This collection consists of 36 boxes of textual material, two boxes of artifacts (including the Dictaphone machine used in her therapy sessions and other items including the two phonograph albums, framed photos and other personal material/ and a box of slides and VHS tapes. In addition to this material, Carson McCullers’ personal library from her home at 131 South Broadway in Nyack, New York was part of Dr. Mercer’s bequest to the Columbus State University Archives, and is separately housed in the CSU archives research room.

Dr. Mercer kept a meticulous listing of everything to do with Carson McCullers, arranged into 8 general groupings. Her arrangement has been kept and is as follows:

Index - Carson

This is the master index to the collection, mostly as Dr. Mercer left it, with some earlier drafts and notes as well. While the order is Dr. Mercer’s, some folders were subdivided to make them easier to manage. The processor created Series 9 - Mercer Materials and Series 10 - Artifacts for non-textual items related to Carson.

Series 1 - Carson’s Own Work, with the following 26 sub-series:

1. Heart 2. Reflections 3. Ballad 4. Member 5. Musical version mss 6. TV 1997 version 7. Clock 8. Manuscript of Clock Without Hands (autographed) 9. Sweet as a Pickle 10. (Kirmess) - From My Back Porch 11. Short Stories (Red Book) - Three Stories by. . . 12. “Sucker”—Saturday Evening Post 13. “The March” - Redbook 14. “In Praise of Radiance” - Isak Dinesen (Saturday Review) 15. “The Flowering Dream” - (Esquire) 16. “F. Jasmine Adams” in manuscript (musical) 17. Carson Personal: Letters, passport, telegram, poetry, church bulletin. Carson’s own writing in writing tablet. Valentine heart. 18. Carson’s trip to Ireland 19. Poetry (Dual Angel, Hymen O Hymen, Love and the Rind of Time, Father, Upon Thy Image 20. The Mortgaged Heart 21. Obituary Notices 22. Carson writing about 131 (another copy of Kirmess) 23. Carson’s Will and Estate 24. Autograph Information (Remove) 25. Cheltenham Festival (letters, programs, misc.) 26. Condolence Letters 27. Edward Albee 28. Misc. Inquiries re: Carson

Series 2 - Writings About Carson, with the following 13 sub-series:

1. Oliver Evans 2. Interview: “The Marquis,” “Uh-huh” - Three Essentials 3. 100 American Women 4. Henry Varnum Poor’s Painting and sculpture of Caron Catalog at National Academy 5. Places Where Carson Lived 6. Books I own of Carson’s (list with notes) 7. Card file Carson had complied of her books 8. Collector’s Inquiries 9. News Clippings re: Carson 10. Literary Criticism 11. Misc. Re: Carson from People Who Knew her or me 12. Tennessee Williams: Praise to Assenting Angels 13. Evolutions of a Human Heart - Joanne Mongelli, 1987 14. Virginia Carr

Series 3 - Carson’s House at 131 South Broadway, with the following 15 sub-series:

1. 131 S. Broadway (pictures) 2. Purchase of 131 as Memorial (See 7-D and 7E) 3. Tenants of 131 4. Nyack Renaissance 5. Edward Hopper Landmark 6. Homes of Famous Writers 7. National Institute of Arts and letters 8. Nyack Ambulance 9. Nyack Library 10. St. James 11. University of Texas 12. Yaddo [not received] 13. Berg Collection 14. Columbus Museum [not received] 15. Carson’s House in Columbus 16. House and Garden Tour

Series 4 - People Carson Admired, with the following 7 sub-series:

1. O’Neill, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Joyce, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Bowles 2. Martin Luther King 3. Faulkner 4. Montgomery Clift 5. Benjamin Britten and Peter Peers 6. Greta Garbo 7. Marlena Dietrich The series above was not in the file cabinets as received, and there was a note in the margin of the index saying “Not important”. It was presumably discarded as some point in time by Dr. Mercer, although all of these people are well represented in the clippings in both Series 6 - Carson’s People and Series 9-B - Bookmark Material.

