Cassette Tape 16 -- Special Letters to Carson McCullers

File — Box: 1, Folder: 16

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

These papers include Sullivan's school papers, research materials (mainly focusing on Carson McCullers and Lillian Smith) from graduate school through her later life, newspaper clippings of local and national events, copies of her dissertation, and a varied and voluminous correspondence.

Below are two lists of selected correspondents; one alphabetically by signature and the other by last name, if known:

Selected Correspondents of Margaret S. Sullivan, alphabetically by the name they used in correspondence:

Alberta = Alberta Schwartz

Alice = Alice Clark

Alice = Alice Degilio

Alicia = Alicia Jurado

Alva = Alva Current-Garcia

Ann = Ann and Howard (last name not known)

Arlin = Arlin Turner

Arthur = Arthur Rosenthal

Barbara = Barbara Freeman

Barbara = Barbara and Bob Kernelk

Barbara = Barbara Maris

Barbara = Frank and Barbara Star

Beau = Beau Brian

Belle (or Aunt Belle) = Mrs. Clarence Bailey

Bev = Beveridge Webster

Bill = William Erwin

Carlton = Carlton Johnson

Caroline = Caroline Cable

Casey = unidentified

Cesi = Cecilia Cook

Chuck = Charles Padora

Clint = Clinton J. Atkinson

Clarence (or Uncle Speedy) = Clarence Bailey

Constance = Constance Johnson

Cora = Cora Howell, later Mrs. J. J. Sullivan

Dawn = Dawn Langley Simmons, a.k.a. Pepita

Dean = Dean Barton

Dee = Dee Rainey

Diane = Tim and Diane Aureden

Dick = Richard and Lilo Larner

Dolores = Mrs. Rick Eckberg

Don = Don Dixon

Donald = Donald Diamon

Donna = Donna and B. T. (Bennie) Abbott

Doris = Doris Bullock

Dot = Dorothy Lewis Griffith

Edwin = Edwin Peacock

Elizabeth = Elizabeth Barton

Emily (Miss Emily) = Mrs. Colin Davies

Emily (Miss Emily) = Emily Massee, later Mrs. James F. Brown

Emily = Emily Woodruff

Estelle (Miss Estelle) = Mrs. W. E. H. Searcy, III

Esther = Esther Smith

Fred = Frederick Marshall Karsten

Gene = Gene Current-Garcia

Genie = Genie Rose

George = George P. Brockway

Gin = Virginia Tucker, later Mrs. Thomas Melgaard

Helen = Helen Anne Caine, later Mrs. Benjamin Ira Franklin

Helen = Helen Harvey

Humphrey = unidentified

Isabelle = Jim and Isabelle Portner

Jay and Zee = Jay and Zee Claiborne

Jim = Jim and Isabelle Portner

John = unidentified

Judy = Judy Brown

Judy = Judy Frazer and later Mrs. Bernice (Bernie) Brouillette

Judy = Judy Ludwig

Judy = Mrs. Fred Stoll (of NYC in 1976)

Karen = Karen Tucker Melgaard, later Mrs. Russell Ward Miller

Lee = Nathalie Lee Goldstein

Lil = Lillian Smith

Liz = Elizabeth Barton

Liza = Liza Molodovsky

Locke = Locke Bullock

Louise = unidentified

Margaret = Margaret Smith, a.k.a. Rita (the sister of Carson McCullers)

Maris = Maris Urbans

Mark = Mark Orton, later married to Doris Cunningham

Mary = Mary Ames

Mary = Mary Dawson

Mary = Mary Louise Lasher

Mary = Mary Elizabeth Mercer, MD

Mary = Mary Tucker

Mary Ann = Mary Ann and Henry (last name not known)

Mary Ann = Mary Ann Taylor

Mary Ellen = Mary Ellen Templeton

Mitsy = Edna H. Campbell, later Mrs. Imre Kovacs

Monica = Monica Fleishman

Muriel = Muriel McClanahan

Myrtis = Mrs. H. Maxwell Morrison, Jr.

