Charles Portis

CHARLES PORTIS PAPERS

Surprise discovery brings True Grit author’s archive to The Wittliff Collections. News release on the Charles Portis acquistion:

ARCHIVAL INVENTORY 

Accession # 2024-079

13 boxes including 1 oversize box

Box 4458 (Box 1) –  BOOKS (manuscripts, clippings, adaptations) 

Box/Folder:

1/1       Norwood –  complete draft

1/2       Norwood –  draft, incomplete & multiple versions

1/3       Norwood – clippings, book

1/4       Norwood – clippings, film

1/5       True Grit – complete draft (1 of 2)

1/6       True Grit – complete draft (2 of 2)

1/7       True Grit – draft “from loose sections”

1/8       True Grit – early outlines and loose pages

1/9       True Grit – incomplete draft

1/10     True Grit – proof, Overlook Press edition

1/11     True Grit – notes

1/12     True Grit – research

1/13     True Grit – book PR

1/14     True Grit – 1969 film PR 

1/15     True Grit – 1969 & 2010 film PR 

1/16     True Grit – 2010 film PR

1/17     True Grit – Coen Brothers screenplay

1/18     Rooster Cogburn screenplay (proposed True Grit sequel)

Box 4459 (Box 2) – BOOKS (continued)

Box/Folder:

2/1       The Dog of the South  - copyedited manuscript (1 of 2)

2/2       The Dog of the South  - copyedited manuscript (2 of 2)

2/3       The Dog of the South - clippings

2/4       The Dog of the South – movie notes

2/5       Masters of Atlantis –  full draft

2/6       Masters of Atlantis – draft fragments

2/7       Masters of Atlantis - notes

2/8       Masters of Atlantis – clippings

2/9       Gringos – draft, copyedited (1 of 2)

2/10     Gringos – draft, copyedited (2 of 2)

2/11     Gringos – draft complete (1 of 2)

2/12     Gringos – draft complete (2 of 2)

2/13     Gringos – draft, wording, phrases

2/14     Gringos – cover proof

2/15     Gringos – notes

2/16     Gringos – notes

2/17     Delray’s New Moon - stage play. Bound typescript, 5/13/1994

2/18     Delray’s New Moon - stage play. Bound photocopy 

2/19     Delray’s New Moon - notes

Box 4460 (Box 3) – ARTICLES, JOURNALISM, UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS         

Box/Folder:

3/1       “That New Sound from Nashville” (Saturday Evening Post, 1966) clippings 

3/2       “An Auto Odyssey Through Darkest Baja” (Los Angeles Times, 1967) draft and galley proof

3/3       “An Auto Odyssey Through Darkest Baja” – research & notes

3/4       “An Auto Odyssey Through Darkest Baja” – photos

3/5       “Traveling Light” (Norwood serialized, Saturday Evening Post, 1966)

3/6       “Our Town” columns by Portis. Arkansas Gazette, early 1960s

3/7       Portis clips, New York Herald Tribune, early 1960s

3/8       “Your Action Line” (New Yorker, 1977)

3/9       “The Forgotten River” – clipping

3/10     “Nights Can Turn Cool in Viborra” (The Atlantic, 1992)

3/11     “I Don’t Talk Service No More.” Draft (The Atlantic, 1966)

3/12     “Motel Days” drafts 

3/13     “Motel Days” (Oxford American, 2003)

3/14     “The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth” – drafts

3/15     “The Wind Bloweth Where It Listeth” (Oxford American, 2005)

3/16     Escape Velocity clippings

3/17     unpublished article on J. William Fulbright, notes

3/18     unpublished Rex Stout article – notes

3/19     unpublished mystery, drafts

3/20     untitled western screenplay by Portis, 1974

3/21     drafts of unpublished story

3/22     unpublished novel set in Veracruz (“The Woman from Nowhere” Drafts (1 of 4)    

3/23     unpublished novel set in Veracruz (“The Woman from Nowhere”) Drafts (2 of 4)

3/24     unpublished novel set in Veracruz (“The Woman from Nowhere”) Drafts (3 of 4) 

