Biographical/historical information

George Core, born in 1939, is an American historian, literary critic, and editor, best known as the editor of The Sewanee Review, 1973 to 2016. He succeeded Andrew Lytle who had succeeded Allen Tate as editor of The Sewanee Review. Previously he taught history at Sewanee University and served as an editor of the University of Georgia Press. Core has written or edited a number of books, primarily relating to the literature of the American South, including Southern Fiction Today, The Southern Tradition at Bay, and Place in American Fiction. He is a founding member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. The collection includes materials from 1960 to 1996.

Sources: George Core [Biographical Sketch] The Sewanee Review (Winter 2016). https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/sewanee_review/awards.html

Author: Jonathan Dembo, revised by Richard Wolfe & John Leche, 12/15/2011, 6/11/2012, 5/17/2016, 11/18/2016.

Stuart T. Wright The George Core Papers were collected and compiled by Stuart T. Wright. Wright was born on 30 March 1948 in Roxboro, North Carolina. He was the son of Frances Critcher Wright (1919-2010) and Wallace Lyndon Wright (1921-1965). An avid reader as a boy, Wright developed a strong interest in the American Civil War and with his father toured many of the war's battlefields searching for artifacts and studying the history of the era. At the age of 12, he won a statewide "Johnny Reb" essay contest and by the age of 15 had visited every major battlefield of the Civil War. Wright attended Roxboro High School, from which he graduated in 1966. It was during these years that he developed an interest in collecting historical books and manuscripts and began relationships with a number of local collectors and dealers.

In the fall of 1966, Wright enrolled at Wake Forest University as a pre-med, history, German and music student. Wright earned a B.A. in German and music in 1970. As a graduate student at Wake Forest University, Wright focused his studies on Southern history and literature, his ambition being to build an authoritative Southern Studies collection for the university. He received a master's degree in Southern Studies in 1973 and a second master's degree in U.S. History in 1980. Additionally Wright holds a professional degree from England in a medically related field. It was while studying there that he became interested in Thomas Wolfe, the noted North Carolina native and novelist.

Following his graduation from Wake Forest, Wright began to develop his collections more systematically, acquiring many first editions of Southern writers. In 1976 he began teaching at Reynolda House, a Wake Forest University affiliate dedicated to the arts and arts education. Wright taught classes in American music as well as human anatomy for art students. In 1978 Wright became Lecturer in Education at Wake Forest University. During his 10 years teaching at Wake Forest University, Wright authored numerous works of Civil War and North Carolina history, and dozens of articles, bibliographies, essays and reviews on Southern literature and the writers whose papers he collected. In addition, he developed a strong interest in the writings of the English poet Donald Davie and the Minnesota-born poet Richard Eberhart, whose works he also collected.

At the same time, Wright also began a career as a publisher by starting Palaemon Press in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. By 1984, Palaemon Press had produced 316 titles, consisting mainly of broadsides and limited editions, of the poetry and essays of such Southern writers as A. R. Ammons, Fred Chappell, James Dickey, William Goyen, George Garrett, and Eudora Welty. He also built comprehensive collections and compiled book-length descriptive bibliographies of A.R. Ammons, Andrew Lytle, Reynolds Price, James Dickey, William Goyen, Walker Percy, Randall Jarrell, Peter Taylor, George Garrett, Richard Eberhart, and Donald Davie. As well as serving as editor of the contemporary literature section of the Bulletin of Bibliography throughout the 1980s, Wright also contributed pioneering checklists of the writings of Southern poets Henry Taylor, Charles Wright, and Robert Morgan. For Meckler Publishing he served as series editor for a number of book-length bibliographies and checklists. In recognition of these accomplishments, when he was just 32, Wright was elected to membership in New York's prestigious Grolier Club.

All of these works are represented in the Stuart Wright Collection. In his dealings with these various authors Wright made consistent efforts to acquire personal papers, letters and documents, photographs, manuscripts, drafts, proofs, and published materials to supplement his continuing activities as a purchaser of their works. In this way, Wright acquired perhaps a majority of his overall collection. Over the years a number of biographers used Wright's collection to aid their research. For example, James A. Grimshaw, Jr. used the collection extensively for his Robert Penn Warren: A Descriptive Bibliography, 1922-1979 published by the University Press of Virginia, in 1981 and Craig S. Abbott did so as well for John Crowe Ransom: A Descriptive Bibliography, published by Whitston Publishing Company, Inc. in 1999. Joseph Blotner also used the Wright collection in researching Robert Penn Warren: A Biography, published by Random House in 1997.

Nevertheless, from the mid- to late 1980s, Wright began to look for a permanent home for his collection, which he felt had grown too large and yet had been too little used. Unable to find a repository willing to accept the entire collection under suitable conditions, he sold a number of individual author collections to Vanderbilt University, Duke University, the University of Texas at Austin, and Emory University. It was not until 2010 that he reached agreement to house the remaining, and largest part of his collection at East Carolina University. The Stuart Wright Collection in the East Carolina Manuscript Collection of J.Y. Joyner Library includes 22 sub-collections of the papers of Southern American writers. The related Stuart Wright Book Collection holds several thousand volumes by or about many of the same writers. Many of these volumes contain annotations, inscriptions, and insertions that reveal much about the authors in the collection and their relationships with one another. In 1998 Wright moved to England, and since 2001 he has resided in the medieval market town of Ludlow, in Shropshire.

