HARRIS, CORRA, 1868-1935.
Corra Harris collection, 1899-1968
Corra Harris collection, 1899-1968
Emory University
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Atlanta, GA 30322
404-727-6887
rose.library@emory.edu
Permanent link: http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8zdbt
Table of Contents
Descriptive Summary
Creator: | Harris, Corra, 1868-1935. |
---|---|
Title: | Corra Harris collection, 1899-1968 |
Call Number: | Manuscript Collection No. 199 |
Extent: | .5 linear feet (1 box) and 1 oversized papers box (OP) |
Abstract: | Correspondence, literary manuscripts, photographs, and clippings of Georgia journalist and author Corra Harris. |
Language: | Materials entirely in English. |
Administrative Information
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
Corra Harris papers, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, University of Georgia Libraries.
Source
Gift, 1965, with subsequent additions
Citation
[after identification of item(s)], Corra Harris collection, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.
Processing
SSS, December 1970.
This finding aid may include language that is offensive or harmful. Please refer to the Rose Library's harmful language statement for more information about why such language may appear and ongoing efforts to remediate racist, ableist, sexist, homophobic, euphemistic and other oppressive language. If you are concerned about language used in this finding aid, please contact us at rose.library@emory.edu.
Collection Description
Biographical Note
Corra May (White) Harris (March 17, 1869-February 9, 1935), journalist and author, was born in Elbert County, Georgia, the oldest child of Tinsley Rucker White and Mary (Mathews) White. Corra grew up at the family home, "Farm Hill." She was educated at home by her mother, at a local field school, and at the Elberton Female Academy. At the age of fifteen, Corra went to live with her uncle, who was then principal of Old Salem School in Banks County, Georgia. There she met Lundy Harris, a Methodist clergyman and educator. Lundy, the descendant of a long line of Methodist preachers and circuit riders, was born in McDonough, Georgia in 1858, and had received both his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Emory College in 1876. Corra and Lundy became engaged, and, after Corra completed her education and taught school briefly, she and Lundy were married on February 8, 1887. Their honeymoon was spent journeying to the Redwine Circuit in Hart County, Georgia, where Lundy was to be circuit rider. On December 24, 1887, their first child, a daughter named Faith, was born; Faith was the only one of the Harris children to survive beyond infancy.
Lundy Harris served in a Methodist church in Decatur, Georgia with Bishop Atticus Greene Haygood during the year following the baby's birth. In 1888, President Warren Candler appointed Lundy professor of Greek at Emory College in Oxford, Georgia. The Harris family remained at Oxford for ten years. Corra devoted most of her time during this period to her home and family. Two sons were born, but both died shortly after birth. In 1898 Lundy, suffering from nervous illness and, subsequently, a complete breakdown, left Emory. The family finally settled with close relatives in Rockmart, Georgia, and Lundy taught at the Rockmart Institute.
An editorial in the New York Independent Magazine drew Corra's reply in May, 1899. At the request of the editors, she became a regular contributor of articles, editorials, and book reviews, sometimes dealing with controversial topics. Meanwhile, Lundy was appointed assistant secretary of his church's Board of Education, and the family moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1902. Corra continued to write, collaborating with Paul Elmer More to publish The Jessica Letters, first as a serial in 1903 and then as a book in 1904; this was followed in 1909 by A Circuit Rider's Wife, a novel partially based on Corra Harris's own life.
Having never fully recovered from his earlier illness at Oxford, Lundy Harris died in 1910 in Georgia. Corra bought a farm near Rydal, Georgia, close to the place where her husband had died. She named her new home "In the Valley," and there her literary career began in earnest. She wrote serials, novels, articles, short stories, newspaper columns, autobiographies, and a travelogue; she served as a war correspondent in 1914 for The Saturday Evening Post; she also contributed to Ladies' Home Journal, Harper's, Pictorial Review, and many other periodicals. In the 1930's, she wrote a tri-weekly "Candlelit Column" for the Atlanta Journal.
In 1931, Corra's health began to fail and her literary career to wane. She continued to travel and to write with the help of her two young local companions, Bettie and Trannie Raines. Corra Harris died at Emory Hospital on Saturday, February 9, 1935 following a heart attack. Biographical information about Corra Harris was found in Who Was Who in America (volume 2); in Corra Harris, Lady of Purpose by John E. Talmadge (Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1968.
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of materials relating to Corra Harris from 1899-1968. The materials include correspondence (1925-1939), photographs, writings, and printed materials.
Arrangement Note
Unprocessed collection.
Container list
Box | Folder | Content |
---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Correspondence, 1899-1916 |
1 | 2 | Photographs |
1 | 3 | "Addresses on Editors" [holograph] |
1 | 4 | Clippings and photocopies of clippings |
1 | 5 | Early Georgia, vol. 1, no. 1 |
1 | 6 | Materials regarding the Chair Incident |
1 | 7 | Correspondence, December 25, 1925-December 25, 1930 |
1 | 8 | Correspondence, March 3, 1931-December 19, 1931 |
1 | 9 | Correspondence, February 14, 1932-December 29, 1932 |
1 | 10 | Correspondence, February 7, 1933-June 13, 1939 |
1 | 11 | Clippings |
1 | 12 | Miscellaneous |
1 | 13 | "The Other Unit" (typescript) |
1 | 14 | Making Her His Wife (photocopy of typescript) |
1 | 15 | "War and Hallucinations" (photocopy of typescript) |
1 | 16 | Co-Citizens (photocopy of typescript) |
1 | 17 | Correspondence: 1924-1972 |
1 | 18 | Photographs: Four of Corra Harris and "In the Valley" and studio portrait photo of Corra Harris (signed) |
1 | 19 | Clippings |
1 | 20 | Miscellaneous: “Memoranda of a Debt of Honor" between Corra Harris and Bettie Raines, photocopy; Letter bound in booklet, Corra Harris to Marjorie McClain, on the occasion of Corra Harris' birthday, 1933; 18 pp.; Bridge pad, autographed "Christmas Greetings" from Corra Harris, December 25, 1928 |
OP1 | 1 | "The House of Helen," The Ladies Home Journal, December, 1922 |