Pearl S. Buck, Author, Literary Manuscripts, ca. 1923-2014 A&M 4052

Pearl S. Buck, Author, Literary Manuscripts, ca. 1923-2014 A&M 4052


[logo]

West Virginia and Regional History Center

1549 University Ave.
P.O. Box 6069
Morgantown, WV 26506-6069
Business Number: 304-293-3536
wvrhcref@westvirginia.libanswers.com
URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu

Staff of the West Virginia & Regional History Center

Repository
West Virginia and Regional History Center
Identification
A&M 4052
Title
Pearl S. Buck, Author, Literary Manuscripts ca. 1923-2014 ca. 1923-1973
URL:
https://archives.lib.wvu.edu/ark:/99999/198663
Quantity
36.7 Linear Feet, 36 ft. 8 in. (74 document cases, 5 in. each); (2 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (1 flat storage box, 5 in.); (2 flat storage boxes, 1 1/2 in. each); (3 record cartons, 15 in. each); (7 large flat storage boxes, 1 1/2 in. each)
Location
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / Fax: 304-293-3981 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Language
English
Abstract
Literary manuscripts of Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973), an American fiction writer and humanitarian who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938. She is best known for her novels about peasant life in China. The collection includes the great majority of manuscripts comprising Buck's literary works, including her novels, non-fiction, children's books, and short stories, as well as articles and speeches, among other material. There is also material about Pearl Buck. Formats include holographs, typescripts, typescript carbons, mixed manuscripts, galleys, and more. Prominent topics of Buck's literary works include: Chinese history, politics, and culture; American culture; international relations; adoption; children with disabilities; women's rights; and writing. The collection also includes material regarding the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation, Pearl Buck as an author, and other subjects. For additional material, see A&M 727, Pearl S. Buck, Author. Papers (1930-1976, undated).

Administrative Information

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Conditions Governing Access

No special access restriction applies.

Researchers may access digitized materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.

Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Pearl S. Buck, Author, Literary Manuscripts, A&M 4052, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Biographical / Historical

Pearl Sydenstricker Buck was born in Hillsboro, West Virginia, in 1892 to Caroline Stulting Sydenstricker and Absalom Sydenstricker, Southern Presbyterian missionaries who returned to China shortly after their daughter's birth. Pearl was raised and educated in Chinkiang (Zhenjiang), China, but studied in the United States at Randolph Macon Women's College in Lynchburg, Virginia, when she was seventeen. She returned to China after her graduation in 1914, and in 1917 Pearl married agricultural economist and missionary John Lossing Buck. The Bucks lived in Nanhsuchou (Nanxuzhou) in rural Anhwei (Anhui) Province and later in Nanking (Nanjing), China, until 1934. They had one biological daughter, Carol, who had severe intellectual and physical disabilities, and adopted another daughter, Janice.

Pearl began writing about Chinese peasant life and culture and the interactions between East and West in the 1920s, and her first novel, East Wind, West Wind, was published in 1930. She published the bestselling and Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Good Earth in 1931, and went on to write more than seventy novels, plays, and short stories and to author numerous articles and essays. Other early books include Sons (1932), A House Divided (1935), The First Wife and Other Stories (1933), All Men are Brothers (1933, translation), The Mother (1934), The Exile (1936), Fighting Angel (1936), and This Proud Heart (1938). In 1938, Pearl Buck became the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature.

By 1935, Pearl had divorced her first husband and married her publisher and editor, Richard J. Walsh. They settled at Green Hills Farm in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, to be close to Carol, and the couple adopted six more children. Pearl was a prolific writer, and most of her fiction remained set in China and the Far East. Other novels include Dragon Seed (1942), Pavilion of Women (1946), God's Men (1951), Come, My Beloved (1953), Imperial Woman (1956), Letter from Peking (1957), and The Living Reed (1963). Due to personal and political circumstances, Pearl never returned to China after she left in 1934.

Pearl campaigned tirelessly for issues related to Chinese human rights, interracial understanding, and orphaned and disabled children for the rest of her life. In 1949, she founded Welcome House, the first interracial adoption agency in the United States. In 1964, she established the Pearl S. Buck Foundation to provide medical care and education for Amerasian children. Pearl also championed civil rights and women's rights in the United States.

Richard Walsh died in 1960, and in the early 1960s Pearl began a loving relationship with lifelong friend William Ernest Hocking that lasted until Hocking's death in 1966. By 1969, Pearl had moved to Danby, Vermont. Pearl S. Buck died in Vermont in 1973 and is buried at Green Hills Farm in Pennsylvania.

After her death, ownership of Pearl Buck's literary manuscripts was disputed, and eventually awarded to the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation, which were temporarily stored in the Pfeiffer Library at West Virginia Wesleyan College in Buckhannon, WV until the partnership between these two institutions and the WVRHC was formed in 2014, which led to the transfer of the collection to WVU.

