Philip F. O'Connor Papers

The Philip F. O'Connor Collection consists of personal and professional correspondence, literary manuscripts, and subject and clipping files, mostly dating from the 1960s to 1994.

The personal correspondence files are very extensive and consist primarily of incoming letters to O'Connor from former students, family, and friends. They document the ongoing relationship between O'Connor and the writers whose work he nurtured. Although there is very little outgoing correspondence in this series, researchers will still get a good idea of O'Connor himself through reading the letters addressed to him. A section of professional correspondence reveals the efforts O'Connor made in recruiting visiting writers to the BGSU campus as well as his work with professional organizations such as the Associated Writing Programs. A very interesting group of letters is the correspondence between O'Connor and his literary agents and publishers as he submitted work for consideration and through the publication process. Researchers will get a detailed view of the entire publication process, from initial idea through hardback and paperback sales, to negotiations for motion picture and television production.

Another series of great interest to researchers is the literary manuscripts. O'Connor was a meticulous re-writer and editor of his own work. Manuscripts of most of his work, from early draft through finished product are available for study here. Early undergraduate and graduate papers reveal his thoughts on literature as he decided on a career in writing. Essays and speeches made by O'Connor on the history of the Creative Writing Program, his thoughts on literature, and university-related concerns offer a fuller perspective on his working methods and goals, both in terms of literature and in the academic sphere. These works were written throughout his teaching career. The poetry and short stories were produced, for the most part, between 1963-1975. After 1975, O'Connor concentrated his efforts on his novels. Researchers can trace the evolution of the themes which interested him--personal faith, family relationships, the moral responsibility of the individual to society, and the special value of each human being--as well as the development of a theme from short story treatment to full novel. Following this series are manuscripts submitted by his graduate students, mostly for the novel or fiction workshops O'Connor conducted. Here can be found the early efforts of many successful writers who began their careers at Bowling Green. Researchers should be aware that these are unpublished manuscripts whose copyright is held by the original author.

News clippings include reviews of O'Connor's published work, as well as interviews and profiles of the author which appeared in local, regional, and national newspapers and magazines. A few clippings on subjects of interest to O'Connor are also included. The collection is completed by the artwork drawn up for advertisements and dustjackets for his books.

CORRESPONDENCE-PERSONAL; Box 1-7; 1960s-1994; arranged alphabetically. Contains incoming correspondence from students, family, and friends (very little outgoing correspondence).

CORRESPONDENCE-BGSU PROFESSIONAL; Box 7; 1970-1994; arranged alphabetically. Contains incoming and outgoing correspondence, primarily dealing with the Creative Writing Program's Visiting Writer series. Notable names include Donald Barthelme, Vince Bourjaily, Stanley Elkin, Leslie Fiedler, and Joyce Carol Oates.

CORRESPONDENCE-WITH AGENTS AND PUBLISHERS; Box 8-9; 1964-1994; arranged chronologically and within, alphabetically by publisher or name. Contains incoming and outgoing correspondence dealing with submission of manuscripts and the publication process.

Box 9-10; 1970s-1980s; arranged alphabetically. Contains correspondence, minutes, programs, course materials, off-campus academic programs, and bibliographies of O'Connor's work.

O'CONNOR MANUSCRIPTS; Box 10-34; 1950s-1994; arranged by type of work, then alphabetically by title. Includes O'Connor's undergraduate and graduate papers submitted for literature courses (dating between the 1950s and 1964), essays, introductions, reviews, speeches (scattered throughout his career), poetry (mostly dating between 1960-1975), O'Connor's writing journal, short stories (mostly dating between 1960-1975), novels (mostly dating after 1975), and other prose fragments, from early drafts through final form. In all cases, the titles used are working titles, taken from the manuscript or its original file folder.

MANUSCRIPTS BY GRADUATE STUDENTS; Box 35-40; 1970s-1994; arranged alphabetically by author. Includes manuscripts submitted by graduate students in O'Connor's fiction workshops. Some of these works were eventually published in literary magazines or form the basis of later, longer works.

Box 41-43

PRINTED MATERIAL BY PHILIP F. O'CONNOR; 1970s-1980s; arranged alphabetically by title. Includes galleys and tearsheets of published works.

PRINTED MATERIAL BY OTHERS; 1970s-1980s; arranged alphabetically by author. Includes proofs and tearsheets of published works.

PERIODICALS; 1960s-1990s; arranged alphabetically by title. Includes copies of periodicals in which O'Connor's work appears, as well as Bowling Green State University literary magazines, and periodical issues in which work of BGSU alumni appears. Periodicals have been incorporated into the Special Collection B holdings. See Rare Books Division office for a complete list.

BOOKS; 1950s-1990s; For complete bibliographic information, see the on-line catalog.

NEWS CLIPPINGS--REVIEWS; 1970s-1990s; arranged alphabetically by work reviewed. Includes newspaper and magazine articles reviewing O'Connor's work.

NEWS CLIPPINGS--SUBJECTS; 1950s-1990s; arranged alphabetically by subject. Includes newspaper and magazine articles of interest to O'Connor, mostly dealing with the subjects of his books.

MISCELLANEOUS PRINTED MATERIAL; 1960-1991; arranged alphabetically. Includes programs, press releases, newsletters, publishers' catalogs, and whole issues of periodicals specifically dealing with O'Connor or the BGSU Creative Writing Program.

Box 43; arranged by type of material. Includes photographs of O'Connor and cover designs for his books as well as paste-ups for advertisements.