Nancy = Nancy Bunge

Nancy = Nancy Bush

Nelson = Nelson Shipp

Noel = Noel Dorman

Noel = Noel Mawer

Norman = Norman Rothschild

Odessa = Odessa Elliott

Olga = Olga Perlgueig, a.k.a. Olga Merx

Pastora = unidentified

Pat = Mrs. Harold Davis

Pat = Pat Stutts

Pat = Patricia Sullivan, later Mrs. Frank H. Conner, Jr.

Paula = Paula Snelling

Pepita = Dawn Langley Simons

Rinky = Mrs. Charles J. Caine

Rita = Margarita Smith (the sister of Carson McCullers)

Roberta = Mrs. J. E. Bush

Ruth = Mrs. William H. Barns

Ruth = Ruth and Richard Howell

Ruth = Ruth Lehmann

Sally = Sally Fitzgerald

Sally = Sally and Bill Thomas

Sam = Sam and Cheryl Dimon

Sissie = Bill and Sissie Morris

Speedy (Uncle Speedy) = Clarence Bailey

Susan = Mrs. Tom Rogan

Susan = Susan Sigmon

Susanne = Susanne Schaup

Tom = Tom Wrergbricke

Virginia = Virginia Spencer Carr

Virginia = Virginia Tucker, later Mrs. Thomas Melgaard

Walter = Walter Sturdivant

Selected Correspondents of Margaret S. Sullivan by last name (if known):

Abbott, Mrs. B. T (Bennie); known as Donna

Aureden, Tim and Diane

Ames, Mary

Ann and Howard (not otherwise identified)

Atkinson, Clinton J. (1928-2002); actor and director, working mostly in New York, and friend of Margaret S. Sullivan

Bailey, Belle and Clarence (Aunt Bell and Uncle Speedy); relatives on Cora Howell Sullivan's side of the family

Barns, Mrs. William H., known as Ruth

Barton, Dean; 5th grade teacher of Carson McCullers

Barton, Elizabeth; sister of Dean Barton, 5th grade teacher of Carson McCullers

Brian, Beau

Brockway, George P.; editor of Lillian Smith

Brouillette, Judy Frazer; life-long friend of Margaret S. Sullivan, married to Bernard (Bernie) Brouillette in 1967

Brown, Emily Massee (Miss Emily); married to James F. Brown and sister of Jordan Massee, a cousin of Carson McCullers

Brown, Judy

Bullock, Locke and Doris

Bunge, Nancy; teaching colleague and friend of Margaret S. Sullivan

Bush, Catherine; niece of Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan and daughter of John and Nancy Sullivan Bush

Bush, Jeff; nephew of Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan and son of John and Nancy Sullivan Bush

Bush, Nancy Sullivan (1935-1999); sister of Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan, married to John Karl Bush

Bush, Roberta; the mother-in-law of Nancy Sullivan Bush

Bush, Steve; nephew of Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan and son of John and Nancy Sullivan Bush

Cable, Caroline

Cain, Helen see: Mrs. Benjamin Ira Franklin

Caine, Mrs. Charles J., known as Rinky

Campbell, Edna H see: Kovacs, Mitsy

Carr, Virginia Spencer; biographer of Carson McCullers and research rival of Margaret Sullivan

Claiborne, Jay and Zee

Clark, Alice

Conner, Patricia Sullivan (1936-2003), known as Pat or Patsy; sister of Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan, married to Frank H. Conner, Jr.

Conner, Frank H., III; nephew of Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan, son of Frank H., Jr. and Patricia Sullivan Conner, married to Susan

Conner, William Jordan "Will"; nephew of Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan and son of Frank H. Conner, Jr. and Patricia Sullivan Conner, married to Natalie

Conner, Ann (d. 1999); niece of Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan daughter of Frank H. Conner, Jr. and Patricia Sullivan Conner, married to John Kraynik

Cook, Cathy and Bruce; parents of Cecilia (Cesi), Bob and Katy Cook

Cook, Cecilia, known as Cesi; daughter of Cathy and Bruce Cook

Current-Garcia, Alva and Gene

Davies, Mrs. Colin, known as Miss Emily; daughter of a Methodist preacher who lived in Columbus while Carson McCullers lived there. Was very useful to Sullivan in her McCullers research

Davis, Pat; married to Harold Davis

Dawson, Mary; friend of Margaret S. Sullivan

Degilio, Alice

Diamond, Donald (1915-2005); musician and teacher at Julliard, and a friend of Carson McCullers and her family. Very useful to Sullivan in her McCullers research.

