University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

The University of Iowa holds a typescript copy of Flannery O’Connor's Masters Thesis, The Geranium: A Collection of Short Stories, which includes “The Geranium,” “The Barber,” “Wildcat,” “The Crop,” and “The Turkey.” The Alumni Vertical File holds a few articles related to her life and writing as well as letters to Paul Engle and Grace Van Wormer.

Collection: The Alumni Vertical File: O’Connor to Paul Engle

Collection ID: MsL 0185en

Arrangement: The letter from O’Connor to Engle is in The Alumni Vertical File.

Paul Engle was director of the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa when O’Connor was a student. Flannery O’Connor began attending the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa in 1945 and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in 1947. Editor, author, teacher, and poet, Engle was a co-founder of the Writers’ Workshop. The collection contains two letters from O’Connor dated August 1948 and December 1959. The first mentions that the Partisan Review is going to print a chapter from her novel, Wise Blood. The second addresses a copyright issue she was discussing with her agent, Elizabeth McKee. O’Connor also mentions to Engle that Farrar, Straus and Cudahy would be sending him a copy of her novel.

Collection: The Alumni Vertical File: O’Connor to Grace Van Wormer

Collection ID: MsL 0185vw.

Arrangement: The letters from O’Connor to Van Wormer are in The Alumni Vertical File.

There are three letters from Grace Van Wormer, a librarian at the University of Iowa Library, dated May to June 1947, and one letter from O’Connor dated June 1947. Wormer asks O’Connor if she would donate her original manuscripts to the University of Iowa Library. O’Connor states in her response that she would be willing to donate the various drafts of her novel.