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Collection Number: 70101

Collection Title: Daphne Athas Papers, 1970s-2000s

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.


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Size 16.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 13,200 items)
Abstract Contains materials documenting the career of Daphne Athas (1923-2020), a white author and creative writing instructor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Primarily includes typescript drafts of literary works and files related to teaching, including lecture notes and photocopies related to specific texts. Typescript drafts include Battle and Circumstance, Chapel Hill in Plain Sight, Cora, Crack the Egg Your Own Way, Deeds of Love and Hate and Anger, Eastern Point, Entering Ephesus, Forty-One Language Exercises with Illustrations, The Fourth World, Greece by Prejudice, "I Never Dreamed", The King Makes Himself, "The Lay of the Land" Mothers and Writers: A Memoir of Betty Smith, Music and Pure Meaning, Optical Illusions, "Ouida General," "The Pied Piper of Greenlaw," Taste of the Orange Kiss, Weather of the Heart, and "Tolstoy's Search for God." Teaching and faculty files include records from Athas's stylistics class, "Glossolalia" (English 47W), including annual Glossolalia and Gram-O-Rama student performances; correspondence; and publicity materials.
Creator Athas, Daphne, 1923-2020
Curatorial Unit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. University Archives.
Language English
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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 Daphne Athas Papers #70101, University Archives, Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Miranda Cambanis in June 2021 (Acc. 20210629.3).
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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Processed by: Dawne Howard Lucas and Nicholas Graham, August 2021

Encoded by: Dawne Howard Lucas, August 2021

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.

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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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Daphne Athas (1923-2020), a white author and teacher, taught creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1968 until her retirement from teaching in 2009. In the 1970s, Athas began teaching a stylistics writing course known as "Glossolalia," which became known for its annual student performances. Athas's 2007 book, Gram-O-Rama, is based on this class. Athas's other works include Entering Ephesus, The Weather of the Heart, The Fourth World, Cora, Greece by Prejudice, Chapel Hill in Plain Sight, and others.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

Contains materials related to Daphne Athas's career as an author and creative writing instructor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Primarily includes typescript drafts of literary works and files related to teaching, including lecture notes and photocopies related to specific texts. Typescript drafts include Battle and Circumstance, Chapel Hill in Plain Sight, Cora, Crack the Egg Your Own Way, Deeds of Love and Hate and Anger, Eastern Point, Entering Ephesus, Forty-One Language Exercises with Illustrations, The Fourth World, Greece by Prejudice, "I Never Dreamed", The King Makes Himself, "The Lay of the Land" Mothers and Writers: A Memoir of Betty Smith, Music and Pure Meaning, Optical Illusions, "Ouida General," "The Pied Piper of Greenlaw," Taste of the Orange Kiss, Weather of the Heart, and "Tolstoy's Search for God." Teaching and faculty files include records from Athas's stylistics class, "Glossolalia" (English 47W), including annual Glossolalia and Gram-O-Rama student performances; correspondence; and publicity materials.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Daphne Athas Papers, 1970s-2000s.

Box 1

English 47W

Includes records from Athas's Stylistics Class English 47W, including the Glossolalia and Gram-O-Rama performances, 1979-2014. Includes scripts, clippings, and programs.

Box 2

Book files

Files related to Athas's books Entering Ephesus, Greece by Prejudice, and Weather of the Heart. Includes contracts, publicity materials, and copyright registrations, as well as some speeches and interviews.

Box 3

Typescript drafts

Typescript drafts of literary works including the novel Cora, the book Crack the Egg Your Own Way, several stories and articles, and an untitled novel.

Box 4

Typescript drafts

Typescript drafts of poems and articles, the book Music and Pure Meaning, the screenplay The Fourth World, and several versions of Athas's language exercises.

Box 5

Typescript drafts

Typescript drafts of literary works including poetry, plays, Eastern Point, The Weather of the Heart, children’s stories, and other works.

Box 6

Typescript drafts

Typescript drafts of literary works including the story "The Pied Piper of Greenlaw," other short stories and plays, as well as drafts and articles for "Ouida General," and I Never Dreamed, some related to local history.

Box 7

Typescript drafts

Typescript drafts of literary works including Deeds of Love and Hate and Anger, Chapel Hill in Plain Sight, Eastern Point, and Entering Ephesus.

Box 8

Typescript drafts

Typescript drafts of literary works including Greece by Prejudice, Optical Illusions, The King Makes Himself, "The Lay of the Land," "Tolstoy’s Search for God," and other works.

Box 9

Typescript drafts

Typescript drafts of literary works including Battle and Circumstance, Forty-One Language Exercises with Illustrations, I Never Dreamed, Mothers and Writers: A Memoir of Betty Smith, and Taste of the Orange Kiss.

Box 10

Lectures, reviews, and articles

Lectures, reviews, and articles, several related to Greece and to the history of Chapel Hill.

Box 11

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Records related to Athas's work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, including correspondence with other faculty members in the Department of English, Athas's correspondence with her agent, correspondence with publishers, clippings, and publicity materials.

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