Sixty Acres and a Barn, c. 1962
Scope and Contents
The bulk of the collection consists of multiple drafts, in typescript, of Lewis’s unpublished and published works, including novels, poems, plays, and short stories. There are manuscripts for 9 novels, written from the late 1940s through the early 1970s. His only novel to be published during his lifetime was Home is an Island, in 1951. The collection contains a number of edited and annotated drafts for this novel, as well as correspondence, press clippings and a scrapbook about its publication. There are typescript versions of 6 plays, 43 short stories and some 200 poems in English and in Portuguese. Very few manuscripts were dated by Lewis. Dates are estimated where possible, based on correspondence from literary editors and agents. The collection also includes magazine and newspaper clippings of his poems and short stories that were published. His notes are heavily annotated with lively sketches of animals and faces.
The collection is divided into 5 series:
I. Personal and business correspondence and documents, 1928-1979
II. Manuscripts of novels written, 1950s-1970s
III. Short stories, 1940s -1970s
IV. Poetry and other writings, plays 1940-1943
V. Plays, 1940-1943
VI. Clippings of published works, reviews and other articles, 1951-1978
VII. Books from his library
Dates
- Creation: c. 1962
Language of Materials
materials in English and Portuguese
Conditions Governing Access
No known restrictions
Extent
From the Collection: 12 Linear Feet (19 manuscript boxes and 4 oversize boxes)
Repository Details
Part of the UMass Dartmouth Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives Repository
Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Rd.
N. Dartmouth MA 02747 USA
jfarrar@umassd.edu