The Rundus Collection of Joseph Mitchell includes personal books, correspondence, and background information collected by Dr. Raymond J. Rundus. Dr. Rundus’ longtime interest in Mr. Mitchell prompted him to write two books: Joseph Mitchell: Pilgrim in Manhattan and Joseph Mitchell: A Reader’s and Writer’s Guide. Mr. Mitchell was born in Fairmont in 1908 where he lived until his relocation to New York in 1928. He spent 58 years as a writer for The New Yorker while maintaining family ties in the Robeson County area.
Inventory of the Rundus Collection of Joseph Mitchell
Descriptive Summary
Repository: University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Mary Livermore Library, Special Collections
Title: Rundus Collection of Joseph Mitchell
Collector: Dr. Raymond J. Rundus
Abstract: The Rundus Collection of Joseph Mitchell includes personal books, correspondence, and background information collected by Dr. Raymond J. Rundus. Dr. Rundus’ longtime interest in Mr. Mitchell prompted him to write two books: Joseph Mitchell: Pilgrim in Manhattan and Joseph Mitchell: A Reader’s and Writer’s Guide. Mr. Mitchell was born in Fairmont in 1908 where he lived until his relocation to New York in 1928. He spent fifty-eight years as a writer for The New Yorker while maintaining family ties in the Robeson County area.
Extent: 9 Boxes (Seven 10 ¼ x 15 ¼ x 5 in. boxes and Two 10 ¾ x 6 ½ x 22 in. boxes)
Items: 105 Folders, 41 Books
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
The materials available in this collection are for research use only. Publication and/or broadcast in any form, whether print or electronic, require written permission from the Mary Livermore Library.
For purposes of private study, scholarship, and research, materials from this collection may be reproduced without prior permission. When citing materials from the collection, please provide proper documentation of sources.
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Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Rundus Collection of Joseph Mitchell, [Mary Livermore Library], [University of North Carolina at Pembroke], [Pembroke], NC, USA.
Acquisitions Information
Accession number(s):
Local call number:
Provenance
The Joseph Mitchell collection was received by the Mary Livermore Library Special Collections as a donation from Dr. Raymond J. Rundus in December, 2005.
Processing Information
Processed by K. Blake Tyner, August, 2007
This Finding Aid is NCEAD Compliant.
Biographical Notes
Raymond Joe Rundus was born in Blue Rapids, Kansas on September 25, 1934 to Paul and Esther Frances Rundus. He married Brigitte Obermeyer on June 4, 1959. They have three children: Richard Hans, Ronald Paul, and Victoria Rae. In 1955, he received a BA degree in English from the College of Emporia in Kansas; an MA in English from Wayne State University in 1957; and a PhD in English from the University of Nebraska in 1969. He joined the faculty of what is now The University of North Carolina at Pembroke as chair of the English Department in 1970, a position he held until 1979. He was granted professor emeritus status when he retired in 1996.
Dr. Rundus had a longtime interest in Joseph Mitchell which led him to write two books about him, Joseph Mitchell: Pilgrim in Manhattan and Joseph Mitchell: A Reader’s and Writer’s Guide. In addition to these two books, he published poetry and literary articles and presented papers at local, state, and regional meetings. He also served on several committees among them the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction accreditation team. He served as editorial assistant of the Asian Forum from 1974-1976, judged many public speaking contests in Robeson County, and was a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Library of UNC Pembroke, serving as president from 1991-1993. Dr. Rundus continues to be a very supportive member of the UNCP Friends of the Library.
Joseph Mitchell, an American writer, was best known for his writings that were published in The New Yorker. He was widely recognized for his portrayals of eccentrics and people on the fringes of society, especially in and around New York City. Mr. Mitchell was born on July 27, 1908 on his grandparents’ farm near Fairmont, North Carolina. He was the son of Averette Nance and Elizabeth A. Parker Mitchell. The Mitchells grew tobacco and cotton on the farm and money earned on the farm helped to support Mitchell throughout his life. He always remained close to his North Carolina roots and credited his Robeson County upbringing as the nurturing ground of his passion for storytelling.
Mitchell attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for four years but left before graduation to begin working as a reporter for a Durham, NC newspaper. In 1929, he wrote a feature story about a tobacco auction that caught the attention of a New York editor. He moved to New York and remained there until his death in 1996.
For his first nine years in New York, he worked as a reporter and feature writer for the Morning World, the Harold Tribune, and the World-Telegram. During this time, he developed his own elegant style of beautifully crafted stories about the city’s streets and the characters that travelled them. He began working at The New Yorker in 1938 as a feature writer and remained there for the next fifty-eight years. Most of his stories were centered on New York, but some were straight out of his Robeson County upbringing.
