Cassette Tape 17 -- Letters from Carson McCullers from the Blue Box

File — Box: 1, Folder: 17

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 17 Side A -- Letters from Carson to Recipient / Blue Box -30 minutes and 39 seconds Sullivan's Label: 17a Side 1 Carson to Recipients - Blue Box [MC 289-5-1-011a: Label] Margaret Sullivan reading Carson McCullers materials: February 17, 1963(?) First part of a letter previously read from Mrs. Jessie McFail Kimbrow [?] saying in part "As your and Grafton's birthday will be soon be here I've been thinking about years ago. We lived across the street from you on 13th until 1912 [sic] when I married. . . I remember when Margarite had you practice the piano. Do you remember that lovely old piano? I think it was the Carson piano. Margarite loved music very much. . . We used to play dolls a lot together. I always had a cat. Your mother couldn't stand cats. . . [The letter contains more reminisces about family and friends] June 3, 1963 Carson's reply June 3, 1963 thanking her for her letter "which carried me back to Columbus and the old days when I was a child" August 15, 1963 letter from Carson to Clara Spensen with a note, "Was not mailed at Mrs. McCullers request", saying she had not written because of so many things that have been going on, that they are hoping that Montgomery Clift will be well enough to play Singer in the movie of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, hoped you would have visited in the fall and now hopes that she will be her companion in Nyack, as she was to "that divine Tanya", adding that Clara's time would be mostly free. Carson then says, "I am not alone in Nyack. I have a most beloved friend, Dr. Mary E, Mercer, who lives in her beautiful house on top of a mountain. Spiritually we share our lives together and without her I would not have survived my life the last five years. She has the tranquility of Out of Africa . . . She was my psychiatrist and after treatment she became my best friend and medical coordinator. She talks to all the doctors and translates to me what they say", adding that Clara is the only person she could feel comfortable dictating to drafts of letters to John and Simone with various dates in March [year unknown but probably 1958 or 1959 from Carson to John and Simone [Brown?] saying that she is looking forward to seeing them in Rome, recently had an occasion of heart failure while she was climbing the steps of her psychiatrist's snowy terrace, this is a sour spring day but I am thinking I am looking forward to them coming home, recovering from another attack of heart failure, talks of Baudelaire, "come soon, soon, soon", talking about finishing Clock Without Hands June 27, 1963 letter from Gabriele C. Talle [?] of Diogenes Verlag in Zurick to Robert Lantz about publishing translation of Member of the Wedding and The Square Root of Wonderful July 8, 1963 Carson's reply to Floria Lasky saying since "I do not like Square Root, that is not important to me, but the rights to Member are, Robbie is unable to act because of Audrey, Carson has never felt that she was the agent for her and says that Audrey met her through her friendship with Tennessee and came to Carson while she in the Neurological Hospital, she does not know my reputation in Europe, my wishes are for Robbie to handle all rights to my works, she thinks that she and Audrey should part and asks Floria to instruct Audrey to let Robbie handle all issues relating to the rights to Carson's works May 11, 1963 letter from Edward Albee, apologizing for not writing in so long and thanking her for the children's verses she had sent him and for reading them to him last summer on Water Island, commenting on how important the sound of her voice in her wonderful writing. He suggests that she should record them, with incidental music between them and suggesting that she talk with Robbie and Mary, closing by hoping that he and Terrence can see them before long May 28, 1963 Carson's reply to Albee thanks him for his comments about the children's verses and saying that she will share is comments with Robbie and Mary. She also asks him, when he sends the script for Ballad to put her part in capitals and triple space the lines "so that I will be able to read it easily it and perhaps memorize by the time we record it". She explains that she has an obscure neurological defect that causes her to skip two or three lines at the time and "that is the reason I cannot read aloud. I am not going to be nervous about this because you promised me that you would help me. Do you think Mary's tape recorder would do? And where should we do it?" She adds "Tom has done his film play of The Heart is a Lonely Hunter . . .Monty Clift is going to play in it. Mary [Mercer]suggests very firmly that the recording should be done in Nyack to save energy and breath" April 2, 1963 letter from Elizabeth Schnack thanking Carson for her kind letter and saying that she is happy