Scope and Contents

Literary manuscripts of Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973), an American fiction writer and humanitarian who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938. She is best known for her novels about peasant life in China.

The collection includes the great majority of manuscripts comprising Buck's literary works, including her novels, non-fiction, children's books, and short stories, as well as articles and speeches, among other material. There is also material about Pearl Buck.

Formats include holographs, typescripts, typescript carbons, mixed manuscripts, galleys, and more.

Prominent topics of Buck's literary works include: Chinese history, politics, and culture; American culture; international relations; adoption; children with disabilities; women's rights; and writing. The collection also includes material regarding the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation, Pearl Buck as an author, and other subjects.

For additional material, see A&M 727, Pearl S. Buck, Author, Papers.

Overview of Record Series:

The collection includes eight series:

Series 1. Novels; ca. 1930-1973.
Series 2. Non-fiction; ca. 1936-1972.
Series 3. Children's Books; ca. 1940-1967.
Series 4. Translation; ca. 1933.
Series 5. Collections of Short Stories; ca. 1934-1973.
Series 6. Other Works; ca. 1923-1967, 2014.
Series 7. Miscellaneous; ca. 1960-2014.
Series 8. Oversized; ca. 1930-1995.

Series 1-5 include the bulk of Buck's published books in draft form. The cataloging information for these series was drawn from Mary Lee Welliver's thesis, Pearl S. Buck's Manuscripts: The Harvest of Half a Century (see series 7, box 71, folder 284). Some of the drafts are deemed "original" -- for more information on how this conclusion was reached, please see pages 17-18 of the thesis. Series 6 includes drafts of works that were not cataloged in Welliver's thesis.

Since many of Buck's drafts are undated, date ranges given in the series descriptions are based in part on dates of publication. Also, page counts have not been verified.

Manuscripts from the collection were originally housed in 273 large numbered envelopes. The original envelope numbers have been retained as folder numbers, and the original envelopes have been moved to boxes 83-86.

Regarding terminology in this finding aid:

"Galley" indicates a preliminary version of a publication meant for review and copyediting, printed on oversize paper.

"Paged galleys" indicates galleys where pagination has been added, and the number of pages reflects that pagination.

"Unpaged galleys" lack page numbers, and are counted by the number of leaves referred to as "galley pp.".

"Holograph" indicates an entirely handwritten work (as opposed to typescript).

"Manuscript" is used in the general sense to include holographs, typescripts, and galleys.

"PSB" stands for Pearl S. Buck.

Related Material

727

Separated Material

Signed letter to Rare Signatures, A&M 435:

Signed letter from Pearl Buck to Otto Whittaker, with signed enclosure, dated 1967.

Book to Book Collection:

Crouch, Archie R. Scholars' Guide to China Mission Resources in the Libraries and Archives of the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Significant Places Associated With the Collection

Back to Top

Container List

Series 1. Novels
ca. 1930-1973
Scope and Contents

Includes holographs, typescripts, typescript carbons, mixed manuscripts, and galleys for more than thirty of Buck's published novels. Many address the topic of Chinese peasant life. Some works are represented by multiple drafts, and some include corrections and revisions by the author.

Highlights include:
paged galleys of Buck's first novel, East Wind, West Wind ;
a typescript of Sons ;
original holograph and typescripts of The Patriot ;
typescripts of The Angry Wife , her only novel set in West Virginia and one of many written under the pseudonym John Sedges; and
multiple drafts of Imperial Woman .

Additional drafts, outlines, and synopses for novels and novellas can also be found in Series 6, Other Works. Galleys and galley proofs can be found in Series 8, Oversized.

Back to Top
Series 2. Non-fiction
ca. 1936-1972
Scope and Contents

Includes typescripts, typescript carbons, mixed manuscripts, and holographs for eighteen of Buck's non-fiction works. Topics include Asia, the role of women in American society, racism, children's welfare, and adoption.

Highlights include:

multiple drafts and leather-bound presentations of Buck's manuscripts for the biographies of her parents -- The Exile and The Fighting Angel -- two novels that helped earn her the 1938 Nobel Prize in Literature;

a mixed manuscript of the book titled Of Men and Women ;

typescripts of How it Happens ;

multiple drafts of The Joy of Children ; and

multiple drafts of her autobiographies, My Several Worlds and A Bridge for Passing .

Additional non-fiction works can be found in Series 6, Other Works. Galleys of non-fiction works can be found in Series 8, Oversized.

Back to Top
Series 3. Children's Books
ca. 1940-1967
Scope and Contents

Includes typescript carbons, galleys, typescripts, mixed manuscripts, and holographs for eleven children's books, including The Big Fight , The Big Wave , and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John . Galleys can be found in Series 8, Oversized.