3/25     unpublished novel set in Veracruz (“The Woman from Nowhere”) Drafts (4 of 4)

3/26     Mexico, notes

3/27     2 spiral notebooks with notes for unpublished novel set in Veracruz

Box 4461 (Box 4) – UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS 

Box/Folder:

4/1       unpublished novel/unfinished novel - notes

4/2       unpublished novel/unfinished novel – quarterfold notes (1 of 3)

4/3       unpublished novel/unfinished novel – quarterfold notes (2 of 3)

4/4       unpublished novel/unfinished novel – quarterfold notes (3 of 3)

4/5       notes, uncategorized – 3 legal pads

4/6       notes, uncategorized – 5x7 pads

4/7       notes, uncategorized – 5x7 pads 

4/8       notes, uncategorized – 5x7 pads

4/9       notes, uncategorized – 5x7 pads

4/10     notes, uncategorized – 5x7 pads

4/11     notes, uncategorized – 5x7 pads

4/12     notes, uncategorized – loose pages (1 of 2)

4/13     notes, uncategorized – loose pages (2 of 2)

BOX 4462 (Box 5) – UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS, RESEARCH

 

Box/Folder:

5/1       notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (1 of 10)

5/2       notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (2 of 10)

5/3       notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (3 of 10)

5/4       notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (4 of 10)

5/5       notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (5 of 10)

5/6       notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (6 of 10)

5/7       notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (7 of 10)

5/8       notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (8 of 10)

5/9       notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (9 of 10)

5/10     notes, uncategorized – quarterfolds (10 of 10)

5/11     research – alien abduction

5/12     research – astrology

5/13     research – baseball

5/14     research – bats

5/15     research – Bonnie and Clyde

5/16     research – Borgias

5/17     research – brain

5/18     research – butterflies

5/19     research – cancer

5/20     research – carbon dating

5/21     research – catechisms

5/22     research – Catholics

5/23     research – cattle mutilation

5/24     research – chiropractic / Dr. David Daniel Palmer

5/25     research – Cinco de Mayo

5/26     research – coffee

5/27     research – coins

BOX 4463 (Box 6) – RESEARCH

Box/Folder:

6/1       research – Day of the Innocents

6/2       research – dead zone

6/3       research – demons / devil 

6/4       research – debt restructuring

6/5       research – drugs

6/6       research – El Pital

6/7       research – evaporative cooler

6/8       research – exorcism

6/9       research – food

6/10     research – guns

6/11     research – hypnosis

6/12     research – jellyfish 

6/13     research – landscape architecture

6/14     research – liberty ships

6/15     research – maps, Mexico

6/16     research – maps, US states and regions (1 of 2)

6/17     research – maps, US states and regions (2 of 2)

6/18     research – maps, ocean currents

6/19     research – mediums / spiritualists

6/20     research –Mexican folk characters

6/21     research – Mexico

6/22     research – military

6/23     research – music

6/24     research – names/ genealogy

6/25     research – Ottomans

6/26     research – pirates

6/27     research – plumed serpent

6/28     research – possession

6/29     research – Pretty Boy Floyd (Tulsa World & Tribune clips)

6/30     research – pyramids of Teotihuacan 

6/31     research – quantum physics

6/32     research – real estate

6/33     research – red tide / brown tide

6/34     research – rosary

6/35     research – San Juan de Ulúa

6/36     research – Sanborn’s Guides to Mexico (photocopies of covers only – originals removed due to mold damage)

6/37     research – shipping / ships

6/38     research – signal communication / Signal Corps

6/39     research – Spanish language newspaper clips

6/40     research – travel guides and phrase books (1 of 2)

6/41     research – travel guides and phrase books (1 of 2)

6/42     research – tattoos

6/43     research – tongues, speaking in 

6/44     research – tourism, Huichol culture & peyote

6/45     research – typewriters

6/46     research – Ukraine royalty

6/47     research – Veracruz

6/48     research – Virgin de Guadalupe

6/49     research – wisdom literature

6/50     research – World War I

6/51     research – witches, witchcraft, occult

6/52     research – The Age of Constatine

6/53     research – Woodrow Wilson - Veracruz 

6/54     research – an ethnography of a chiropractic clinic 

6/55     research – the case against chiropractic

6/56     research – between Hitler and Mussolini

6/57     research – the Black Arts (black magic)