Series 5 - Carson’s Archives, with the following 11 sub-series:

1. Dictaphone Sessions 2. Items from Archives 146-147, 347, 309, 315, 210, 150, 325 3. Photos of Anna Marie [sic] 4. Re: Mr. Sale 5. Purchase of 131 6. Silver 7. Winterreise Music re: A-M 8. Carl Van Vechten Photos 10. 9. Photos of Carson’s House 11. Slides of her House 12. Photos of 131 13. Photos of Carson’s Grave 14. Album about Carson by Misc. Friends: Terry Murray 15. Story Magazine (see 7-H)

Series 6 - Carson’s People, with the following 23 sub-series:

1. Dr. Bailey: Medical History 2. Robert Lantz 3. Floria Lasky 4. Rita Smith 5. Jack Dobbin 6. Tom Maschler 7. Marielle Bancou 8. Andre Gerard 9. Mary Tucker (to Duke? Missing) 10. Margaret Sullivan 11. Virginia Carr [crossed out] see File Drawer 1: 2-M 12. Marilyn Monroe 13. Gypsy Rose lee 14. Cheryl Crawford 15. Edith Sitwell 16. W.H. Auden 17. Tennessee Williams [crossed out] See File Drawer 1: 2-K 18. Jordan Massee 19. Oliver Smith 20. Ida Reeder 21. Hallie Burnett/Richard Rosenthal/Story Magazine 22. Various [includes everyone mentioned in Series 4 plus others] 23. Robert Whitehead

Series 7 - Carson Related, with the following 8 sub-series:

1. Carlos L.B. Dews 1. Dissertation on Carson’ unpublished Autobiography 2. Correspondence 2. Josyanne Savigngeau 3. Spin-Off from JS’s Book 4. Marker: Dedication of Historic Marker & Celebration of Life of Carson McC. By Historical Society of Rockland County & Nyack Library 5. Restoration Award 6. BBC Radio 7. French Television 8. Story Magazine 9. Artist Colonies 10. Sue Walker 11. CSU 12. Appraisals, Non-Literary 13. Appraisals, literary 14. Foes 15. Samuel Menashe 16. “Speak My Name” 17. Books Sent to Carson for Review

Sub-series L-Q were added by the processor of the collection. Series 8 - Personal: Carson and me (but with this title crossed out), with 1 sub-series:

1. Carson’s letters to me

Series 9 - Mercer Material, with the following 6 sub-series:

1. Dictaphone Session Letters 2. Bookmark Materials 3. Actual Bookmarks 4. Art/Artists 5. Religion 6. Cooking 7. Auto 8. Miscellaneous 9. Publications 10. Writing

Series 10 - Artifacts

It is important to note that Dr. Mercer’s here-to-fore meticulous record-keeping began to change around 1995. Detailed item-level notations were replaced by simply placing related material in larger folders. Also the uses and arrangement of the files changed over the nearly half-century that she maintained them—some items, such as those relating to the purchase of the Nyack house, began life in an estate-related folder and later wound up in the series “Carson’s House”. Items began to be misfiled, as well, and thus many items marked “NIF” (Not In File) or “Missing” have turned up in other folders or in the large amount of material “filed” in the pages of her extensive library. During processing, they were re-filed in their correct places to the extent possible. The index itself went through various versions, all of which are found in the first folders of the collection, even though some of them are outdated. The processor of the collection added some later items, such as programs for revivals of McCullers plays after the 1990s, to folders which did not include references to them in Dr. Mercer’s own hand, but which clearly followed her schema. Finally, Dr. Mercer used news clippings, correspondence, tissue paper, feathers and notes she took on books as place markers in her extensive library, as well as conventional bookmarks. These materials were removed during the cataloging process, and placed in Series 9 - Bookmark Materials.

