BRENNAN, MAEVE.
Maeve Brennan papers, 1948-1981

Restrictions on Access

Unrestricted access.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.

Related Materials in Other Repositories

Robert Brennan and Maeve Brennan papers, University of Delaware Library, Special Collections

Source

Purchased from Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, 2010. One subsequent addition of a letter and clippings collected by Ray A. Roberts were purchased from Horowitz in 2011.

Custodial History

The Rose Library purchased this collection from book dealer Glenn Horowitz in 2010. The original owner bought it in the early 1970s as the unknown contents of a trunk sold at an auction of abandoned items from a storage facility in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. During the 1960s, Brennan spent her summers in the town.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Maeve Brennan papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.

Appraisal Note

Acquired by Curator of Literary Collections and the Raymond Danowski Poetry Library, Kevin Young, as part of the Rose Library's holdings in American literature and Irish literature.

Processing

Arranged and described at the folder level by Sarah Quigley, January 2017.

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Biographical Note

Maeve Brennan (1917-1993) was an Irish American writer and long-time New Yorker contributor. Brennan was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1917, and moved to the United States in 1934. After writing for Harper's Bazaar in the 1940s, Brennan joined the staff of The New Yorker in 1949, where she published numerous columns and short stories. In 1969, she published a volume of short stories, In and Out of Never-Never Land. Her The New Yorker columns were compiled in The Long-Winded Lady (1969), and she published another short story volume, Christmas Eve, in 1974. Brennan died in New York City in 1993 after a long struggle with mental illness. Several volumes of her writings have been published posthumously, including The Springs of Affection: Stories of Dublin (1997), The Rose Garden (2000), and the novella, The Visitor (2000).

Scope and Content Note

The collection consists of some papers of Maeve Brennan from 1948-1981 including personal papers, writings by Brennan and others, and printed material. Personal papers contain correspondence, financial records, notebooks, and photographs. Correspondence is primarily of a personal nature and includes letters from Howard Moss and Ray A. Roberts, as well as Christmas cards and letters from other friends and associates. Financial records in the collection document Brennan's tax problems in the middle 1960s, in addition to regular expenses from the same period. The bulk of the collection consists of drafts of Brennan's short stories, along with proofs from her publications in The New Yorker and drafts of her novella, The Visitor. Many folders include evidence of Brennan's drafting process, from handwritten or typed notes and ideas to fully drafted versions of stories. Drafts include extensive revisions, either in Brennan's hand or typed and taped over the original text. There are a few writings by others, which were sent to Brennan for her review. Printed material contains Brennan's publications in The New Yorker, New York City restaurant menus, event fliers, programs, and other items primarily relating to New York City. The collection is non-comprehensive and there are significant gaps since most of Brennan's personal belongings were lost, destroyed, given away, or stolen during her later life.

Arrangement Note

Arranged by record type, then in alphabetical order. Writings by Brennan are primarily in original order within folders. Original paperclips were replaced to preserve groups of material organized by Brennan. No effort was made to reunite drafts of stories that may have been separated or to order drafts and notes within folders. Drafts were combined into single folders when doing so would not disrupt the original order of the material. Dates of the writings are primarily the dates of publication and may not be fully representative of the time period during which Brennan created the drafts in this collection.