6/58     research – Carlota – a Confederate Colony in Mexico

6/59     research – the Ciano Diaries 

6/60     research – conquest

6/61     research – criminal man

6/62     research – examination of criminals

6/63     research – General Jo Shelby

BOX 4464 (Box 7) – RESEARCH, CORRESPONDENCE

Box/Folder:

7/1       research – History of Magic and Experimental Science

7/2       research – Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World

7/3       research – Liberty Ships (WW2)

7/4       research – Galveston and the U-Boats 1942-1943

7/5       research – Mexico’s armed forces

7/6       research – Daniel Defoe

7/7       research – Carl Jung

7/8       research – psychiatrist Karl Menninger

7/9       research – Guatemala by Anthony Daniels

7/10     correspondence, business – undated

7/11     correspondence, business – 1965

7/12     correspondence, business – 1966

7/13     correspondence, business – 1967

7/14     correspondence, business – 1968

7/15     correspondence, business – 1969

7/16     correspondence, business –1998

7/17     correspondence, business – 2000 - 2003

7/18     correspondence, business – 2004 (1 of 3) 

* includes Gringos screenplay commissioned by Stephen Purvis

7/19     correspondence, business – 2004 (2 of 3)

            * includes Gringos screenplay

7/20     correspondence, business – 2004 (3 of 3)

7/21     correspondence, business – 2005

7/22     correspondence, business – 2006-2009

7/23     correspondence, business – 2010-2011

7/24     correspondence, business – 2012

Box 4465 (Box 8) – CORRESPONDENCE

Box/Folder:

8/1       correspondence, general – 1958-1965

8/2       correspondence, general – Jan-March 1966

8/3       correspondence, general – April-Aug 1966

8/4       correspondence, general – Sept-Dec 1966

8/5       correspondence, general – Jan-April 1967

8/6       correspondence, general – May-Dec 1967

8/7       correspondence, general – Jan-June 1968

8/8       correspondence, general – July 1968

8/9       correspondence, general – Aug-Dec 1968

8/10     correspondence, general – Jan-May 1969

8/11     correspondence, general – June-Dec 1969

8/12     correspondence, general – 1970-1971

8/13     correspondence, general – 2000 

8/14     correspondence, general – 2001

8/15     correspondence, general – 2002

8/16     correspondence, general – 2003

BOX 4466 (Box 9) – CORRESPONDENCE

 Box/Folder:

9/1       correspondence, general – 2004

9/2       correspondence, general – 2005

9/3       correspondence, general – 2006

9/4       correspondence, general – 2007 (1 of 2)

9/5       correspondence, general – 2007 (2 of 2) 

includes bound proof of Roy Blount’s Long Time Leaving: Dispatches from Up South

9/6       correspondence, general – 2008

9/7       correspondence, general – 2009

9/8       correspondence, general – 2010 (1 of 2)

9/9       correspondence, general – 2010 (2 of 2)

9/10     correspondence, general – 2011 (1 of 2)

9/11     correspondence, general – 2011 (2 of 2)

9/12     correspondence, general – 2012

9/13     correspondence, general – Bill Whitworth/New Yorker

9/14     correspondence, general – undated (1 of 3)

9/15     correspondence, general – undated (2 of 3)

9/16     correspondence, general – undated (3 of 3)

9/17     correspondence, general – scans printed by Jonathan Portis

BOX 4467 (Box 10) – CORRESPONDENCE, ORAL HISTORY, PHOTOGRAPHS, WRITINGS ABOUT PORTIS, AWARDS

Box/Folder:

10/1     correspondence, family, 1962-1965

10/2     correspondence, family, 1966-1970

10/3     correspondence, family, 2000-2010

10/4     correspondence, condolences re Portis’s death

10/5     Portis oral history (from Arkansas Gazette Oral History Project conducted by the Arkansas Center for Oral and Visual History at the University of Arkansas)

