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Collection Number: 05145

Collection Title: Elizabeth Spencer Papers, 1911-2018 (bulk 1999-2003)

This collection has access restrictions. For details, please see the restrictions.

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 Expand/collapse Collection Overview

Size 16.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 6,000 items)
Abstract White writer Elizabeth Spencer was born in 1921 in Carrollton, Miss. Spencer married John Rusher in 1956 and was sometimes known as Elizabeth Rusher among friends and family. Spencer taught writing at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, 1976-1986, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1986-1992. The collection includes correspondence, writings and related materials, and pictures. Business and personal correspondence, 1948-2003 (bulk 1999-2003), includes both letters and printed copies of incoming and outgoing emails. Correspondents include John Rusher and other family members, writers, poets, professors, artists, editors, literary critics, and United States Senator John McCain. Subjects include Eudora Welty, Spencer's writings and professional activities, Spencer family history, McCain's presidential run, and other topics. Writings, 1950s, 1987-2002, are chiefly by or about Spencer. Pictures include photographs of Spencer, family and friends, travels, other writers, and writing events. Also included is a series of pictures that Spencer selected for possible inclusion in her memoir Landscapes of the Heart. The Addition of April 2013 is Spencer's professional website, consisting of resume, portraits of Spencer, published books, and forthcoming projects, many accompanied by the author's own commentary.
Creator Spencer, Elizabeth, 1921- .
Curatorial Unit Southern Historical Collection
Language English
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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Information For Users

Restrictions to Access
This collection contains additional materials that are not available for immediate or same day access. Please contact Research and Instructional Service staff at wilsonlibrary@unc.edu to discuss options for consulting these materials.
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 Elizabeth Spencer Papers #5145, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Acquisitions Information
Received from Elizabeth Spencer of Chapel Hill, N.C., in June 2004 (Acc. 99840), and March 2018 (Acc. 103311). Received from the estate of Elizabeth Spencer, June 2021 (Acc. 20210629.2). Received from Lisa Lavoie(Acc. 20220214.4) and Calvin N. Jones (Acc. 20220214.5), February 2022. Website harvested using Archive-It, beginning in March 2013 (Acc. 101770).
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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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Processing Information

Processed by: Nathalie Wheaton, March 2005

Encoded by: Nathalie Wheaton, March 2005

Revisions by: Sara Mannheimer, April 2013; Laura Smith, September 2018; Laura Smith and Nancy Kaiser, January 2019; Dawne Howard Lucas, December 2021, March 2022

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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expand/collapse 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.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Related Collections

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

White writer Elizabeth Spencer was born in 1921, in Carrollton, Miss., to James Luther Spencer and Mary James McCain Spencer. Spencer graduated from Belhaven College in Jackson, Miss., in 1942. She went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in English from Vanderbilt University. She taught English for several years in Mississippi and Tennessee and wrote two novels, Fire in the Morning (1948) and This Crooked Way (1952) before she won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1953, which allowed her to move to Italy to focus on her writing. While in Italy, she met John Rusher, an Englishman who taught English to Italians. They were married 29 September 1956, the same year Spencer's novel The Voice at the Back Door was published.

Spencer spent 1976 to 1986 at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, as a writer-in-residence and professor in the graduate writing program. In 1985, she was elected to the American Institute of Arts and Letters (now the American Academy of Arts and Letters). From 1986 to 1992, Spencer was visiting professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Spencer was a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers (1987) and served as vice-chancellor, 1993-1997. In 1998, she published Landscapes of the Heart, a memoir of the Spencer and McCain families and growing up in Mississippi. On 17 December 1998 of that same year, Spencer's husband died. In 2001, a collection of many of Spencer's previously published stories was published along with some new fiction under the title The Southern Woman. In 2003, Spencer's 1960 novel, The Light in the Piazza, was adapted into a musical (music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, book by Craig Lucas).