Back to Top
Series 4. Translation
ca. 1933
Scope and Contents

Includes two typescript drafts of All Men Are Brothers , Buck's translation of one of China's most famous novels, Shui Hu Chuan (also known as Water Margin or Shui Hu Zhuan ). A brochure advertising this book can be found in Series 6, Other Works, box 70, folder 279.7.

Back to Top
Series 5. Collections of Short Stories
ca. 1934-1973
Scope and Contents

Includes typescripts, typescript carbons, holographs, and mixed manuscripts of short stories from nine of Buck's anthologies. Some of the anthologies were published posthumously. Some entries include the periodical in which the various short stories appeared; please note that this is not indicative of a systematic search. Additional short stories can be found in Series 6, Other Works. A magazine clipping has been moved to Series 8, Oversized.

Back to Top
Series 6. Other Works
ca. 1923-1967, 2014
Scope and Contents

Includes holographs, typescripts, typescript carbons, clippings, and mixed manuscripts of published and unpublished short stories, articles, dramas/plays, novels, novellas, non-fiction works, reviews, speeches, introductions, forewords, letters, press releases, radio broadcasts, and interviews, among other material. The majority of this series is Buck's own work.

Subjects include China and its people; writing; women; international relations and war; America and its people; India; Japan; mentally handicapped children (the contemporary term, retarded, is used in the contents list); mixed race children; the Vineland Training School; the Welcome House; adoption; and many more. Two published short stories have been moved to Series 8, Oversized.

Highlights include:

a January 1923 issue of the journal The Atlantic Monthly , containing Buck's first published article, "In China, Too" (box 70, folder 282);

a typescript introduction to The Good Earth , 1949 (box 63, folder 254.1);

a holograph introduction to a series of shortwave radio broadcasts, written by Buck in Chinese characters (with romanizations in typescript) (box 50, folder 196.1);

a holograph of an untitled radio broadcast, written by Buck in Chinese characters (with romanizations in typescript) (box 51, folder 202); and

typescripts and typescript carbons of the autobiographical short story "My Chinese Nurse" (box 33, folders 134.1-134.3).

Back to Top
Series 7. Miscellaneous
ca. 1960-2014
Scope and Contents

Includes exhibit materials, typescripts, clippings, correspondence, ephemera, printed material, photographs, and other material. Subjects include the appraisal and cataloging of collection materials by Frances and Kenneth Swope, Mary Lee Welliver, and Robert Shafer; the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation and preservation of Buck's birthplace in Hillsboro, WV; celebratory centennial events in 1992; Pearl S. Buck; and her works. The majority of the contents of this series was created by people other than Buck, though it includes a few facsimiles and printed versions of Buck's work.

Highlights include:

typescripts written about Buck by Lucille S. Zinn, bibliographer for the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation (box 72, folder 302.1-302.2), who went on to publish "The Works of Pearl S. Buck: A Bibliography" (box 73, folder 305.1);

records regarding the Pearl S. Buck commemorative stamp (various folders in boxes 73-76); and

a cassette tape of an interview with Pearl S. Buck conducted by Arnold Gingrich, October 12, 1970 (box 76, folder 365).

Biographical material on Buck can be found in box 73, folder 320; box 74, folders 323 and 338; box 75, folder 349; and others.

Although now substantially superseded by the current cataloging record in terms of both completeness and detail, the Mary Lee Welliver collection guide, within her graduate thesis, has been retained in this collection for future reference (see box 71, folder 284). Within her guide, Welliver cataloged the drafts of published books within the collection (series 1-5). Within these series, she lists the works alphabetically, and the drafts of each work in rough chronological order. (A version of our contents list in this cataloging record, found below, arranged in the same order as the contents list in Welliver's thesis, is available in box 71, folder 284.) Regarding the chronological order in her guide, Welliver notes that, "In a few cases, the order has been very difficult to ascertain without a more critical study of the manuscripts. This study is left to future researchers and an 'educated guess' has been made as to chronology in such cases" (Welliver thesis, p. 21).

Welliver also created data sheets for each work she cataloged, which are available in box 71, folders 293.1-293.4, and box 72, folders 294.1- 294.2. These data sheets include information not recorded in either the contents list found in this cataloging record, or in the Welliver thesis, such as type and size of paper and notations from original envelopes or folders.

Boxes 83-86 include the original container envelopes for most of the collection; the notations on these envelopes regarding specifics about their contents, such as page numbers, may be of interest to future researchers. Not all of this information is present in the contents list.

Back to Top
Series 8. Oversized
ca. 1930-1995
Scope and Contents

Includes galleys and galley proofs from Series 1, Novels; Series 2, Non-fiction; and Series 3, Children's Books. Also includes a magazine clipping from Series 5, Collections of Short Stories; published short stories from Series 6, Other Works; and various clippings regarding the Pearl S. Buck Birthplace Foundation, her home, and other topics. Noteworthy are the paged galleys of Buck's first novel, East Wind, West Wind (box 77b, folder 1 and 2).

Back to Top