Carson is going to Charleston for the Easter weekend and will be sending her some postcards of a Swiss landscape that is associated with Annemarie, adding how happy she is that she is being looked after so well by her friend and her housekeeper, hopes to re-translate McCullers older works since she has done Clock without Hands and her newer works into German after she finishes Faulkner. Elizabeth added that she had written something about her visit to McCullers in Nyack May 28, 1963 Carson's reply says that her lack of a secretary is the reason for her delay in writing. She regrets that Elizabeth will not be coming to the U.S. until 1965. Carson and Mary had a lovely trip to Charleston. Does not much like Square Root of Wonderful and "on the other hand I dearly love The Member of the Wedding and wishes that that one would be issued by the Swiss publisher August 23, 1959 letter from Carson to Edith [Sitwell] saying "My cousin Jordan Massee and I are thinking of you and Osbert with such lingering loving thoughts". She goes on to thank her for her superb anthology and hopes to see them again soon. Tells her that she has a novel half-completed. She went to a psychiatrist and "she not only restored me to my own soul" but took Carson to the very best hospitals where they found that they can operate on her paralyzed arm and leg. The stroke was caused by childhood rheumatic fever. "Meanwhile I have finished my analysis and my doctor and I are the very best friends. You will adore her as she already adores you." August 23, 1959 letter from Carson McCullers to Jay asking him to write the Ford Foundation before their September 15th deadline nominating Carson for a grant saying that she intends to dramatize her forthcoming novel and to make an opera of Ballad August 23, 1959 letter from Carson to Thornton [Wilder?] saying how much she loved his work and asking him to write the Ford Foundation to recommend her for a grant undated partial letter from Carson to Cyrilly saying that her first instinct was to call, but wants him to know that I "am thinking of you with love. . ." August 13, 1963 letter from Carson to Aunt Gertrude, Aunt Kenney and Uncle Bill asking for a favor. She says that the first time she made any money she sent her father an ebony cane with an engraved silver handle. When he died "we sent the cane to Uncle Henry". It had both Carson's and her father name on the handle. Now that Uncle Henry is dead, Carson wonders if the cane has been kept and if so, now that she has to use a cane to walk, she would love to have it, both for the family sentiment and for its usefulness to her August 1, 1973 [sic, but probably 1963] letter from Oliver Evans saying that after having read all her work for the third or fourth time, "I am absolutely appalled by how much of it has been copied by Truman Capote", adding specific examples, although he likes Capote, but never before realized how derivative he is; he asks Carson some specific questions for his book on her [Sullivan breaks off the letter here]. Tape 17 - Side B - Carson McCullers to Oliver Evans Letters /Answers to Questions from the Atlanta Journal/Letter to "J" -- 30 minutes and 41 seconds Sullivan's Label: 17b - Side 2 - Letters Carson to [Oliver] Evans/Questions to J Letter [MC 289-5-1-011b: Label] Margaret Sullivan continuing to read the letter from Oliver Evans begun on side a of tape 17 (side 1) with more questions, with Carson's comments about Capote and his copying her dated Saturday AM letter from Oliver Evans saying "Dear Carson, I'm didn't mean to sound cross in my last letter. Perhaps the tension I've been under is beginning to show" describing his trip across the desert and getting settled in his new position. Had hoped to get the first 25,000 words off to the publisher, but was held up by her delay in answering his initial letter with questions. Understands that she had been ill and had not kept a copy of the letters . He reconstructed them and added other even more detailed ones not included above and her answers are written on his letter. Needs the answers to finish the 5th chapter. Had dinner with Gore Vidal and Christopher Isherwood recently August 19, 1963 letter from Carson to Oliver with comments July 17, 1963 letter from Oliver Evans about his biography of her and his research, including interviews with Floria Lasky and Edwin Peacock and asking many specific questions [most of the rest of the tape is a series of letters and postcards with mostly more biographical questions and Carson's answers some inclosing photographs] August 6, 1963 from Mrs. Margaret Rutherford of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution asking for information for an article timed to coincide with the opening of the Broadway play of the Ballad of the Sad Café, inclosing questions to which Carson replied on August 20th of 1963 September 3, 1959 letter from Carson thanking Jay for writing to the Ford Foundation about her possible grant.