Spencer has received many awards for her writing, including the Thomas Wolfe Award for Literature (2002) and the William Faulkner Medal for Literary Excellence (2002). She received an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes correspondence, writings and related materials, and pictures of white writer Elizabeth Spencer. Business and personal correspondence, 1948-2003 (bulk 1999-2003), includes both letters and printed copies of incoming and outgoing emails. Correspondents include John Rusher and other family members; writersDoris Betts, Eve Caram, Marie Claire Blais, Walter Sullivan, Mavis Gallant, Allan Gurganus, Angela Montserrate, Shelby Foote, Lee Smith, Alice Denham, Philip S. May, Elmo Howell, Ann Charney, Joe Blotner, Michel Bandry, and Anne M. Wyatt-Brown; poetsWilliam Jay Smith, Frances Boeckman, and Fraser Sutherland; poet and professorRobert Phillips (also Spencer's literary executor); artistDavid Terry; professors Morton King and George Lensing; Patrick Samway of American Magazine; literary criticWarren French; composerT. J. Anderson; editorsGeorge Cole of the Sewanee Review, Samuel S. Vaughan and David Ebershoff of Random House, Hunter Cole and Seetha Srinivasan of the University Press of Mississippi, and Peggy Prenshaw; actressTandy Cronyn; writer and professor Paolo Vivante and his wife, artist Vera Vivante; literary archivist Adam Muhlig; writer and professor William H. Slavick; Arnold Kramish; William Goodwin; and United States Senator John McCain. Subjects include Eudora Welty, Spencer's writings and professional activities, Spencer family history, McCain's presidential run, and other topics.

Writings, 1950s, 1987-2002, are chiefly by or about Spencer. Pictures include photographs of Spencer; family and friends; travels; others, including Ralph Ellison, Robert Phillips, Walker Percy, Walter Sullivan, Eudora Welty, Jim Seay, Ellen Douglas, Peggy Prenshaw, Patrick Samway, Mavis Gallant, and Gloria Bragdon; and writing events. Also included is a series of pictures that Spencer selected for possible inclusion in her memoir Landscapes of the Heart. The Addition of April 2013 is the professional website of Elizabeth Spencer, harvested using Archive-It, beginning in March 2013. The website consists of Spencer's resume, portraits of Spencer, published books, and forthcoming projects, many accompanied by the author's own commentary.

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Contents list

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series Quick Links

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, 1948-2003.

About 3,500 items.

Arrangement: roughly chronological.

Processing Note: emails were copied onto floppy disks by Spencer and have been printed and included in this series

Correspondence consists of both business and personal correspondence, 1948-2003. Most of the correspondence is dated 1999-2003 and includes letters and incoming and outgoing emails. For the most part, original folder titles have been maintained. Many of the folders are divided into years, but years may overlap. There is little arrangement within years.

Correspondence includes letters and emails relating to the three repositories that hold Spencer's papers: Special Collections and Archives at the University of Kentucky Libraries, the National Library of Canada, and the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Also included is correspondence with John Mappin, editor and agent, about her collections.

Other correspondents include John Rusher and other family members; writers Eve Caram, Marie Claire Blais, Walter Sullivan, Mavis Gallant, Allan Gurganus, Angela Montserrate, Shelby Foote, Lee Smith, Alice Denham, Philip S. May, Elmo Howell, Ann Charney, and Anne M. Wyatt-Brown; poets William Jay Smith, Frances Boeckman, and Fraser Sutherland; poet and professor Robert Phillips (also Spencer's literary executor); artist David Terry; professors Morton King and George Lensing; Patrick Samway of American Magazine; literary critic Warren French; composer T. J. Anderson; editor George Cole of the Sewanee Review; actress Tandy Cronyn; writer and professor Paolo Vivante and his wife, artist Vera Vivante; literary archivist Adam Muhlig; writer and professor William H. Slavick; Arnold Kramish; and William Goodwin. Although a few of these correspondents also communicated via email, some correspondents chiefly used email, including writer Joe Blotner; editors Samuel S. Vaughan and David Ebershoff of Random House; Hunter Cole ("Mack") and Seetha Srinivasan of the University Press of Mississippi; editor Peggy Prenshaw; writer Doris Betts; and French author Michel Bandry, who wrote Elizabeth Spencer: Du Sud au monde.

Subjects of the letters include Hunter Cole's friendship with Eudora Welty, Welty's Country Churchyards book of photographs, Spencer's memoir Landscapes of the Heart, her short story "Owl," her collection of stories The Southern Woman, the musical version of Light in the Piazza, the Southern Festival of Books, and Spencer family genealogical information from Bertha Spencer Smoak. There are also letters containing Robert Phillips's poems; invitations to parties, literary events, and readings; requests for comments on other writers' works; inquiries about the inclusion of Spencer's works in anthologies; newsletters for conferences and meetings; newspaper clippings; some enclosed photographs; and fan letters. Letters from United States Senator John McCain of Arizona, a relative of Spencer's, relate to the 2000 presidential race.

