Posted April 29, 2005

University of Texas Acquires Norman Mailer Archive for $2.5 Million

Pulitzer Prize–winning author Norman Mailer has sold his papers to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin for $2.5 million. The archive contains manuscripts and other materials on Mailer’s works from the mid-1930s to the present, first editions and foreign editions of his books, materials he used for research, and books given to Mailer by other authors. It also includes correspondence with such literary figures as Allen Ginsberg, Lillian Hellman, Aldous Huxley, and Truman Capote.

“From the Vietnam War to capital punishment, from first amendment rights to the role of the writer in the modern world, Mailer engaged the important intellectual and social issues of his time,” said Ransom Center Director Thomas F. Staley. “This is one of the most comprehensive literary archives the center has ever acquired.”

Asked why he placed his archive at the Ransom Center, Mailer recalled his fondness for the Texans he met in the army during World War II, as well as a few days he spent at the campus as a lecturer in the early 1960s. However, he said the major reason was that the center was “one of the best, if not, indeed, the greatest collection of literary archives to be found in America. What the hell. Since it’s going to Texas, let’s say one of the best in the world.”

The Ransom Center raised $1.25 million of the purchase price from individual and foundation gifts. Mailer will donate $250,000 for cataloging, maintenance, and support of the archive. The collection, expected to measure 900 document boxes, is due to arrive in Austin in July.

Posted April 29, 2005.