- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940
- Title:
- F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/sb397826m
- Dates:
- 1897-1944
- Size:
- 32.45 linear feet and (61 containers)
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scahsvm): Boxes 1-52; 60
- Language:
- English
Abstract
The F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers (C0187) is a comprehensive literary archive containing the original manuscripts, working drafts, corrected galleys, personal and professional correspondence, autobiographical scrapbooks, photographs, and other original materials of F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), Princeton Class of 1917.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Scope and Contents
This collection consists of manuscripts of all of the major literary efforts of Fitzgerald (Princeton Class of 1917), as well as related documents and correspondence, thus providing a comprehensive record of America's best-known writer of the "Jazz Age." The collection encompasses novels, short stories, tear sheets, articles, drama scripts, motion picture scripts, radio scripts, and poems; letters sent and received; photographs, drawings, and cartoons; clippings; memorabilia; scrapbooks; tape recordings; family papers; and papers of persons other than Fitzgerald.
Included are the autograph manuscript of The Great Gatsby and autograph and typewritten manuscripts (with the author's corrections) of The Beautiful and Damned, The Last Tycoon, Tender Is the Night, and This Side of Paradise. Among those well-represented in the correspondence are John Pearl Bishop, Arnold Gingrich, Ernest Hemingway, Ring Lardner, Shane Leslie, H. L. Mencken, Harold Ober (the literary agent), Maxwell Perkins, Andrew Turnbull, and Edmund Wilson. Fitzgerald's correspondence with Zelda, his wife, is extensive.
Manuscripts: Researchers should be aware that facsimiles of the manuscripts of Fitzgerald's books and articles were published in the multi-volume series F. Scott Fitzgerald Manuscripts, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Alan Margolies (New York: Garland Publishing Company, 1990). Complete sets of the facsimile edition are available at more than fifty research libraries (including Firestone Library). The original manuscript of Fitzgerald's ledger is not at Princeton. One should use F. Scott Fitzgerald's Ledger: A Facsimile, with an introduction by Matthew J. Bruccoli (Washington, D.C.: NCR/Microcard Editions, 1972) or refer to the photostats in Box 60 (C0187). With respect to using Fitzgerald's manuscripts at Princeton, researchers should be aware that the 1950 deed of gift stipulates that Fitzgerald's manuscripts were to be microfilmed to preserve the originals, and that researchers must use the microfilm for most purposes. Researchers who believe that there are compelling reasons why they must have access to the original manuscripts instead of the facsimile edition or microfilm must request permission in advance from the Curator of Manuscripts. Researchers should also be aware of the Cambridge Edition of the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by James L. W. West III (Cambridge, England, and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991- ). Based on Fitzgerald's manuscripts and published editions, the Cambridge edition will eventually number 17 volumes.
Correspondence: A large portion of correspondence in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers and other collections at Princeton has been published in critical editions. The following editions of correspondence (listed alphabetically by editor) can be found in most research libraries: As Ever Scott Fitz- : Letters between F. Scott Fitzgerald and His Literary Agent Harold Ober, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli with Jennifer Atkinson (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1972); A Life in Letters: F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli with Judith S. Baughman (New York: Scribner's, 1994); Correspondence of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Margaret Duggan with Susan Walker (New York: Random House, 1980); Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, edited by Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy Barks (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2002); Dear Scott/Dear Max: The Fitzgerald-Perkins Correspondence, edited by John Kuehl and Jackson R. Bryer (New York: Scribner, 1971); Letters of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited by Andrew Turnbull (New York: Scribner, 1963); Scott Fitzgerald: Letters to his Daughter, edited by Andrew Turnbull with an introduction by Frances Fitzgerald Lanahan (New York: Scribner, 1965).
Photographs: Photographs of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald are very frequently requested by publishers, newspapers, magazines, and documentary film makers. Researchers should be aware that the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections maintains a large file of copy negatives to facilitate reproduction of these photographs. Most of the photographs in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers and other collections at Princeton were reproduced in The Romantic Egoists: A Pictorial Autobiography from the Scrapbooks and Albums of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli, Scottie Fitzgerald Smith, and Joan P. Kerr (New York: Scribner, 1974). Often-requested images can be viewed online by visiting the Library's RBSC Portfolio at http://libweb2.princeton.edu/rbsc2/portfolio/fsf-all-list.html.
- Arrangement
The collection has been arranged into 11 series, primarily by type/genre.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
The majority of the materials were in F. Scott Fitzgerald's possession at the time of his death in 1940. Frances Scott ("Scottie") Fitzgerald Lanahan (later Smith), the daughter of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, donated the papers to the Princeton University Library in 1950. Some accession numbers associated with this collection are AM 14450, AM 20502, and AM 14786, with additions made to the collection over time until that practice was discontinued.
- Processing Information
In May 1999, the Princeton University Library was awarded a federal grant under the "Save America's Treasures" program, administered by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), to deacidify, repair, and rehouse the F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers. Work was completed in August 2001.
In 2021 and 2022, rehousing and metadata enhancement was completed to prepare materials for digitization, with assistance from August Roberts '25 in March 2022. The finding aid was revised by Amy C. Vo in March 2022 and October 2022.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
This collection is currently undergoing conservation review and digitization efforts. Some materials may be temporarily unavailable. Please consult staff if you have questions about the status of any material. Due to the fragility of Fitzgerald's original scrapbooks, researchers must use surrogates of these materials. Digital copies of the manuscript of The Great Gatsby, the Trimalchio galleys, This Side of Paradise, and the scrapbooks are available.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. No further duplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to Special Collections Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
- Credit this material:
F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/sb397826m
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scahsvm): Boxes 1-52; 60
Find More
- Existence and Location of Copies
Facsimile editions of the The Great Gatsby holograph (Microcard Editions Books, 1973; Editions des Saints Pères, 2017) and of Fitzgerald's other manuscripts (Bruccoli, ed., Garland Books, 1970), as well as microfilm of the manuscripts and scrapbooks are available.
- Subject Terms:
- American fiction -- 20th century.
American literature -- 20th century.
Novelists, American -- 20th century -- Correspondence.
Novelists, American -- 20th century -- Manuscripts.
Novelists, American -- 20th century. - Genre Terms:
- Fiction -- 20th century.
Motion picture plays.
Photographs.
Radio scripts.
Scrapbooks -- United States -- 20th century - Names:
- Fitzgerald, Zelda, 1900-1948