Folder 1

1948-1963: Postcards to and from Spencer and Rusher

Folder 2

1956: Spencer and Rusher's wedding

Folder 3

1960s-1970s

Folder 4

1965-1984: University of Kentucky

Folder 5

1980-1989: National Library of Canada

Folder 6

1990-2003: From John Mappin and the National Library of Canada

Folder 7

1994-2003: To John Mappin and the National Library of Canada

Folder 8

1994-2001: Letters from France

Folder 9

1995-1996: From Jim and Mary Rusher

Folder 10

1999: Letters from Spencer

Folder 11

1999: Email, outgoing

Folder 12

1999: Email, incoming

Folder 13

1999-2002: Email, Michel Brandy and Joe Blotner

Folder 14-15

Folder 14

Folder 15

1999-2000: Email, Hunter Cole

Folder 16

1999-2000: Email, Samuel Vaughan and David Ebershoff

Folder 17

1999-2000, 2002: American Academy of Arts and Letters annual ceremonials

Extra Oversize Image Folder XOP-PF-5145/1

1999: Photographs from the American Academy of Arts and Letters annual ceremonials

Folder 18-31

Folder 18

Folder 19

Folder 20

Folder 21

Folder 22

Folder 23

Folder 24

Folder 25

Folder 26

Folder 27

Folder 28

Folder 29

Folder 30

Folder 31

1999

Folder 32-46

Folder 32

Folder 33

Folder 34

Folder 35

Folder 36

Folder 37

Folder 38

Folder 39

Folder 40

Folder 41

Folder 42

Folder 43

Folder 44

Folder 45

Folder 46

2000

Folder 47-56

Folder 47

Folder 48

Folder 49

Folder 50

Folder 51

Folder 52

Folder 53

Folder 54

Folder 55

Folder 56

2001

Folder 57-65

Folder 57

Folder 58

Folder 59

Folder 60

Folder 61

Folder 62

Folder 63

Folder 64

Folder 65

2002

Folder 66-74

Folder 66

Folder 67

Folder 68

Folder 69

Folder 70

Folder 71

Folder 72

Folder 73

Folder 74

2003

Photograph Album PA-5145/1

Photograph album

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Writings and Related Material, 1950s, 1987-2002.

About 100 items.

Arrangement: roughly chronological.

Essays by Spencer or about Spencer's work; articles about Spencer and her writings; programs and other information about conferences and symposia; American Academy of Arts and Letters invitations, meetings, and awards information; items relating to Eudora Welty's Country Churchyards for which Spencer wrote the introduction; articles about Adam Guettel, composer of Light in the Piazza musical; Spencer's teleplay "First Dark," 2nd draft, June 1982; Alan Gurganus articles; a draft of Spencer's short story "Owl"; and other materials.

Folder 75

1950s: Italy postcards, tourist brochures, photograph album enclosures

Folder 76

1954-1958: Postcards, tourist brochures, photograph album enclosures

Folder 77

7-17 September 1987: Notes related to photographs from Spencer's trip to Russia

Folder 78

1991: The Night Travelers reviews

Folder 79

1997-1998

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-5145/1

Calendar: Out on the Porch, 1997

Contains an excerpt from The Voice at the Back Door

Folder 80

20 October 1998: Roberts articles on Spencer's short stories

Folder 81

1999-2000: Fellowship of Southern Writers

Folder 82

April 1999: Brevard College

Folder 83

2-12 April 1999: Paris and Villeneuve sur Lot

Folder 84

7-8 May 1999: Belhaven College

Folder 85

1999: "First Dark" teleplay

Folder 86

1998-1999: Nancy Tilly's Spencer interview

Folder 87

"Owl" draft

Folder 88

1999

Folder 89

2000: Salinger essay for Jackson Bryer

Folder 90

2000: Lee Smith's "Return to Ship Island"

Folder 91

March 2000: Essays by Eve Caram and Terry Roberts on Spencer's "The Cousins"

Folder 92

December 2000: Paper by John E. Price on Spencer's "Sharon"

Folder 93

2000: "Look Homeward Angel: Of Ghosts, Angels, and Lostness"

