MS 2 - Valdosta State University

Call Number:  MS-22
Name:  An Inventory of the Papers of Janice Daugharty (1944-) held in the Valdosta State University Archives
Dates:  1980's-present
Size:  48 boxes

Biography:

Janice Daugharty was born in 1944 outside of Valdosta, and has lived almost all of her life in Echols county, Georgia. Prior to her writing career, she was a farm wife and at-home mother. It is from her rural background, from her observations of small town life, of parents and children, of blacks and whites, that her fiction springs. She began attending Valdosta State College at 38 (in 1982 or 1983) where she quickly began taking English classes. Her early literature papers show a thorough grounding in American and Southern Literature. Then followed ten years of "rejection slips" as she churned out over 19 novels and dozens of short stories. Her work caught the eye of Joyce Carol Oates, and some of her stories were published in the Ontario press. In 1994 she finally broke into print with Going Through the Change, a collection of short stories, and her first published novel, Dark of the Moon.

She followed with Necessary Lies, 1995, Paw Paw Patch in 1996, Earl in the Yellow Shirt in 1997, Whistle in 1998, Like a Sister in 1999. She has also published numerous short stories, newspaper articles, essays, and has been interviewed repeatedly in all forms of media. She is currently working on different versions of three novels, experimenting with a blend of fiction and history.

Scope and Content:

The papers of Janice Daugharty in the VSU Archives are an open collection. The reflect the work of a writer in the prime of her production; thus, material will be added to the collection periodically. The collection contains handwritten and typed manuscripts of short stories and novels, edited copies of works, copies of published books, VSC college coursework, correspondence, newspaper clippings and publicity material, photographs and audio tapes. It is essentially the "education of a writer." Here are the various versions of her published novels, from synopsis through handwritten draft, to correspondence between published and author discussing changes, to the finished product. Most fascinating are the early novels and stories as she moves towards her voice and style. Two Shades of Morning, written in 1987, and Moon by Day, written in 1986 and revised in 1988, are two of her early novels which show this transition very well.

This collection currently contains 48 boxes of materials. They are divided in series that are only partially chronological.

Series 1: Biography and Criticism: these four boxes contain correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, Daugharty's VSC papers and coursework, essays on her writing by students, and stories and correspondence related to a short story anthology on "Rejections" (from publishers to famous writers) that she worked on in the early 1990's. The news clippings are organized first by related or reviewed publication, such as Dark of the Moon, and then there are general news articles that cover signings, interviews, and biographical sketches.

Series 2: The Short Stories (unpublished). These three boxes contain 75 short stories and/or short novellas that have never been published. Most would date from the 1980's and early 1990's, although Daugharty continues to write and publish short stories today. Although an attempt was made to determine chronological order within this series, most of the stories were undated and thus the series does not reflect the order of writing.

Series 3: Unpublished Novels: These 12 boxes contain versions of 12 full-length novels written prior to 1994. Here are Moon by Day, Two Shades of Morning, and Sling the Biscuit. Some of these have quite a few revisions included, which show a good deal of change and growth as a writer. Materials within each box were ordered chronologically based upon an analysis of edited changes through the different versions. This chronological order is an approximation only.

Series 4: Published novels and short story collections: Ten boxes contain the manuscripts, edits and final book copies of her previously published works. There is even a German edition of Necessary Lies. With the correspondence and news articles from series one, these notes, handwritten manuscripts, edited copies and final copies create a complete snapshot of the development of each book. Materials within each box were ordered chronologically based upon an analysis of edited changes through the different versions. This chronological order is an approximation only.

Series 5: Unpublished recent novels: Staten Bay is a departure from the works that previously defined a "Janice Daugharty" in that the novel is set much farther back in history and traces three generations of women from 1887-1999. The historical research necessary to write this 700+ page book is with the manuscripts. She interviewed "old timers," read and collected information on the time periods extensively, and those notes are in the collection.

Series 6: Recent Additions

Items removed from collection and related items created from the collection:

The publicity poster from Like a Sister is in the map case. Also, a display celebrating her work was created using images of books, newspaper clippings, photographs, and notes. It is housed in the map case when not in use. The Royal electric typewriter Janice Daugharty used to type all of her early manuscripts with is part of the collection, but housed separately, in a storage area or on display.

Subject Headings:
Subject headings in the general category often refer to the entire collection. Links from the general headings represent starting places for research; however, the heading, linked or unlinked, can refer to many places in the collection.

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