Certain abbreviations used by Dr. Mercer have been expanded, and folder dates have been added. In addition, the various symbols used by Dr. Mercer to indicate the breaks between topics contained within a letter (: ; . spaces, dashes, etc.) have also been standardized. After the indication of author and addressee the processor used a colon and between the topics (if more than one) a semicolon. Dr. Mercer’s dates have also been expanded and standardized in the full month/day/year format. In the few cases of obvious error, they have been corrected. It is important to note that Dr. Mercer always used the Latin abbreviation “M” for thousand (not million) and not the more common Greek abbreviation of “K”. A reference to “4 M” means 4,000 and not 4,000,000. Many of her abbreviations are more common to medical collections, such as a c with a line over it to indicate “with” and other Latin abbreviations.

Another detail to note is that Dr. Mercer sometimes listed individual items in a folder by number, sometimes by letter and sometimes neither. Her choice is followed, except where they were undifferentiated, in which case numbers are used.

Dr. Mercer’s abbreviations for names or nicknames are as follows:

Alphabetical by abbreviation/nickname:

A-M = Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908-1942), Swiss photographer, writer and poet, and friend of Carson

André or A = André Girard (25 May 1901- 2 September 1968), was, according to Wikipedia, a French painter, poster-maker and Resistance worker during World War II. During the war he founded and headed the CARTE network, also taking "Carte" as his personal codename. He was born in Chinon, Indre-et-Loire, France and died in the U.S. He was the first husband of Marielle Bancou, mentioned below.

Bill = William Segal (1904-May 16, 2000), Marielle Bancou’s second husband. According to Wikipedia, William Segal was a magazine publisher and self-taught artist whose work often reflected his interest in Eastern philosophies and religions. Segal is known for his self-portraits and his belief in self-discovery through art. He was born in in Macon, Georgia, but moved to New York with an athletic scholarship to New York University where he studied art at its Art Students League. Before World War II, Segal became involved in the magazine industry beginning in Germany whose clientele were based in the new plastics industry at the time. His later ventures involved men's fashion. He initially created a newsletter and then in 1946 helped establish the magazine American Fabrics. With the introduction of synthetic fabrics, American Fabrics, along with his later publications such as Gentry magazine and the International Color Authority helped establish him in the business. By the age of thirty Segal became a millionaire. Since his days at New York University, Segal had enjoyed painting. After frequent visits to Japan, Segal became interested in Zen Buddhism, studying with D.T. Suzuki. It is then that Segal began to paint more, particularly self-portraits. His self-portraits, among other works, often served as a vehicle for self-reflection and self-discovery. In the mid-1970s Segal attended a drawing class at a church in Dorchester, Massachusetts and met a young Ken Burns, whose friendship grew over time. In 1992 Segal asked Burns to help him create a thirteen-minute film on his life and work to showcase at an upcoming exhibition in Japan. Burns agreed and documented Segal's life and philosophy on his farm in Chester, NJ. Although it is one of his lesser known works, BurnsWilliam Segal along with his two additional films,Vézelay (1995) andIn the Marketplace (1999), also about the artist, were well received.

Boots = Jordan Massee (1915-2002), Carson’s colorful cousin whose father, according to Carson, was Tennessee Williams’ model for Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He was also occasionally referred to as JM in Dr. Mercer’s notes and indexes.

C., CM, or CMC = Carson McCullers

CD = Coleen Dewhurst (June 3, 1924-August 22, 1991), actress

Cordee = Cordelia Hamilton, a travel agent and friend of Dr. Mercer

CVV = Carl Van Vechten, (June 17, 1880-December 21, 1964) writer and photographer

Dr. B. = Frederick Randolph Bailey, M.D. (1903-September 20, 1968), Carson’s physician

EA = Edward Albee (March 12, 1928- ), playwright

EJH = Elizabeth Jane Howard, the Artistic Director of the Cheltenham Festival of Literature in October of 1962, at which Carson McCullers took part in a symposium.

