- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Biggs, John, Jr., 1895-1979
- Title:
- John Biggs Collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald Estate Papers
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/kd17cs90c
- Dates:
- 1936-1978 (mostly 1940-1949)
- Size:
- 9 boxes and 3.4 linear feet
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box 1-9
- Language:
- English
Abstract
Consists of the correspondence and legal documents of John Biggs (Princeton Class of 1918) accumulated as executor and trustee of the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Princeton Class of 1917).
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Description:
The collection consists of the correspondence and legal documents of Biggs (Princeton Class of 1918) accumulated as executor and trustee of the estate of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Princeton Class of 1917). Included are copies of Fitzgerald's will, publishers' contracts, royalty reports, tax returns, and papers concerning the posthumous publications of The Last Tycoon (1941), Tender Is the Night (1944), and The Crack-Up (1945). There is correspondence with Edmund Wilson, Maxwell Perkins, Harold Ober, Frances Kroll, Nancy Milford, Scottie Fitzgerald Smith (Fitzgerald's daughter), Arthur Mizener, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda Fitzgerald, and the law offices of Barry Brannen, as well as papers concerning Zelda's hospitalization and death. Also present are an extra carbon copy of The Crack-Up, a photograph of Scott and Scottie, and miscellaneous articles and printed matter about Fitzgerald.
- Arrangement
Series: I. Correspondence; II. Legal Papers; III. Works; IV. Photograph; V. Printed Matter; VI. Bank Statements.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Biggs, John, Jr., 1895-1979
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, born in 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, attended the St. Paul Academy and the Newman School of Hackensack, New Jersey, before entering Princeton University in 1913. Fitzgerald left Princeton in 1917 to enlist in the United States Army. Following his discharge from the army, Fitzgerald worked in advertising in New York City. Fitzgerald's first commercial success as an author came in 1920 with the publication of his novel, This Side of Paradise. Fitzgerald continued to publish novels and short stories throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including the novels The Great Gatsby (1925) and Tender Is the Night (1934). Due to financial difficulties, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood in the late 1930s and worked on scripts for Metro-Goldwyn Mayer. Fitzgerald died in 1940. Lifelong friend, John Biggs had been Fitzgerald's roommate at Princeton.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
Gift of John Biggs III, Frances F. Smith, Charles R. Biggs, and Anna Biggs Pierce.
- Appraisal
No appraisal information is available.
- Processing Information
Folder inventory prepared by Michelle Ripplinger '2012 in 2011.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication 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 RBSC 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.
- Credit this material:
John Biggs Collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald Estate Papers; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/kd17cs90c
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (mss): Box 1-9
Find More
- Other Finding Aids
A checklist is available.
- Subject Terms:
- Lawyers -- United States -- 20th century -- Correspondence.
Novelists, American -- 20th century. - Genre Terms:
- Contracts -- 20th century.
Correspondence -- 20th century
Legal documents -- United States -- 20th century.
Tax returns -- 20th century.
Wills -- North Carolina -- 20th century. - Names:
- Brannen, Barry
Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott), 1896-1940
Fitzgerald, Zelda, 1900-1948
Fitzgerald, Zelda, 1900-1948
Ober, Harold, 1881-1959
Smith, Scottie Fitzgerald