Folder 94-95

Folder 94

Folder 95

1999-2000: Eudora Welty's Country Churchyards

Folder 96

2000

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-5145/2

Calendar: Out on the Porch, 2000

Contains an excerpt from "The Finder"

Folder 97

1998-2001: American Academy of Arts and Letters

Folder 98

Summer 2001: Modern Library catalog

Folder 99

February 2002: Spencer's essay "One Writer's Sense of Place" for Walter Sullivan

Folder 100

Doris Betts's "Light-and Dark?-in the Piazza"

Folder 101

28 February-8 March 2002: Celebration of Women Week, Shreveport, La.

Folder 102

January 2002: Articles on play Zelda, Scott, and Ernest

Folder 103

23-24 February 2002: South Carolina Book Festival

Folder 104

David Havird's review of The Southern Woman

Folder 105

5-6 April 2002: North Carolina Literary Festival

Folder 106-107

Folder 106

Folder 107

1999-2002: Adam Guettel

Folder 108

2002

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 3. Pictures, 1911-2003, and undated.

About 2,400 items.

Photographs are arranged in series as received. For the most part, Spencer provided dates and original folder titles have been maintained. Note that family photographs appear in both series 3.3 and 3.4. Pictures may include negatives, slides, and albums.

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 3.1. Elizabeth Spencer Pictures, 1920s-2000.

About 100 items.

Pictures of Elizabeth Spencer include publicity photographs and posed photographs. These pictures were separated from the rest of the pictures in the collection by Spencer. Pictures are mostly undated but appear to be from Spencer's girlhood in the 1920s until the early 2000s. Also included are several slides from a 1992 photo shoot in Paris.

Image Folder PF-5145/1-6

PF-5145/1

PF-5145/2

PF-5145/3

PF-5145/4

PF-5145/5

PF-5145/6

Spencer

Image Folder PF-5145/7

1992: Spencer portraits, Paris

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 3.2. Landscapes of the Heart Pictures, 1911-1997.

About 50 items.

Pictures Spencer selected for possible inclusion in her memoir Landscapes of the Heart. Pictures are mostly of Spencer and Rusher, family members, and the Spencer family home in Mississippi. Some of these pictures can be found in the final edition of Landscapes of the Heart. Several of the pictures may be repeated elsewhere in the collection. Many of the older family photographs are reprints of original photographs.

Image Folder PF-5145/8

Submitted for Landscapes of the Heart, not used

Image Folder PF-5145/9-10

PF-5145/9

PF-5145/10

Submitted for Landscapes of the Heart, some used

Image Folder PF-5145/11

Submitted for Landscapes of the Heart

Image Folder PF-5145/12

Submitted for Landscapes of the Heart and family portraits

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 3.3. Family Pictures, 1911-1980s.

About 200 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Pictures of Spencer and Rusher family members. For the most part, original folder titles have been retained, and Spencer provided approximate dates.

Image Folder PF-5145/13

Late 1800s-1953: Spencer family

Image Folder PF-5145/14

1912: J. L. Spencer, Sr.'s first store in Carrollton, Miss.

Image Folder PF-5145/15

Uncle Joe McCain, grandfather John Sidney McCain, and Mr. May (aunt Esther's father) in living room at Teoc, McCain family home in Carroll County, Miss.

Image Folder PF-5145/16

John S. McCain and boy on dog.

Image Folder PF-5145/17

Mary James McCain (Spencer) as young girl, Elizabeth Spencer (aged 3?)

Image Folder PF-5145/18

Spencer's parents, Mary James McCain Spencer and James Luther Spencer

Image Folder PF-5145/19

1920s-1930s: John Rusher's childhood family photographs

Image Folder PF-5145/20

1930s-1960s: Family photographs given to Spencer by her mother

Image Folder PF-5145/21

1930s-1960s: Family photographs

Image Folder PF-5145/22

1930s-1960s: Family and other photographs

Image Folder PF-5145/23

1936, 1950s-early 1970s

Image Folder PF-5145/24

1950s: Individuals

Image Folder PF-5145/25

1950s: Unidentified wedding portrait

Image Folder PF-5145/26

1950s

Image Folder PF-5145/27

1950s-1960s

Image Folder PF-5145/28

1950s-1960s: Photo Christmas cards given to Spencer's parents

Image Folder PF-5145/29

1950s-1970s: John Rusher

Image Folder PF-5145/30

1950s-1970s: Children and other family members

Image Folder PF-5145/31

1960s-1970s, undated: Spencer family, Spencer and Rusher in Canada

Image Folder PF-5145/32

1960s-early 1980s: Children of family and family friends

Photograph Album PA-5145/2-4

PA-5145/2

PA-5145/3

PA-5145/4

Photograph albums

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 3.4. Other Pictures, 1950s-2002.

