Scope and Contents
The collection consists of correspondence, writings, printed material, diaries, research notes, photographs, and other papers by or relating to Eleanor Perényi. Correspondents include Perényi's parents Grace Zaring and Ellis Stone, as well as other writers such as Alfred Corn, Mary McCarthy, J. D. McClatchy, and James Merrill. Letters to her parents describe the social and political atmosphere in Eastern Europe, where she lived with her husband Baron Zsigmond Perényi, prior to and at the start of World War II. The collection also contains research notes and photographs for Perényi's biography of Franz Liszt, clippings and publications featuring Perényi’s work as an editor, writer, and amateur gardener, including Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, travel diaries from trips to Italy, Greece, and Mexico, a sketchbook, and family photographs.
Dates
- 1886-2007
- Majority of material found within 1937-1988
Creator
- Perényi, Eleanor, 1918-2009 (Author)
Language of Materials
In English, with a small amount of material in French, Greek, and Hungarian.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Eleanor Perényi Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Peter Perenyi on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2016.
Gift of Peter Perenyi, 2016.
Gift of Peter Perenyi, 2016.
Arrangement
Organized into three series: I. Correspondence, 1886-2007. II. Writings and Editorial Work, 1946–1997, undated. III. Personal Papers, circa 1890-2006.
Extent
5.93 Linear Feet (7 boxes)
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The collection consists of correspondence, writings, printed material, diaries, research notes, photographs, and other papers by or relating to Eleanor Perényi. Correspondents include Perényi's parents Grace Zaring and Ellis Stone, as well as other writers such as Alfred Corn, Mary McCarthy, J. D. McClatchy, and James Merrill. Letters to her parents describe the social and political atmosphere in Eastern Europe, where she lived with her husband Baron Zsigmond Perényi, prior to and at the start of World War II. The collection also contains research notes and photographs for Perényi's biography of Franz Liszt, clippings and publications featuring Perényi’s work as an editor, writer, and amateur gardener, including Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, travel diaries from trips to Italy, Greece, and Mexico, a sketchbook, and family photographs.
Eleanor Perényi (1918-2009)
Eleanor Perényi was an American writer, editor, and amateur gardener best known for Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden (1981), a collection of gardening essays. Her other works include the memoir More was Lost (1946), novel The Bright Sword, and biography Liszt: The Artist as Romantic Hero (1974), which was nominated for a National Book Award. Perényi was born Eleanor Spencer Stone on January 4, 1918 in Washington, D.C. to novelist Grace Zaring Stone and naval officer Ellis Spencer Stone. She married Hungarian Baron Zsigmond Perényi in 1937 and lived in his castle in Czech-controlled Ruthenia until the onset of the second World War. Perényi's mother wrote the anti-Nazi suspense novel Escape (1939) under the pseudonym Ethel Vance to protect Perényi's identity while she was living in pro-Fascist Hungary. In 1940, pregnant with her son Peter, Perényi returned to the United States; she and her husband divorced in 1945. She worked in New York as a writer and editor for Harper’s Bazaar from 1947 to 1959 and as managing editor of Mademoiselle from 1959 to 1962. Perényi also contributed articles to The Atlantic Monthly and Esquire. She lived for many years in Stonington, Connecticut, where she tended the garden that inspired Green Thoughts. Perényi died on May 3, 2009 in Westerly, Rhode Island.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing. Information in brackets is also supplied by staff.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing. Information in brackets is also supplied by staff.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Authors -- United States -- 20th century
- Authors, American -- 20th century -- Archives
- Corn, Alfred, 1943-
- Gardening -- United States
- Greece -- Description and travel
- Harper's bazaar
- Italy -- Description and travel
- Journalists -- United States -- 20th Century
- Liszt, Franz, 1811-1886
- McCarthy, Mary, 1912-1989
- McClatchy, J. D., 1945-2018
- Merrill, James, 1926-1995
- Mexico -- Description and travel
- Perényi, Eleanor, 1918-2009
- Perényi, Zsigmond, báró, 1901-1965
- Photographs
- Sketchbooks
- Stone, Ellis Spencer, 1889-1956
- Stone, Grace Zaring, 1891-1991
- Vogue
- Women authors, American
- Women journalists
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Hungary
- World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American
Creator
- Perényi, Eleanor, 1918-2009 (Author)
- Title
- Guide to the Eleanor Perényi Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- by Brooke McManus
- Date
- October 2021
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.