University of Delaware Library

Special Collections Department

Edna Ferber
Letters to Flora Mae Holly

1911 - 1941

Manuscript Collection Number: 99, Folder 571
Accessioned: Purchase, August 1997.
Extent: 6 items.
Content: Letters.
Access: The collection is open for research.
Processed: October 1997, by Shanon Lawson.

for reference assistance email Special Collections
or contact:

Table of Contents

Biographical Note

 Edna Ferber was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, on August 15, 1887. Due to her father's poor business sense and the anti-Semitism of their neighbors, the Ferbers moved frequently around the Midwest. After graduating from high school in Appleton, Wisconsin, Ferber worked as a newspaper reporter, first for the Appleton Daily Crescent, then for the Milwaukee Journal. After suffering a nervous collapse, she returned home to Wisconsin where, during her recovery, she began to devote her energies to writing fiction.

Ferber's first short story, "The Homely Heroine," appeared in Everybody's Magazine in 1910. Three collections of her stories, Roast Beef Medium (1913), Personality Plus (1914), and Emma McChesney and Company (1915), centered around the "new woman" character of Emma McChesney, a divorced, working mother. Although she refused to write any more McChesney stories after the 1915 collection, Ferber continued to publish short stories throughout her life, often as a respite from her longer novels. Other collections include Mother Knows Best (1927) and One Basket (1947).

After abandoning the McChesney stories, Ferber directed her attention toward writing novels. She had published her first novel, Dawn O'Hara, in 1911, but her first critically acclaimed work was The Girls (1921). She won the Pulitzer prize in 1925 for So Big (1924). Many of her books have achieved lasting fame in other mediums. Her novel Show Boat (1926) was adapted into the popular musical by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern, and Cimarron (1930) and Giant (1952) were both made into films. In addition to writing novels, Ferber collaborated with playwright George S. Kaufman on six dramas, including The Royal Family (1928), Dinner at Eight (1936), and Stage Door (1936). She also wrote two autobiographies: A Peculiar Treasure (1939) and A Kind of Magic (1963).

During her professional life, Ferber alternated between residences in Chicago and New York City. By the 1930s, Ferber lived primarily in New York, where she was a member of the Algonquin Round Table group. She died of cancer on April 17, 1968.

Sources:

"Edna Ferber." Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol 93. Detroit: Gale Research Co, 1996.

Ferber, Edna. A Peculiar Treasure. New York: Doubleday, Doran, 1939.

"Flora Mae Holly, Literary Agent" New York Times, 20 Nov., 1960: 86.

Reed, Paula. "Edna Ferber" American Novelists, 1910-1945. Dictionary of Literary Biography,
Vol 9. Ed. James Martine. Detroit: Gale Research Co, 1981.

Scope and Content Note

 The collection of American writer Edna Ferber's letters to New York literary agent Flora Mae Holly (d. 1960) includes six items and spans the dates 1911-1941. All of Ferber's letters are typed and signed. In addition, there is an unsigned, typed response to Ferber from Holly on the back of the April 15, 1938 letter.

The content of the letters deals primarily with literary matters. Holly, who had also worked for Theodore Dreiser, was Ferber's first agent, and it was through her efforts that Ferber's first novel, Dawn O'Hara, was published. In her letters, Ferber laments her failure to keep carbon copies of her short stories, since she makes so many last minute changes to her work. She also thanks Holly for her congratulations on winning the 1925 Pulitzer Prize. Another letter contains a response from Holly which asks Ferber to speak at a luncheon at the Stamford Yacht Club; Ferber declines, citing her dislike of public speaking. Other topics include Ferber's works Nobody's in Town (1938), A Peculiar Treasure (1939), and Saratoga Trunk (1942), financial concerns, and the death of American Magazine editor Bert Boyden.

Contents List

 Folder -- Contents

  Edna Ferber's Letters to Flora Mae Holly
F571
 
          1911 Oct 11    TLS       1p
          1925 May 15    TLS       1p
          1938 Apr 15    TLS       1p
                    Note: Includes TL from Holly to Ferber on back.
          1938 Apr 21    TLS       1p
          1939 May 22    TLS       1p
          1941 Nov 10    TLS       1p
Footer
Back to the UD Special Collections Home Page

+ Return to List of Manuscript Finding Aids by Title

This page is maintained by Special Collections
Last modified: 01/19/11
  • UD Library Special Collections  •   181 South College Avenue  •   Newark, DE 19717-5267  •   USA
    Phone: USA +1 302-831-2229  •   ©2013