In 1931, Joseph Mitchell married photographer Therese Dagny Engelstead Jacobsen. She died in 1980. They had two daughters, Nora and Elizabeth. In 1965, he received an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and, in 1984, the North Carolina Award for Literature.
He was called the “paragon of reporters” by some. Calvin Trillin, a fellow journalist, called him “the New Yorker reporter who set the standard.” Mitchell was such a perfectionist about his work that he would not let anyone, not even his closest friends, see his work until it was in print. In 1983, critic Noel Perrin called Joseph Mitchell one of “the dozen North Carolinians who belong to American literature, along with O. Henry, Thomas Wolfe, etc.” Perrin went on to say that in some ways Mitchell was the least known … and in some ways the most remarkable.”
Collection Overview
Collection Arrangement
Series 01: Joseph Mitchell Research
Series 02: Joseph Mitchell Collection
Series 03: Joseph Mitchell: A Reader’s and Writer’s Guide
Series 04: Joseph Mitchell: Pilgrim in Manhattan
Series 05: Correspondence
Series 06: Joe Gould’s Secret
Series 07: Lectures
Series 08: Photographs
Series 09: Publications
Series 10: Research Notes Individuals
Series 11: Research Notes Other
Series 12: Miscellaneous
Series 13: Books
Detailed Description of the Collection
Box 1
Series 1: Joseph Mitchell Research
Folder 1
Bibliography
Folder 2
Obituaries
Folder 3
Miscellaneous
Series 2: Joseph Mitchell Collection
An itemized list of 51 items given to Dr. Rundus by Joseph Mitchell in 1973 is available in the front of the folder. Dr. Rundus added 3 additional items in 1993.
Box 2
Series 3: Joseph Mitchell: A Reader’s and Writer’s Guide
Folder 1
Manuscript with proof corrections
Folder 2
Queries and replies
Folder 3
Reviews and Correspondence
Folder 4
Media Contacts
Folder 5
iUniverse Correspondence
Folder 6
Book Signing Guide
Folder 7
Marketing Guide
Folder 8
Photographs – 1993 Municipal Art Society
Brendan Gill Award
Correspondence
Folder 9
Cumberland County Library Event
Folder 10
Friends of Robeson County Public Library Event
Folder 11
Quail Ridge Event
Folder 12
Friends of Sampson Livermore Library Event
Folder 13
McIntyre’s Book Event
Folder 14
UNC Press (Missing)
Box 3
Series 4: Joseph Mitchell: Pilgrim in Manhattan
Folder 1-7
Research Notes for Chapters 1-7 arranged numerically
Folder 8
XLibris Correspondence
Folder 9
Correspondence and Book Orders
Folder 10
Personal
Box 4
Series 5: Correspondence
Folder 1
Atlantic Monthly
Folder 2
Carolina Press
Folder 3
Core, George
Folder 4
Kaul, Arthur J.
Folder 5
Kunkel, Thomas
Folder 6
Lauffer, James
Folder 7
Maliszewski, Paul
Folder 8
Mitchell, Joseph Parker
Folder 9
Mitchell, Joseph Quincy
Folder 10
Parker, Roy
Folder 11
Singer, Mark
Folder 12
Smoller, Sanford
Folder 13
Streitfeld, David
Folder 14
Washington, Jim
Folder 15
Wilkinson, Alec
Folder 16
Miscellaneous
Box 5
Series 6: Joe Gould’s Secret
Folder 1
Cameo Showing, November 3, 2002
Folder 2
Reviews of Book and Film
Folder 3
Other Media
Series 7: Lectures
Folder 1
Philological Association of the Carolinas - 1993
Folder 2
Sigma Tau Delta – 1995
Folder 3
Autobiography of a Biography
Series 8: Photographs
Folder 1
Fairmont
Folder 2
New York
Folder 3
Shirley Eaton Photographs
Folder 4
UNC Pembroke
Box 6
Series 9: Publications
Folder 1
Dictionary of Literary Biography Yearbook (1996)
Folder 2
Pembroke Magazine No. 26
Folder 3
Twayne Publisher
Folder 4
Artwork and Images
Folder 5
Permissions
Folder 6
Permissions (cont.)
Series 10: Research Notes -- Individuals
Folder 1
Adler, Renata
Folder 2
Arbus, Diane
Folder 3
Botsford, Gardner
Folder 4
Brown, Tina
Folder 5
Corvey, Mary F.
Folder 6
DeVries, Peter
Folder 7
Gill, Brendan
Folder 8
Gould, Joseph Ferdinand
Folder 9
Hahn, Emily
Folder 10
Hamburger, Philip
Folder 11
Hersey, John
Folder 12
Hirschfeld, Al
Folder 13
Hyman, Stanley Edgar
Box 7
Series 10: Research Notes -- Individuals (cont.)
