- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Douglas F. Davis, The Lion's Tail, 1977-1982
Collection Overview
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Scope and Contents
Story about the point at the end of the lion's tail. Correspondence begins with questions about whether this is a real Masai folktale (no, but based on creation myth); Margaret consulted with Harriet Brown, a Black children's librarian, about whether this was acceptable; hoping to work with Leo and Diane Dillon, husband and wife team of illustrators, McElderry read his children's novel, "The Star Tree"; also version of Sufi tale "The Prince and the Sorceress"; also picture book idea "There's An Elephant in the Garage" (published by Dutton), "The Magnificent Prin"; "The Secret in the Bottle" delay in schedule because of business of Dillons; eventually cancel contract in November 1978 -- too busy; Ron Himler instead finally -- line edits full mock-up of the book with notes from the designer Shopping to England and South Africa.
- Arrangement
Processing archivists intellectually organized the collection into two series based on their creation and ownership history: Publisher Files and Personal Papers. Publisher files are largely organized and titled by author name and book title. Materials in the Personal Papers series were roughly sorted by genre/type and subject, and much of this series remains arranged in the order in which the materials were received.
Collection History
- Appraisal
As part of routine appraisal practices, McElderry's academic robe and some holiday cards were removed from the collection during 2023-2024 processing.
- Processing Information
Some people and places appearing in photographs were identified by Susan Cooper Cronyn and Amy Kellman in 2013.
Personal papers and publisher files were arranged and described by Melody Edwards '15 in 2015 and continued by Ellen Williams in 2017. Additional arrangement of personal papers by Aaron Pickett, assisted by student workers, in 2017 or earlier. Further processing and finding aid completed by Lauren C. Williams in July 2024 and edited to include Box 15 in September 2024.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
- Credit this material:
Douglas F. Davis, The Lion's Tail; Margaret K. McElderry Papers, COTSEN4, Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- ReCAP (rcpxm): Box 2
