Elena Wilson papers

The Elena Wilson Papers consist of correspondence, literary manuscripts, printed materials, and personal and family papers documenting the life of Elena Wilson and her work as literary executor of her husband Edmund Wilson. The papers span the years 1906-1979, encompassing early family documents through papers relating to Elena Wilson's death. The bulk of the collection dates from 1972-1979 and relates to Elena Wilson's life and work after the death of Edmund Wilson.

The collection is housed in 42 boxes and one portfolio, and is organized into six series: Correspondence, Writings, Subject Files, Personal Papers, Family Papers, and Helen Miranda Wilson Papers. Oversize materials are stored in 9 boxes. Restricted Fragile Papers, stored in boxes 40-42 and a portfolio, contain materials for which reference photocopies have been substituted in the main files.

Series I, Correspondence , (boxes 1-8), consists of letters to Elena Wilson from business and personal correspondents, with a small amount of outgoing carbons interfiled. The bulk of this series consists of letters from Edmund Wilson to Elena, 1946-1969, and correspondence after Edmund's death concerning Elena's work as his literary executor. Also present are letters of condolence sent to Elena on Edmund's death, letters to Elena from her children, Henry H. M. Thornton and Helen Miranda Wilson, and letters from friends and European relatives. Other letters addressed to both Elena and Edmund, as well as Elena's letters to Edmund, are in the Edmund Wilson Papers (YCAL MSS 187).

Edmund's letters to Elena date from 1946, shortly after they met, through the last years of Edmund's life. During April-September, 1946, Edmund wrote frequently, often daily or several times per week, discussing plans for their divorces and marriage, and describing his family and social life in Wellfleet. Later correspondence consists of intermittent groups of detailed letters written during periods when they were apart, including European trips made by Elena, time spent by Edmund alone in Talcottville, and Edmund's trips to the Southwest, 1947, Haiti, 1949, Red Bank, during his mother's last illness, 1950, the Middle East, 1954 and 1967, and Europe, 1956. Also present are undated items, including many valentine and birthday cards.

Correspondence relating to Elena's work as editor of Letters on Literature and Politics includes letters from collaborators Leon Edel and Daniel Aaron, who contributed a foreword and introduction respectively, publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and correspondents represented in the Letters, their surviving family members, and repositories holding their papers. Much of this correspondence concerns solicitation of the photocopies of Edmund's letters filed in the Writings series. Other correspondence about Edmund Wilson's writings includes letters from Leon Edel about the publication of Edmund's journals, and letters from Vera Nabokova, Simon Karlinsky, and Harper & Row about Karlinsky's edition of Edmund's correspondence with Vladimir Nabokov. Also present are letters from friends and readers responding to Letters on Literature and Politics, requests for access to Wilson's papers, requests for permission to quote from his works, fan mail, and corrections from readers received after Edmund's death.

Series II, Writings (boxes 9-27), is organized into three subseries: Letters on Literature and Politics, Other Writings, and Writings by Others. The largest part of the Letters on Literature and Politics subseries consists of photocopies of Edmund's letters collected by Elena. A few correspondents are represented by Edmund's original letters or transcripts of them; these are identified in folder titles. For some correspondents, photocopies of letters to Edmund are also present. In most cases, materials are accompanied by notes made by Elena about the content of the letters and owners of the originals. Many of Edmund's major correspondents are represented, as well as lesser known names whose correspondence highlights themes in the Letters. Large files are present for Alfred Raymond Bellinger, John Peale Bishop, Louise Bogan, Clelia Carroll, Malcolm Cowley, W. Stanley Dell, John Dos Passos, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Christian Frederick Gauss, Maxwell David Geismar, Mamaine Koestler, H. L. Mencken, Arthur Mizener, Helen Muchnic, Vladimir Nabokov, The New Yorker, Maxwell E. Perkins, Roger W. Straus, Allen Tate, Philippe Thoby-Marcelin, and Morton Dauwen Zabel. Folder titles assigned by Elena Wilson have been retained, with some standardization of name forms and the addition of cross references. Date spans following names of correspondents in folder titles are the dates of Edmund Wilson's original letters; date spans following folder titles indicate when photocopies and accompanying notes were made.

Background Materials for Letters on Literature and Politics include biographical information about Edmund Wilson and lists and an index card file of correspondent names. Other Materials consist of drafts, a setting copy, proofs corrected by Elena Wilson and Daniel Aaron, lists of corrections, reviews, and related correspondence.

The Other Writings subseries includes drafts of an essay written by Elena Wilson, "My View From the Other Window," describing her experiences living with Edmund in Talcottville, New York, and offering a viewpoint in contrast to Edmund's appreciative description of his ancestral home in his book Upstate. Other materials are notes, including notebooks kept by Elena during her Greek language studies, 1972-1979.

Most Writings by Others concern Edmund Wilson and his work, including essays and lectures by Daniel Aaron, Lewis M. Dabney, and Leon Edel, and contracts and draft materials for Simon Karlinsky's The Wilson-Nabokov Letters. Also present is a memoir written by Elena Wilson's aunt, Marie ("Maroussia") Struve, describing her early life in Russia before the 1917 Revolution.

Series III, Subject Files (box 28), is organized into two subseries: Edmund Wilson and Other Subjects. Edmund Wilson files include biographical information, lists of copyright status of his books, lists of essays written for The New Republic, brief notes concerning visitors at Wellfleet after his death, an obituary, and other clippings. Files for Other Subjects contain clippings, postcards, and a printed book about André Lhote, an artist with whom Elena studied in the 1920s.

Series IV, Personal Papers (box 29), contains a birth certificate, calendars, passports, financial records, and documents relating to Elena's divorce from James Thornton. Passports bear photographs of Elena Wilson and Helen Miranda Wilson as a child. Other photographs of Elena Wilson and her children are in the Edmund Wilson Papers (YCAL MSS 187).

Series V, Family Papers (box 30), is organized into three subseries: Mumm Family, Struve Family, and Thornton Family. These materials include a marriage contract made by Elena's parents Hermann Mumm and Olga Struve, genealogical information and clippings about the Mumm and Struve families, biographical information about James Thornton, and a copy of Henry H. M. Thornton's birth certificate and a clipping about his marriage.

Series VI, Helen Miranda Wilson Papers (box 30), contains an obituary for Elena Wilson and copies of her death certificate and will. In addition, explanatory notes written by Helen Miranda Wilson are appended to documents filed in other series.

Oversize (boxes 31-39) contains oversize materials from all series.

Restricted Fragile (boxes 40-42) and Restricted Fragile Oversize (portfolio), contain fragile originals for which preservation photocopies have been substituted in the main files.