Dimon, Sam and Cheryl

Dixon, Don

Dorman, Noel

Eckberg, Jason, son of Dolores Eckberg

Eckberg, Mrs. Rick (Dolores), mother of Jason

Elliott, Odessa

Erwin, William (Bill)

Fitzgerald, Sally (1917-2000); friend and biographer of Flannery O'Connor, as well as the editor of her letters and short stories. Also friend of Margaret S. Sullivan.

Fleishman, Monica

Franklin, Mrs. Benjamin Ira, born Helen Cain

Frazer, Judy, see; Brouillette, Judy Frazer

Freeman, Barbara

Goldstein, Nathalie Lee; McCullers scholar and friend of Margaret S. Sullivan

Griffith, Dorothy Lewis (b. 1932); pianist and friend of McCullers' piano teacher, Mary Tucker. She became a long-time friend and correspondent of Margaret S. Sullivan

Harvey, Helen; neighbor and friend of Carson McCullers in Columbus

Henry, Mary Ann

Howell, Ruth and Richard

Humphrey (unidentified)

Johnson, Constance and Carleton

Jurado, Alicia

Karsten, Frederick Marshall "Frank"

Kernelk, Barbara and Bob

Kovacs, Edna H Campbell, known as Mitsy; life-long friend of Margaret Sullivan

Larner, Richard "Dick" and Lilo

Lasher, Mary Louise

Lehmann, Ruth

Louise (unidentified)

Ludwig, Judy

Maris, Barbara (in Baltimore in 1975)

Mawer, Noel

McClanahan, Muriel

Melgaard, Karen Tucker; daughter of Mrs. Thomas Melgaard. She married Russell Ward Miller in 1971.

Melgaard, Mrs. Thomas; daughter of Mary Tucker, known as Virginia or Gin

Mercer, Dr. Mary Elizabeth (1911-2013); the doctor, friend and heir of Carson McCullers, and very useful to Margaret S. Sullivan in her McCullers research

Merx, Olga = Olga Perlgueig

Molodovsky, Liza

Morris, Mrs. William "Sissie"

Morrison, Jr., Mrs. H. Maxwell "Myrtis"

Orton, Mark (married Doris Cunningham in 1968

Padorn, Charles "Chuck"

Pastora (otherwise unidentified)

Peacock, Edwin

Perlgueig, Olga = Olga Merx

Porter, Katherine Ann; novelist and contemporary of Carson McCullers

Portner, Jim and Isabell; neighbors and friends of Margaret S. Sullivan in Fairfax, Virginia

Rainey, Dee

Regan, Susan; married to Tom Regan

Rosa, Genie

Rosenthal, Arthur; a close friend of Margaret Sullivan when she lived in New York in the 1960s

Rothschild, Norman (1908-1998) was a Columbus, Georgia artist and co-owner of the David Rothschild Company. He was a friend of Carson McCullers and became acquainted with Margaret Sue Sullivan as a result of her McCullers research during the 1960s. They formed a friendship that lasted as long as he lived.

Schaup, Susanne; Austrian-born friend of Margaret S. Sullivan and perhaps one of her students

Schwartz, Alberta

Searcy III, Mrs. W. E. H "Miss Estelle"

Shipp, Nelson

Sigmon, Susan; perhaps a student of Margaret Sue Sullivan

Simmons, Dawn Langley, known as Pepita; friend of Carson McCullers in her New York days.

Smith, Ester; sister of Lillian Smith

Smith, Lillian "Lil", author and friend of both Carson McCullers and Margaret Sue Sullivan

Smith, Margareta "Rita"; sister of Carson McCullers

Snelling, Paula; partner of Lillian Smith

Star, Frank and Barbara

Stoll, Judy; Mrs. Fred Stoll; friends of Margaret S. Sullivan who lived in New York in the 1970s

Sturdivant, Walter; writer and friend of Margaret S. Sullivan

Stutts, Pat

Sullivan, Cora Howell (1907-1988); mother of Margaret S. Sullivan

Sullivan, Elizabeth T. "Beth"; daughter of James H. & Bunny Sullivan

Sullivan, James Howell (1931-2008); brother of Dr. Margaret Sue Sullivan, married to Margaret Thomas Sullivan "Bunny"