About 2,000 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Photographs of Spencer and Rusher's travels, friends and other writers, family members, and writing conferences. Approximate dates were provided by Spencer, and original folder titles have been retained for the most part. Travel photographs are from Europe, Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Subjects include Ralph Ellison (1956); Robert Phillips; Walker Percy, Walter Sullivan, and Eudora Welty (1985); Jim Seay, Ellen Douglas, and Peggy Prenshaw at a conference in Russia (1987); Patrick Samway and Mavis Gallant (1992); and Gloria Bragdon and Patrick Samway (2001). Pictures of events include pictures from a party following the opening of Spencer's play For Lease or Sale (1989), Spencer receiving an honorary degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (May 1998), and Spencer receiving the Thomas Wolfe Award (3 October 2002).

Image Folder PF-5145/33

1950s: Rome, taken by Spencer

Image Folder PF-5145/34

1950s: Roman gates and other architecture, taken by Spencer

Image Folder PF-5145/35

1950s: Italian cities, photographs, postcards, tourist brouchures

Image Folder PF-5145/36

1951: Donald Davidson, Vermont

Image Folder PF-5145/37

1952: Trips to New Orleans and Gulf Coast with friends

Image Folder PF-5145/38

1954-1958: Rome, elsewhere in Italy

Image Folder PF-5145/39

1956: Mostly England

Image Folder PF-5145/40

1956: Ralph Ellison, Fanny E. Jean Douglas, John Rusher, in Italy near Anieni

Image Folder PF-5145/41

1950s?: Travels in England or Canada

Image Folder PF-5145/42-43

PF-5145/42

PF-5145/43

1950s mostly: Spencer's travels

Image Folder PF-5145/44

1960s: Spencer's travels and Expo 1967

Image Folder PF-5145/45

1960s: House in Lachine, Quebec, and other photographs

Image Folder PF-5145/46-47

PF-5145/46

PF-5145/47

1960s: Mainly from Canada

Image Folder PF-5145/48

1967: House in Lachine, Quebec, Expo 1967, houseboat trip to Thousand Islands

Image Folder PF-5145/49

1970s: Trip to England

Image Folder PF-5145/50

1970s: photographs from Canada

Image Folder PF-5145/51

1970s?: John Rusher and Jim Spencer

Image Folder PF-5145/52

24 April 1973: Spencer and Rusher

Image Folder PF-5145/53

1970s-1980s: Spencer, Rusher, Robert Phillips, and others

Image Folder PF-5145/54

1970s-1980s: Canada and other places and events; 1984 Mexico

Image Folder PF-5145/55

early 1980s: France or Montreal

Image Folder PF-5145/56

1981: Spencer photographs from Hunter Cole at Chapel of the Cross, Miss.

Image Folder PF-5145/57

1985: England?

Image Folder PF-5145/58

1985, Spencer, Walker Percy, Walter Sullivan, Louisiana State University

Image Folder PF-5145/59

1985?: Spencer, Eudora Welty at Southern Review, Louisiana State University

Image Folder PF-5145/60

1985? and 1989: Walker Percy

Image Folder PF-5145/61

1986-1988?: Brookwood Condo

Image Folder PF-5145/62

September 1987: Jim Seay, Ellen Douglas, Peggy Prenshaw in Russia

Image Folder PF-5145/63

September 1987: Russia, Paris (conference)

Image Folder PF-5145/64

1987: Paris, return from Moscow, Russia

Image Folder PF-5145/65

1988: Home at Chapel Hill, Biltmore, Park Inn Christmas, Quental

Image Folder PF-5145/66

1989: Jim Seay, Welty, Spencer, Jackson, Miss.

