ELLROY MAKES ANOTHER DEPOSIT (11/14/02)
University of South Carolina Ellroy Archive
At The Thomas Cooper Library
BACKGROUND: In 1999, James Ellroy donated a wealth of materials to the Thomas Cooper Library at the University of South Carolina. The Cooper Library also contains significant holdings related to F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway and Joseph Heller.
The Ellroy donation includes outlines, "distinctive two-color longhand manuscript drafts" for Ellroy's novels and memoir, as well as "typescripts, proofs and related correspondence."
In addition to the author's own contributions, James Ellroy cooperated in the acquisition effort, aiding in the recovery of a number of additional manuscripts, some of which were donated by Richard Layman.
One hundred numbered copies of a keepsake collectible were created and distributed at a special luncheon to celebrate James Ellroy's gift. According to this rare piece, the Ellroy donation also included "archival materials for essays, short stories and film scripts."
The keepsake was prepared by Patrick Scott, Ph.D., Associate University Librarian, Special Collections, at the Thomas Cooper Library.
According to a news report, the Ellroy papers were expected to be catalogued and available to researchers sometime in December, 2001. Scott acknowledged that while the Library had had the papers for nearly 18 months, they were "not generally available" and were still in the boxes they arrived in. "If people have a good reason, we'll make an effort," Scott said. "But we prefer to wait until they're catalogued."
According to Scott, the papers will be stored flat, in boxes, and indexed. He expected an index of the collection to be made available on the Internet.
"They (the papers) document all the details of his mode of writing," Scott said. "People can track the growth of a novel."
Original article on the Ellroy donation