Sullivan, James H. Sullivan, Jr. "Jay"; son of James H. and Bunny Sullivan, married to Elizabeth G. Sullivan

Sullivan, Margaret "Meg"; daughter of J. H. and Bunny Sullivan, married to James L. Clark

Sullivan, Margaret Thomas (1933-2009) "Bunny", married to James "Jimmy" Howell Sullivan

Sullivan, Nancy; daughter of James H. and Bunny Sullivan, married to Robert F. Burgin

Taylor, Mary Ann; friend of Margaret S. Sullivan

Templeton, Mary Ellen; friend of Margaret S. Sullivan

Thomas, Sally and Bill

Tucker, Mary (d. 1982); Carson McCullers' piano teacher in high school who became a friend of Margaret S. Sullivan during her research on McCullers

Turner, Arlin; Margaret S. Sullivan's dissertation advisor and friend

Urbans, Maris.

Webster, Beveridge; pianist and colleague of Dorothy Lewis Griffin, known as Bev

Woodruff, Emily

Wrergbricke, Tom

1897-2011 13 boxes (13 c.f.)

Dates

Creation: Majority of material found within 1897 - 2011

Extent

From the Collection: 13.0 Cubic Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Materials Specific Details

Cassette Tape 16 - Side A - Letters to Carson - 30 minutes and 45 seconds Sullivan's label Side 16a - 31 minutes and 15 seconds [MC 289-5-1-010a:] Margaret Sullivan reading "special letters of Carson" Carbon copy of a letter dated "Sunday" from Margarita Smith [Rita Smith, Carson's sister] to Edwin [Peacock] and John [Zeigler] telling them that she and her mother are having a quiet day at home and that Sister [Carson] is in the Doctors' Hospital for a few days for some new and special treatment. She and Reeves have a passage booked on the America for May 20, and adding that she is distressed about his recent illness and her first trip to the NY zoo in Central Park, spring flowers are starting undated letter from Tommy Bodkin enclosing a telegram and predicting that she will win the Critics Award, and hopes to see her before her trip to Ireland undated letter from Tommy Bodkin enclosing a letter, misses her and hope that her treatment will kill her pain November 20, 1951 letter from William March to Reeves, "sorry to have missed you and Carson", has been working and finished a novel called October Island to be published in England, and is going to start another in the new year July 23, 1958 letter from Paula Sue Abrams thanking her for coming to Columbia to lecture and commenting on her work and its effect on the young, praising both her work and her person dated July 31, 1958 letter from John Fieldman inviting her to speak at the Indiana University Literary Awards Banquet and offering her 500 dollars as a speaker's fee, as well as giving her some information about the University and the Award July 19, 1958 letter from Alan Chestat [?] inviting her to attend an assembly program on literary topics, offering her 150 dollars as a speaker's fee July 18, 1958 letter also inviting her to speak on a college campus July 14, 1958 letter from A.S. Buarck of the magazine The Writer offering to publish her talk to Columbia University in the magazine January 16, 1954 letter from Columbus from Archie G. Smith about a debate he had proposed to the Kiwanis Club twenty years earlier on whether environment or heredity had the greater influence on one's character, but which other members of the entertainment committee felt could not be done justice in such a limited time frame. He suggested that she take this topic on for a new book, and told her that he had a photograph of the Kiwanis Club taken on June 29, 1920 on the steps of the 1st Baptist Church. Her father is standing in the middle of the door, and in the group are the Rhodes Brown, President of the Kiwanis Club that year, and names other members October 1, 1953 letter from Elizabeth Mitchie of Gaucher College inviting her to deliver a lecture at Gaucher College in Baltimore and offering her 500 dollars as a speaker's fee May 1, 1952 letter to Mrs. Lamar Smith from Hannah Josephson of the American Academy of Arts and Letters saying that Mr. Paul Bigelow has delivered the typed manuscript of The Member of the Wedding for an exhibit and it has been insured for 5000 dollars, she also invites her and "your distinguished daughter" to the opening ceremonial of the exhibit and in a PS asks if there is photograph of Mrs. McCullers for use in the exhibit honorary membership card for the International Mark Twain Society signed by Gail Cyril Clemens note referring to cancelled checks, 25 shares of United Fruit not in deposit box, and asking about Reeves' power of attorney plane tickets on BOC and excess baggage tickets from London to NY October 25, 1951 24 October, 