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Collection Number: 5760

Collection Title: Jerry Leath Mills Papers, 1976-2012

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Size 10.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1500 items)
Abstract The collection of Jerry "Jake" Leath Mills (1938-2012), an essayist, editor, and professor of English Renaissance literature, contains draft writings by Mills and other authors, correspondence with authors, newspaper clippings, printed materials, audio and video recordings, and subject files. Most materials reflect Mills' work as an editor and book reviewer. Authors represented in the collection include Larry Brown of Oxford, Miss., Wayne Caldwell, Tim McLaurin, Clyde Edgerton, Terry Roberts, Cecelia Conway, and Bland Simpson. The subject files focus on the "dead mule" in southern literature, the subject of his 1996 essay titled "Equine Gothic: The Dead Mule as Generic Signifier in Southern Literature" and the musical King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running for which Mills contributed lyrics. Also included is a 1995 final draft of Billy Bob Thornton's screenplay for the feature film Sling Blade. Acquired as part of the Southern Historical Collection.
Creator Mills, Jerry Leath.
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Language English
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Restrictions to Access
This collection is not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting this collection.
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 Jerry Leath Mills Papers #5760, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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.
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This summary description was created in November 2017 to provide information about unprocessed materials in Wilson Special Collections Library.

Encoded by: Laura Smith

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Jerry "Jake" Leath Mills (1938-2012) of Burlington, N.C., taught English Renaissance literature at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for 31 years. After retiring from UNC in 1996, Mills taught at East Carolina University and Colby-Sawyer College in New London, N.H.

Mills reviewed books for the Raleigh News & Observer, and he was the editor of the journal Studies in Philology from 1980 to 1996.

His 1996 Southern Literary Journal essay "Equine Gothic: The Dead Mule as Generic Signifier in Southern Literature" is widely considered a classic and was featured in the New York Times not long after it was first published, inspiring a literary cottage industry of "dead mule spotting" in southern fiction. His essays "Store Lunch" and "Chitlin Function" appeared in the journal Southern Cultures.

Mills contributed original lyrics and stories to the musicals King Mackerel & The Blues Are Running and Pump Boys and Dinettes.

Information for this note was compiled from his obituary: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thetimesnews/obituary.aspx?pid=158745781 (Accessed October 2017)

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