Repository:

Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.

Title:

Max Weatherly papers

Inclusive Date(s):

1930-2003

Bulk Date(s):

1963-1989

Author:

Finding aid prepared by Rennie Greenfield, May 2011

Creation:

Finding aid encoded by Rennie Greenfield using the OhioLINK EAD Application in 2011

Description Rules:

Finding aid prepared using DACS

Origination:

Weatherly, Max, 1921-

Extent:

11.75 cubic feet (11 record storage boxes, 1 half size record storage box, 1 slim document case, 1 document case)

Physical Location:

11th floor

Finding Aid Identifier:

OhKeUSC0124

Abstract:

This collection consists of the personal papers created by the author Max Weatherly. It contains original drafts and manuscripts of his writings as well as his correspondence and biographical materials such as photographs and notebooks.

Language(s):

The records are in English.

Biography of Max Weatherly

Born on the 25th of March, 1921 in the wilderness of Louisiana, Max Weatherly was an author, teacher, traveler, veteran of the Second World War, and a life-long artist. He published only three novels and a handful of articles in his lifetime although he never stopped writing. When he was very young, his family moved to Alabama and it was here that Weatherly grew up amidst a burgeoning southern literary tradition--a tradition he embraced from a young age. When he was 12 he wrote a short three-act play which his school performed. A few years later in Junior High School, he wrote another longer play also performed by his school.

Despite these early successes, he received little to no encouragement from his family and was forced to pursue his love of the written word alone. He spent some time working as a copy boy on the Montgomery Advertiser after graduating high school in 1939 and joined the Air Force when America entered the Second World War. He spent the next three years as a Staff Sergeant in St. Louis but never made it overseas. After the war, Weatherly continued his education first as a student at Stetson University and then at Florida State where he graduated with an AB in English in 1949. He attempted graduate school at the University of Alabama but quit after two years when he could not finish the novel that was to be his thesis. He moved to New York City where he says that he was mostly broke and hungry before he eventually found work as a secretary for the American Oil Company. They sent him to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia where he spent three years working before taking a freighter around the world and returning to New York.

It was here that Weatherly's literary career began in earnest. While working as a writing instructor at NYU, he published The Long Desire (1959) and Adulteress (1962) but neither sold very well. His biggest success came with the publication of The Mantis and the Moth (1964) which has appeared in five separate editions and was translated into Dutch in 1969. Despite critical praise for the novel, he was never able to sell another. Still, Weatherly never stopped writing. He moved around the country earning money as a teacher, billing clerk, freelance writer, and in the advertising department of The Journal of Commerce all the while publishing the occasional article and continuing to work on his own fiction. He retired to Delray Beach, Florida where he wrote a monthly column for Status magazine. He died in 2006.

Scope and Content

As an author, Max Weatherly understood the ability of the printed word to transmit ideas over time. He sent his life's work--his writings--to Kent State University's Department of Special Collections and Archives over a period of more than 25 years that they may be preserved for future generations better able to understand the thoughts of an individual who felt he was never fully accepted in his own time. Most of this collection is comprised of his novels, short fiction, essays, correspondence, and notes. Most of the compositions are his typed originals and many of them have multiple drafts and handwritten corrections that illustrate his process as a writer. The over 50 years of correspondence highlight the complex personal and professional relationships he had with friends and family. Other items in the collection, including his notebooks, school papers, press clippings, and photographs, all provide background that further illuminates his writing method and style. Additional audio-visual materials in the collection include Weatherly's attempt at an autobiography and a reading from The Ballad of the Sad Cafe by his friend Carson McCullers.

Statement of Arrangement

This collection has been organized into the following eleven series:

• Series 1: Manuscripts, 1948-1992
• Subseries 1: Novels, 1961-1969
• Subseries 2: Short Fiction, 1948-1986
• Subseries 3: Nonfiction, 1974-1992
• Subseries 4: Status Magazine, 1982-1986
• Series 2: Correspondence, 1945-2001
• Subseries 1: Correspondence to Weatherly, 1951-1996
• Subseries 2: Unidentified Correspondence to Weatherly, 1955-1996
• Subseries 3: Correspondence from Weatherly, 1945-2001
• Series 3: Press Clippings, 1948-1995
• Series 4: Calendars and Day Books, 1940-1983
• Series 5: Notes and Notebooks, undated
• Series 6: Teaching Materials and School Papers, undated
• Series 7: Legal and Financial papers, 1956-1995
• Series 8: Biographical Materials, 1954-1996
• Series 9: Photographs, undated
• Subseries 1: Photographs of Max Weatherly, undated
• Subseries 2: Photographs of Max Weatherly with other people, undated
• Subseries 3: Photographs not including Max Weatherly, undated
• Subseries 4: Max Weatherly Photo album, undated
• Series 10: Audio Visual Materials, 1976-1988
• Series 11: Restricted materials, 1960-1990

Restrictions on Access

There is one slim document case of materials restricted at the request of Max Weatherly.

Preferred Citation

Max Weatherly papers. Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives.

Subject Headings

The following subjects are found in this collection:

Subjects:

• Weatherly, Max, 1921- -- Archives
• American fiction--20th century
• Literature and society--Southern states--History--20th century
• McCullers, Carson, 1917-1967
• World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American
• World War, 1939-1945--Literature and the war
• Nudism
• Transsexualism

Functions:

• Authorship
• Fiction--Authorship

Occupations:

• Authors, American
• Authors

Material Types:

• Manuscripts for publication
• Correspondence
• Personal papers
• Photographs
• Photograph albums
• Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.)
• Audiovisual materials

Detailed Description of the Collection