1951 receipt for travel expenses London to NY August 7, 1951 receipt from Dr. G. Williams for professional services 2 August,1951 receipt from the R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth for first class passages for Reeves and Carson McCullers August 8, 1951 baggage declaration and entry in NY signed by Reeves McCullers November 30, 1950 letter from Nina Holton of Houghton Mifflin concerning her stories Wunderkin and April Afternoon October 17, 1960 carbon copy of a letter from Hardwick Mosely of Houghton Mifflin to Robert Lantz expressing outrage at McCullers' decision to change publishers and hoping to have a chance to get her to change her mind October 20, 1960 letter from Robert Lantz to Carson, with a cc to Floria Lasky, about a letter from Houghton Mifflin, and asking her to call him in regards to it December 26, 1950 letter from Hardwick of Houghton Mifflin telling Carson about the results of their efforts in pre-selling the Ballad of the Sad Café and their planning for its official publication December 27, 1961 letter from of Houghton Mifflin to Robert Lantz concerning the publication of Clock Without Hands in Braille December 12, 1950 letter from Alfred Kantourovich [?] Verlag about a German edition of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter December 6, 1950 letter about the German edition of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter registration from the American Kennel Club for a bulldog [Christopher] of McCullers' born September, 1950 March 22, 1950 letter from John Chapman of The News: New York's Picture Newspaper asking to use a digest of The Member of the Wedding in The Next Best Plays empty envelope mailed to Yaddo Cassette Tape 16 - Side B - Letters and Telegrams to and from Carson McCullers -- 30 minutes and 45 seconds Sullivan's Label: 16b Side 2 - Letters/Telegrams to & from Carson Margaret Sullivan reading McCullers letters: April 14, 1946 letter from Sandy Campbell saying he had read The Member of the Wedding and asked for her to autograph his copy of the book July 31, 1945 letter from Major Pope saying that when he and a friend had spoken to Kay Boyle during a visit to his command "last winter" she had mentioned "that you [McCullers] had more than ordinary misgivings about what sort of reactions your books and stories had produced". He read the Heart is a Lonely Hunter and found it intolerable that the human heart must be either lonely or a hunter, saying that the heart must be more flower-like than that and grows to a satisfaction deeper than the mind's discouragements, and that the end of the Ballad might hint at that conclusion April 5, 1946 letter from Constance Coyle [?] of Houghton Mifflin about McCullers' dissatisfaction with her publishers' ad campaign for The Member of the Wedding and adding that her displeasure causes them very real chagrin. She enclosed reviews (including one from Newton Arvin) and copies of advertisements; included in the batch of materials are reviews for all McCullers' books, as well as reviews of Oliver Evans' book on McCullers, The Ballad of Carson McCullers, which Sullivan reads at great length a series of telegrams congratulating her for success of The Member of the Wedding on Broadway and some of her responses in addition to the telegrams of congratulations there is a telegram dated November 27, 19?? [Sullivan says that the year is smudged and unreadable] from Reeves McCullers to Mrs. Lamar Smith saying that Carson is much better but must see no one but Bebe, Rita, William and himself for some time. Will arrive LaGuardia on Air France on Sunday morning and will cable approximate time of arrival September 4, 1951 telegram from Carson to Lt. Reeves McCullers asking to have bank airmail a notarized copy of her bank balance to London to enable her to sponsor Angelina for a visitor's visa February 25, 1954 telegram to Mama from Charleston with get-well wishes from Edwin and John and closing "I embrace you, your own sister" July 31, 1953 telegram from Floria Lasky to Princess Ceatani in Paris saying "Wires received. Due to situation, Reeves, Carson's affairs and confusion, she intends honor her obligations sending 300 dollars now for Augenblick. Have him send full details unpaid items. Also confirm to him Carson's previous advice not to accept any further items. Carson unwell. Send communications to me. Expect to resolve matter completely within week." October 18, 1953 telegram to Lt. Madam Carson McCullers, "Sending one big trunk, personal belongings, silver angel, air mailed letter follows, Reeves Brown (Sullivan says, "This is also item 270")