10/6     Photographs of Portis

10/7     Passports / ID cards

10/8     Writings about Portis (1 of 2)

10/9     Writings about Portis (2 of 2)

10/10   Congressional Record Tribute

10/11   Awards – Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame

10/12   Awards – Oxford American Best of the South

10/13   Awards – Porter Prize

10/14   Awards – Porter Prize programs

10/15   Portis New York Herald Tribune business cards 

10/16   Overlook press catalogs

10/17   Paperback book jackets for Bloomsbury ed of True Grit and The Dog of the South

10/18   cassette film soundtracks for True Grit and Norwood

10/19   two unmarked cassettes (possibly blank)

10/20   artifacts – custom log embosser for “Library of Charles Portis.” Soap box from Hacienda Cabo San Lucas

BOX 4468 (Box 11) – CLASSROOM USE, MARINE CORPS, ROYALTIES & PAYMENTS 

Box/Folder:

11/1     Classroom Use – Univ of Montana / Charles Portis Appreciation Society

11/2     Classroom Use – The Dog of the South / Rutgers

11/3     Classroom Use – Gringos / East Brunswick (NJ) High School, 2001

11/4     Classroom Use – Gringos / East Brunswick (NJ) High School, 2002

11/5     Classroom Use – Gringos / East Brunswick (NJ) High School, 2003

11/6     Classroom Use – “I Don’t Talk Service No More” 2011 student film by Katrina Whalen

11/7     Classroom Use – True Grit letters from students and teachers

11/8     Classroom Use – Masters of Atlantis / Rutgers 2001

11/9     Classroom Use – Masters of Atlantis / Rutgers 2008

11/10   US Marine Corps – Portis memorabilia (Soldier’s Handbook, etc)

11/11   US Marine Corps – Company H-3-5 newsletters (1999-2001)

11/12   US Marine Corps – Company H-3-5 newsletters (2002-2011)

11/13   US Marine Corps – printouts and clippings

11/14   Writings by others – Gomer Pyle, USMC script: “A Date with Camp Henderson”

11/15   Writings by others – Electric Literature no. 1 (2009)

11/16   Writings by others – galley proofs: Little Boy Blues by Malcolm Jones

11/17   Writings by others – The Black Hat Confessions, Books I and II

11/18   Royalties & Payments – 1969, 1997

11/19   Royalties & Payments – 2000-2003

11/20   Royalties & Payments – 2004-2006

11/21   Royalties & Payments – 2007-2009

11/22   Royalties & Payments – 2010

11/23   Royalties & Payments – 2011

11/24   Royalties & Payments – 2012

BOX 4469 (Box 12) – FINANCIAL

Box/Folder:

12/1     Financial – tax-related

12/2     Financial – banking (1 of 3)

12/3     Financial – banking (2 of 3)

12/4     Financial – banking (3 of 3)

12/5     Financial – social security & misc

12/6     Financial – 1971 tax info (1 of 2)

12/7     Financial – 1971 tax info (2 of 2)

12/8     Financial – travel-related bills/receipts (1 of 4)

12/9     Financial – travel-related bills/receipts (2 of 4)

12/10   Financial – travel-related bills/receipts (3 of 4)

12/11   Financial – travel-related bills/receipts (4 of 4)

12/12   Financial – general bills/receipts (1 of 2)

12/13   Financial – general bills/receipts (2 of 2)

BOX 4470 (Box 13) – OVERSIZE - PERIODICALS

Box/Folder:

13/1     “That New Sound from Nashville.” Saturday Evening Post, Feb 12, 1966

13/2     “Traveling Light” (Norwood excerpt, pt 1) Saturday Evening Post, June 18, 1966

13/3     “Traveling Light” (Norwood excerpt, pt 2) Saturday Evening Post, July 2, 1966

13/4     True Grit excerpt. Saturday Evening Post, June 1, 1968

13/5     “An Auto Odyssey Through Darkest Baja.” Los Angeles Times. Feb 26, 1967

13/6     True Grit clippings.