Image Folder PF-5145/67

1989: Party following play For Lease or Sale and David Hammond

Image Folder PF-5145/68

1989?: Trip to Quental and visit of John and James Rusher

Image Folder PF-5145/69

1980s: Spencer travels and others

Image Folder PF-5145/70

1980s: John Mark Rusher's wedding and photographs from Mexico trip

Image Folder PF-5145/71

1980s?: Rusher family

Image Folder PF-5145/72

1980s: Friends in Chapel Hill, property in Mississippi

Image Folder PF-5145/73

1980s?: Unidentified

Image Folder PF-5145/74

1980s-early 1990s: Ellen and Mike's children, Fraser and Allison's Malcolm

Image Folder PF-5145/75

1980s-early 1990s: David Hammond and Ikuko Fujihira at Durham Academy (1989), weddings, and others

Image Folder PF-5145/76

late 1980s-early 1990s: Ellen Spencer Johnson's family and Luther Spencer

Image Folder PF-5145/77

1980s-early 1990s?: Montreal? and home at Chapel Hill

Image Folder PF-5145/78

1980s-early 1990s?: Montreal?

Image Folder PF-5145/79

1980s-early 1990s?: Mexico and home at Chapel Hill

Image Folder PF-5145/80

1980s-early 1990s: Spencer reading, photographs of friends and family

Image Folder PF-5145/81

1990?: House in Carrollton, Miss.

Image Folder PF-5145/82

1991-1992?: Blissard and friends, Michael Miller

Image Folder PF-5145/83

4 September 1992: Idaho with Louie, Hemingway's grave

Image Folder PF-5145/84

1992: New York and Paris and Angers, France; Patrick Samway and Mavis Gallant

Image Folder PF-5145/85

1993?: Cape Hatteras, Austrian critic

Image Folder PF-5145/86

1994: Spencer's receives North Carolina Governor's Award for literature, New Year's Eve party

Image Folder PF-5145/87

1994: Italy

Image Folder PF-5145/88

1994?: Nova Scotia

Image Folder PF-5145/89

1995?: Rusher family, England

Image Folder PF-5145/90

May 1998: Spencer receives honorary degree from the University of North Carolina

Image Folder PF-5145/91

1990s: Writers in New York for Welty evening at YMHA (1998), Chapel Hill, other photographs

Image Folder PF-5145/92

1990s: Nigel Nicholson, Portland, Ore. (1999), and Fraser Sutherland

Image Folder PF-5145/93

1990s: England

Image Folder PF-5145/94

1990s: Spencer in Chapel Hill, Jackson, Carrollton, and Greenwood, Miss.

Image Folder PF-5145/95

1990s: Spencer with friends and neighbors at Longleaf house

Image Folder PF-5145/96

1990s: Party at Kings' for Louisiana State University degree

Image Folder PF-5145/97

1990s: Marilyn Elkins, Eve Caram in Los Angeles; home at Chapel Hill

Image Folder PF-5145/98

1990s: Houses and trip to North Carolina coast

Image Folder PF-5145/99

1990s: Rusher family in England and other photographs

Image Folder PF-5145/100

1990s: Various friends, families, parties, and Caribbean cruise

Image Folder PF-5145/101

1990s: New York, Chapel Hill, Shreveport, France, and England

Image Folder PF-5145/102

1990s: Shreveport, Miss., visit; Janie Flourney

Image Folder PF-5145/103

1990s: Georgetown, Tex., and others

Image Folder PF-5145/104

1990s: Neighbors, Langstaffs

Image Folder PF-5145/105

1990s: Fort Fisher with Worths, England

Image Folder PF-5145/106

1990s: Sandy and Irena Worth; Robert Phillips and Gloria Bragdon in Chapel Hill

Image Folder PF-5145/107

1990s: Sandy and Irena Worth; Ellen Spencer Johnson

Image Folder PF-5145/108

1990s: Jordan Lake with Rusher, Beaufort, N.C.

Image Folder PF-5145/109

1990s: Maggie O'Connor; Dick and Frances Boeckman

Image Folder PF-5145/110

1990s: Fort Fisher; John Rusher in England, Mexico

Image Folder PF-5145/111

1990s: Fort Fisher; trip to Mexico

Image Folder PF-5145/112

1990s: Rusher family trip west (Idaho) with Louie Spencer; Suwannee with George Core