FL = Floria Lasky (April 24, 1923-September 21, 2007), friend and attorney of Carson McCullers and her sister Margarita/Rita Smith. Her husband was Robert Altman (1915-August 30, 2000), a fashion advertising executive and chairman of the firm Altman, Stoller, Weiss).

GH = Gladys Hill (1916-1981), who was instrumental in arranging for Carson’s final trip, to visit her and John Huston in Ireland in 1967 during the filming of her novel, Reflections in a Golden Eye. According to Wikipedia, Gladys Hill was a screenwriter and film executive who was best known as the co-writer of the screenplay for The Man Who Would Be King for which she received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. She also co-wrote screenplays for The Kremlin Letter and Reflections in a Golden Eye. I n 1962 Hill became head assistant to Director John Huston, a position which continued through 11 more films with Huston.

Harwick = Hardwick Mosely (1901-1970), one of the and editors with Houghton Mifflin Company, Carson’s publishers.

H.S. = Harvey I. Schuldenfrei, accountant used by Floria Lasky in Federal Estate Tax Return matters.

HVP = Henry Varnum Poor (1887-1970), artist and friend of both Carson McCullers and Dr. Mercer. His wife was named Bernice (also known as Bessie) and their daughter, Anne, was a patient of Dr. Mercer’s. According to Wikipedia, Poor was an architect, painter, sculptor, muralist, and potter. He was a grandnephew and namesake of the financier Henry Varnum Poor, a founder of the predecessor firm to Standard & Poor's.

Born in Chapman, Kansas, Poor attended Stanford University, studied painting at the Slade School and under painter Walter Sickert in London, then attended the Académie Julian in Paris. He returned to the United States in 1911 and taught art at Stanford and later the San Francisco Art Association. Following military service in World War I, he settled in Rockland County, New York, and focused on ceramics. In 1925 he married journalist and writer Bessie Breuer.

In the late 1920s, Poor gained recognition as a painter and eventually turned to murals; he was commissioned to paint twelve murals in the U.S. Department of Justice and the mural Conservation of American Wild Life in the Department of the Interior during the 1930s, among other works. During World War II he was head of the War Art Unit of the Corps of Engineers. He served on the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts from 1944 to 1945. In 1946 Poor was one of the founders of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture and taught at Columbia University. Poor was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was a resident fellow in visual arts at the American Academy in Rome from 1950 to 1951.

Self-taught as an architect, Poor designed the "Crow House" on South Mountain Road in New City, New York for himself, and designed houses or home renovations for Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, John Houseman, Burgess Meredith and Maxwell Anderson. He was also a potter, with ceramics in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and ceramics designed for Radio City Music Hall. He also has works in the collections of the Whitney Museum and the Phillips Collection. Poor's papers are in the Archives of American Art at the Smithsonian.

Ida = Ida Reeder (September 4 1904-March 16, 1987), Carson McCullers' maid, cook and attendant in her later years. Ida was born in Greenwood, South Carolina on September 4, 1904, the daughter of Emma and James Reeder. She moved to New York in the 1950s, where she first worked at the Rockland Psychiatric Hospital in Orangeburg, before working for Carson McCullers.

Jack = John Edwin Dobbin (August 19, 1911-July 12, 1973), friend of Carson and Dr. Mercer. He was a New York movie executive with 20th Century Fox, formerly the U.S. Navy fleet historian during World War II.

JG or JoG = Joanne Gomme, Carson’s attendant on her trip to England in 1962.

JM = Jordan Massee (1915-2002), Carson’s colorful cousin whose father, according to Carson, was Tennessee Williams’ model for Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. He was also known as Boots.

