, family, travel

Photograph albums document childhood, family, and travels on the QE2 and other cruise ships.

Expand/collapse Items Separated

Photographs (PA-05591/1-6; IB-05591/1-2)
Oversize papers (OB-05591/1)
Scrapbook (SV-05591/1)

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Collection Number: 05591 Collection Title: James Villas Papers, 1930s-2013