Image Folder PF-5145/113

1990s: John, Jim, and Mary Rusher

Image Folder PF-5145/114

1990s: Jill McCorkle family; Terry Roberts family

Image Folder PF-5145/115

1990s: Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, with friends

Image Folder PF-5145/116

1990s: Spencer and Rusher at home in Chapel Hill

Image Folder PF-5145/117

1990s: Baby Henry Roberts from T. and Margie

Image Folder PF-5145/118

1990s: England

Image Folder PF-5145/119

1990s: Spencer, unidentified events

Image Folder PF-5145/120

1990s: Spencer at unidentified convention

Image Folder PF-5145/121

1990s: Spencer and Rusher

Image Folder PF-5145/122

1990s: Various photographs, Spencer and Rusher

Image Folder PF-5145/123

Late 1990s: Various photographs, John Rusher

Image Folder PF-5145/124

From Robert Phillips of Spencer and others (15 June 2002), of himself (1 November 2001)

Image Folder PF-5145/125

2001: Italian Group party

Image Folder PF-5145/126

2000s: Spencer at home, Whiskers the cat

Image Folder PF-5145/127

2001: Gloria Bragdon, Patrick Samway; Jamie Garcia with Spencer

Image Folder PF-5145/128

3 October 2002: Spencer receives Thomas Wolfe Award

Image Folder PF-5145/129

2002: Party at house

Photograph Album PA-5145/5-8

PA-5145/5

PA-5145/6

PA-5145/7

PA-5145/8

Photograph albums

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 4A. Additions

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 4.1A. Elizabeth Spencer Website (Addition of April 2013)

1 item.

The professional website of Elizabeth Spencer consists of Spencer's resume, portraits of Spencer, published books, and forthcoming projects, many accompanied by the author's own commentary.

Digital Item DI-5145/1

Website (www.elizabethspencerwriter.com)

Harvested using Archive-It, beginning in March 2013.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 4.2A. Correspondence and Memorabilia, 1957-2015 (Addition of March 2018).

Aquisitions Information: Accession 103311.

Folder 109

Correspondence, 1957, 1976, 1981-1998

Folder 110

Correspondence, 2002-2013

Folder 111-112

Folder 111

Folder 112

Correspondence, 2014

Folder 113-114

Folder 113

Folder 114

Correspondence, 2015

Folder 115

Correspondence, undated

Folder 116-121

Folder 116

Folder 117

Folder 118

Folder 119

Folder 120

Folder 121

Correspondence from Josh Rusher, undated

Folder 122

Memorabilia, programs, 1993-2012 and undated

Image Folder PF-05145/130

Photographs

Image Folder PF-05145/131

Slides

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 4.3A. Readings and Remembrances: Honoring Elizabeth Spencer, 18 November 2018 (Addition of January 2019)

About 10 items.

Acquisitions Information: Accession 103525

Publicity materials for and a videorecording of "Readings and Remembrances: Honoring Elizabeth Spencer," an event honoring Elizabeth Spencer held at Mississippi State University on 18 November 2018. The event was part of an initiative called "Mississippi Land and Literature." The video includes an interview with Spencer as well as footage of Spencer reading from her works.

Folder 123

Publicity, 2018

Oversize Paper Folder OPF-05145/3

Publicity, 2018

Digital Folder DF-05145/1

Videorecording, 2018

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 4.4A. Letters to Charles T. Bunting and Jameson Jones (Additions of June 2021 and February 2022)

About 170 items.

Acquisitions Information: Accessions 20210629.2, 20220214.4, 20220214.5

The bulk of this addition 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.

Contains letters written by Elizabeth Spencer and Dan Keefe to Charles T. Bunting and Jameson Jones.

Accession 20210629.1 includes books, manuscript materials, and other objects that are inscribed by noted authors, including Margaret Atwood, Eudora Welty, and Robert Penn Warren; were of personal significance to Spencer, incuding her parents’ copy of her first novel that was said to have caused a rift in Spencer's relationship with her parents; and special editions of Spencer's works. There are also digital images of approximately 50 volumes inscribed by North Carolina authors, including Allan Gurganus and Lee Smith, as well as other authors not from North Carolina.

Box 16

Letters, 1970s

Acc. 20220214.4

Contains nine letters written by Elizabeth Spencer relating to an interview with English professor Charles T. Bunting, who conducted interviews with writers during the 1970s. One of the letters contains text and edits of the interview.

Letters, 1950s, 1990s-2010

Acc. 20220214.5

Contains about 60 handwritten letters from Elizabeth Spencer to Jameson M. Jones, a philosophy professor at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tenn. Also includes six letters from Spencer's fiancé at the time, Dan Keeffe, to Jones, and three photographs Jones took in 1952. The letters have been transcribed by the donor, Jameson Jones's son Calvin N. Jones.

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