Folder 14
Joyce, James
Folder 15
Liebling, Abbott Joseph
Folder 16
McKelway, St. Clair
Folder 17
Maiton, Gig
Folder 18
Malcolm, Janet
Folder 19
Maxwell, William
Folder 20
Mehta, Ved
Folder 21
Neel, Alice
Folder 22
O’Hara, John
Folder 23
Orlean, Susan
Folder 24
Perelman, S.J.
Folder 25
Ross, Harold
Folder 26
Ross, William
Folder 27
Schuyler, Philippa Duke
Folder 28
Shaw, William
Folder 29
Stafford, Jean
Folder 30
Steinberg, Saul
Folder 31
Trillin, Calvin
Folder 32
Yagoda, Ben
Folder 33
Zinsser, William
Series 11: Research Notes -- Other
Folder 1
Bajour
Folder 2
Non Fiction Novels and Anthologies
Series 12: Miscellaneous
Folder 1
Book entitled – Posada’s Popular Mexican Prints
Folder 2
Drawing for Atlantic Monthly – August 1992
Folder 3
Manhattan Block by Block – a street atlas
Folder 4
History and Heritage – a walking tour Manhattan
Folder 5
Taped interview with Joseph Mitchell – August 21, 1992
Folder 6
Newspaper Articles
Folder 7
The New Yorker
June 5, 1993
Folder 8
The New Yorker
June 27 & July 4, 1994
Folder 9
The New Yorker
June 10, 1996
Folder 10
The New Yorker
Feb. 22 & March 1, 1999
Box 8
Series 13: Books
1. About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made
by Ben Yagoda
2. American Caravan IV
by Alfred Kreymborg, Lewis Mumford, Paul Rosenfeld, Editors
3. The American Commonwealth, vol. 1
by James Bryce
4. The American Commonwealth, vol. 2
by James Bryce
5. Apologies to the Iroquois (1960, Paperback)
by Edmund Wilson, Joseph Mitchell
6. Apologies to the Iroquois (1960, Hardback)
by Edmund Wilson, Joseph Mitchell
7. The Bottom of the Harbor (1st Edition - 1959)
by Joseph Mitchell
8. The Bottom of the Harbor (1961, Chatto and Windus)
by Joseph Mitchell
9. The Bottom of the Harbor (2000, Jonathan Cape, Publisher)
by Joseph Mitchell
10. Bright Lights, Big City
by Jay McInerney
11. Draggerman’s Haul
by Ellery Thompson
12. Here at the New Yorker
by Brendan Gill
Box 9
Series 13: Books (cont.)
13. James Joyce’s Ulysses: A Study
by Stuart Gilbert
14. Jean Stafford: A Biography
by David Roberts
15, Joe Gould’s Geheimnis (2000)
by Joseph Mitchell
16. Joe Gould’s Secret (1965)
by Joseph Mitchell
17. Joe Gould’s Secret (1966)
by Joseph Mitchell
18. Joe Gould’s Secret (1997)
by Joseph Mitchell
19. Joe Gould’s Secret (1999)
by Joseph Mitchell
20. Kingdom of Dreams
by Josephine and Philippa Duke Schuyler
21. Literary Journalism
by Norman Sims and Mark Kramer, Editors
22. Literary Journalism in the Twentieth Century
by Norman Sims, Editor
23. McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (1943, 1st Edition)
by Joseph Mitchell
24. McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (1943, UL-60)
by Joseph Mitchell
25. McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (1944, Collins White Circle Pocket Novel)
by Joseph Mitchell
26. McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (1944, Blue Ribbon Books)
by Joseph Mitchell
27. McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (1945, Penguin Paperback)
by Joseph Mitchell
28. McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon (2001, Pantheon)
by Joseph Mitchell
29. My Ears Are Bent
by Joseph Mitchell
30. My Mentor: A Young Man's Friendship with William Maxwell
by Alec Wilkinson
31. The New American Caravan: A Yearbook of American literature, Volume 3
by Alfred Kreymborg, Lewis Mumford, Paul Rosenfeld
32. Old Mr. Flood (1948)
by Joseph Mitchell
33. Old Mr. Flood (2005)
by Joseph Mitchell
34. On Writing Well: An Informal Guide to Writing Nonfiction (1994)
by William Zinsser
35. Playbill: The Magazine for Theatregoers, Nov. 1964, v.1, no.11
36. Reflections and Shadows
by Saul Steinberg, Aldo Buzzi
37. Remembering Mr. Shawn’s New Yorker
by Ved Meht
38. Short Stories from the New Yorker (1940)
compiled by Editors
39. A Violent Act
by Alec Wilkinson
40. Wayward Reporter: The Life of A.J. Liebling
by Raymond A. Sokolov
41. Writing Creative Nonfiction: The Literature of Reality (1995)
by Gay Talese, Barbara Lounsberry