Scope and arrangement

Stuart Wright Collection: George Core Papers (#1169-002) document the life and literary career of George Core from 1938 - 2010. The Core Papers are arranged in original order in 4 series including an original acquisition of two series and Cary Addition #1 and Ludlow Addition #2.

Series 1: Holographs and Typescripts consists of George Core's correspondence (1960-1996) with Donald Davidson, Stuart Wright, E. Barrett Prettyman and Miss [Katherine Anne] Porter, Elizabeth N. Chitty, Andre Lytle, Peter Fayle, Robert Penn Warren, Eudora Welty and his correspondence with Durrett Wagner concerning Allen Tate. Series 1 is contained in Box 1.a -1.d.

Series 2: Photographic Prints and Loose Manuscripts from the Stuart Wright Book Collection consists of four folders. All the folders are housed in the same container. The first folder in Series 2 (Box 1.e) contains a photograph of George Core and friends at Sewanee Press. Folders f – h in Series two contain Loose Manuscript Items Transferred from the Stuart Wright Book Collection. Perhaps the most interesting item in this series is a personal note, possibly by Stuart Wright, which was found in a copy of Andrew Lytle's The Hero with the Private Parts. Series 2 is held in Box 1.e – 1.h

Series 3: Cary Addition #1 to the Stuart Wright Collection contains manuscript materials including proofs, biographical material, and loose manuscript items transferred from the Stuart Wright Book Collection, 1978-2000. Series 3 is held in Box 2.a - 2.f

Series 4: Ludlow Addition #2 to the Stuart Wright Collection contains loose manuscript items transferred from the Stuart Wright Book Collection. Included in this series are biographical notes on Allen Tate and Donald Davidson and letters from Core to Stuart Wright, 1956-2004. Series 4 is held in Box 2.g - 2.j

Note to Researchers: Series 2: Photographic Prints and Loose Manuscripts from the Stuart Wright Book Collection consists of items found in and transferred from works in the Stuart Wright Book Collection by, about, associated with, or owned by George Core; they include notes inserted in the books by George Core, Stuart Wright, and others; correspondence, clippings, advertising, reviews, etc. relating to the published works. The loose manuscript is linked to the book of origin by its Stuart Wright Book Collection Number (e.g. Stuart Wright Book Collection #50.19).

Administrative information

Custodial History

21 June 2010, 0.25 Cubic feet, 1 archival box, 37 items; 51 p. Papers (1960-1996, undated [Bulk: 1960-1983]) documenting the life and literary career of the noted American historian, literary critic, and editor, George Core, relating primarily to his position as editor of The Sewanee Review, 1973-, including holographs, typescripts and other manuscript materials; also photographic prints; and loose manuscript items transferred from the Stuart Wright Book Collection, including correspondence with Donald Davidson, Stuart Wright and Durrett Wagner of Swallowtail Press; a photograph of Core at The Sewanee Review; and a note about Andrew Lytle's work of The Hero With The Private Parts . Vendor: Stuart Wright

27 October 2011, (Cary Addition #1), 0.1875 cubic feet; 0.75 archival box; 10 items; 254 p. Papers (1978-1990) documenting the life and literary career of the noted American historian, literary critic, and editor, George Core, relating primarily to his position as editor of The Sewanee Review, 1973-, consisting of an advance reader copy of Any Cold Jordan by David Bottoms (1987) & and an uncorrected proof of Camping Out by Eleanor Clark; also loose manuscript items transferred from the Stuart Wright Book Collection. Vendor: Stuart Wright

20 July 2012, (Ludlow Addition #2), 0.0625 cubic feet; 0.25 archival box; 16 items; 32 p. Papers (1983-1997) documenting the life and literary career of the noted American historian, literary critic, and editor, George Core, relating primarily to his position as editor of The Sewanee Review, 1973-, consisting of loose manuscript items transferred from the Stuart Wright Book Collection. Vendor: Stuart Wright

Source of acquisition

Purchased from Stuart Wright, 6/21/2010.

Processing information

Processing, Container List & Preliminary inventory by Jonathan Dembo, with the assistance of Krystal Cook & Saundra Pinkham, revised 11/19/2010; Final inventory by Krystal Cook, 1/18/2011; Finding aid by Jonathan Dembo, 11/2/2011, revised by Richard Wolfe & Jonathan Dembo, 5/17/2012; Encoded by Jonathan Dembo, 6/26/2012; Encoding revised by Jonathan Dembo, 7/16/2012.

Copyright notice

Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.

Related material

Stuart Wright Collection (#533), Vanderbilt University Library, Nashville, TN USA

Reid and Susan Overcash Literary Collection - A. R. Ammons Papers (#1096-001) Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC USA

Stuart Wright Collection - Andrew Lytle Papers (#1169-006) Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC USA

Stuart Wright Collection - Katherine Anne Porter Papers (#1169-009) Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC USA

Stuart Wright Collection - Robert Penn Warren Papers (#1169-014) Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC USA

Stuart Wright Collection - Eudora Welty Papers (#1169-015) Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC USA

Key terms

Personal Names

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Container list