JS = Josyane Savigneau (1951 -), biographer of Carson McCullers and friend of Dr. Mercer. According to Wikipedia, she is a journalist and writer for Le Monde, born on 14 July 1951 in Châtellerault, France. She became editor-in-chief of Le Monde des Livres, an editorial subdivision of Le Monde in 2005. In 1995 she published her biography of Carson McCullers, Carson McCullers: Un coeur de jeune fille. In 2001 she published the English translation in 2001 as Carson McCullers: A Life.

Marielle = Marielle Bancou (1921-2015), artist and friend of Carson McCullers and Dr. Mercer. According to her New York Times obituary of April 3, 2015, she was also an international stylist, textile designer, painter, author, set designer, and friend to many important artists, writers, and visionaries of the Twentieth Century.

MEM = Mary Elizabeth Mercer, M.D. (June 6, 1911-April 23, 2013)

MS = Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan (January 4, 1935- December 27, 2012), friend and Carson McCullers scholar.

NS = Nathanial (or Nat) Sales, Dr. Mercer’s accountant and attorney

OE = Oliver Evans, author of The Ballad of Carson McCullers, published in 1966.

P.W. = Payne Whitney Hospital in New York City

Rita = Margarita G. Smith (1923-January 28, 1983), Carson McCullers’ sister

RL = Robert (or Robbie) Lantz (July 20, 1914-October 18, 2007), Carson McCullers’ literary agent and, along with his wife Sherlee, friend of McCullers. According to his New York Time Obituary, he was born in Berlin on July 20, 1914 and dreamed of being an author like his father who was a screenwriter in the silent-movie era. He moved to London in 1935, after Hitler came to power, and worked as a story editor for American film companies. Following World War II he came to New York and began a new life representing creative artists.

RN = Regula Noetzli, a literary agent who represented Dr. Mercer.

RW = Robert Wolf, Dr. Mercer’s attorney. When he retired, he was replaced by Renee Schwartz.

VC = Dr. Virginia Spencer Carr (July 21, 1929 - April 10, 2012), a biographer of Carson McCullers which did not meet with approval by Dr. Mercer. According to Wikipedia, Carr received her master's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her doctorate degree from Florida State University in 1969. She was a professor of English at Columbus State University, until she accepted the chair of the Department of English at Georgia State University in 1985. In 1993, she was named the John B. and Elena Diaz Verson Amos Distinguished Professor in English Letters, a position she held until her retirement in 2003. A collection of Carr's papers is housed at the Rubenstein Library at Duke University. There is also a small collection of her papers (MC 23) at the Columbus State University Archives.

Vertès = Marcel Vertès (August 10, 1895-October 31, 1961), one of the artists who drew Carson McCullers in the 1940s. This portrait was given to the Carson McCullers Center in Columbus, Georgia by Marielle Bacou-Segal in 2002. According to the Idbury Prints website, as well as the RoGallery website, he was born Marcel Vértes in Ujpest, Hungary. An outstanding twentieth century painter, print-maker and illustrator, Marcel Vertès moved from his native Hungary to Paris during the First World War. Living and working in the famous Latin Quarter, Vertès quickly established himself as one of the most important artists of the Paris scene, thus continuing in the footsteps of Boutet, Forain, Toulouse-Lautrec and others. The art of Marcel Vertès was at its peak during the vibrant and somewhat wild decade of the 1920s. Concentrating upon scenes of Paris street life, portrayals of women and depictions of circus and cabaret acts, Vertès left a legacy of original lithographs and drawings that superbly capture the spirit of 1920’s Paris. Like many other artists, the Second World War forced Vertès to move to the United States. Settling in New York his reputation as a great artist was firmly established and he continued his work, most particularly in the field of book illustration. While living in New York he also painted a famous series of murals at the Café Carlyle, which have recently been restored. After ten years in the USA, he returned to his beloved Paris and spent the remaining years of his life there. He recorded his memories of that time in his 1952 memoir Amandes Vertes.

1954-2012 40 boxes (17 l.f.)