Winifred
Sanford Papers
1911 –
2003
3 boxes
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inventory
Acquisition: gift donated by Helen J. Sanford
Access: Direct inquiries to the Archivist,
Southwestern Writers Collection, Albert B. Alkek Library, 601 University Drive, San Marcos,
Texas 78666-4604.
Processed by: Kristen Davis, November 15, 2004
Born
in Duluth, Minnesota on March 16, 1890 to Henry S. Mahon and Helen Brooks
Mahon, Winifred Mahon Sanford enjoyed a brief but noteworthy literary career
from 1925 to 1931. Her 15 short stories appeared popular magazines of the day
such the American Mercury
and the WomanÕs Home Companion.
She has been called an Òunjustly forgottenÓ Texas author whose work
realistically captures the social transition in post-World War I Texas brought
about by the oil boom.
Educated
for a year at Mt. Holyoke College in Massachusetts (1909), she received a
degree in English from the University of Michigan in 1913. Before marrying law
student and naval officer Wayland H. Sanford in 1917, Winifred Mahon taught
high school in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and in Idaho, then worked as a
librarian in New York City. In 1920, the SanfordÕs first daughter, Emerett, was
born in Duluth. Soon after that, Winifred Sanford followed her husband to
Wichita Falls, Texas, where he had found employment as an oil and gas attorney.
Their second daughter, Helen, was born in their new home in 1922.
Although
she is known primarily for her short stories, SanfordÕs first published work, ÒEngland
and the Home-Rule Question,Ó appeared in the South Atlantic Quarterly in 1913 when she was still at the
University of Michigan. Her early work includes unpublished, possibly
autobiographical stories she wrote as a child and portraits of family members.
Once
established in Wichita Falls, Sanford joined The Manuscript Club, a literary
group that met for the first time in 1922 and included published authors Anne
Pence Davis and Fay M. Yauger. Along with three other members of The Manuscript
Club, Sanford was elected as a member of the Texas Institute of Letters. The
women belonging to this club encouraged each otherÕs writing aspirations, providing
a forum in which to discuss and critique membersÕ works. By January 1925
SanfordÕs story ÒWreckÓ was published in the American Mercury, edited by H. L. Mencken. Sanford and
Mencken established a regular correspondence in which he encouraged her writing
endeavors. She went on to publish eight more short stories in the American
Mercury, as well as
others in the WomanÕs Home Companion, The North American Review, and Household until 1931. In addition, three of her
works were listed in J. O. OÕBrienÕs The Best Short Stories of 1926, which brought her to the attention of
several literary agencies. One such agency was the Paget Literary Agency, which
represented Sanford for several years. Sanford began working on a novel in 1925
that she submitted to Paget two years later.
In
1931 the Sanford family moved to Dallas, where Winifred Sanford continued to
work on her novel but had little success publishing it, nor is there any record
of short stories written during this time. Because no copy of her novel appears
in her Papers, it is assumed that she disposed of it. The SanfordÕs third
daughter, Mary, was born in 1933. The next year an article entitled ÒDerrick
Jargon,Ó co-authored with Clyde Jackson, was published in 1934 by Southern
Methodist University in The Southwest Review.
Winifred
Sanford suffered a long-term illness in 1937 which kept her bed-ridden for over
a year, after which no other new articles, novels, nor stories were published.
In 1938 Sanford submitted a detective novel to the Paget Literary Agency with
no success. She attempted to sell one last short story, ÒDeep C,Ó to three
magazines in 1945, but none of the editors thought the story would appeal to
their readers.
SanfordÕs
story ÒWindfallÓ was reprinted in several anthologies and textbooks from 1928
to 1988, and other stories appeared in collections in 1982 and 1998. However,
no collection was dedicated solely to her works until 1980. She and her family
privately published Windfall and Other Stories, a collection of 13 of her 15 short
stories originally printed between 1925 and 1931, as well as two stories not
originally intended for publication.
Winifred
Mahon Sanford died at the age of 93 on March 24, 1983, but she left a
distinguished legacy. Windfall
had caught the attention of Suzanne Comer, senior editor at Southern Methodist
University Press, who in 1987 began the process of securing permission to
reprint the collection as a part of the Southwest Life and Letters Series of
SMU Press. The family agreed to the reprinting, and in November 1988 it
appeared and gained regional acclaim, with reviews appearing in newspapers and
such publications as Legacies,
Belles Lettres, Southwestern
Historical Quarterly, Western
American Literature, and
Texas Books in Review.
*. Her writing skills have been compared to Katherine Ann PortersÕ, and one
critic claimed that SanfordÕs fiction was Òsome of the best creative work to
date on Texas during the oil boom of the 1920s.Ó **
This
flurry of attention to SandfordÕs work led to a film entitled The Stars Fell
on Henrietta in 1995.
The screenplay, based on SanfordÕs story ÒLuck,Ó was written by SanfordÕs
grandson Philip Railsback and produced by Clint EastwoodÕs production company.
In early 1997 The Dallas Museum of Art and the Friends of the Dallas Public
Library hosted a program called ÒArts and Letters Live: A Literary Celebration,Ó
in which SanfordÕs ÒWindfallÓ was read by Sheriden Thomas. In 2004, Helen
Sanford donated her motherÕs literary papers to the Southwestern Writers
Collection.
*
Legacies, vol. 1, no.
1 (Spring 1989); Belles Letters
(Spring 1990); SHQ
(Apr 1990); WAL (vol
XXV no. 2); TBIR
(Summer 1989)
**
attributed to a member of the SMU Press in Dallas Woman, (Dec 1988); San Marcos Daily Record (Dec 4, 1988); Literature &
History (Winter 1988)
Bibliography:
Sanford,
Winifred. Windfall and Other Stories, 1980.
Sanford,
Winifred, Windfall and Other Stories, Dallas : Southern Methodist University Press, 1988.
Scope and Contents Note
Correspondence,
printed material, handwritten notes, tearsheets, newspaper clippings, published
magazines, and one VHS cassette (1 linear foot), document the literary career
of the author and posthumous publication of her works. More detailed
descriptions of the series are listed in the Series Description and Series Summary.
The
collection is arranged into six main series, Personal Documents,
Correspondence, Writings by Winifred Sanford, Reviews, Writings by Others, and
Clippings. The first two series contain documents and letters that pertain to
the authorÕs life and literary creations. The letters are mainly professional
in nature, shedding little light on the authorÕs personal life. However,
included is the first 6 pages of one letter written to her sister, Helen Mahon
Toulme, in March 1925 which is more personal than most. For the most part,
correspondence from the 1980s deals with the publication of Windfall and
Other Stories, a
collection of SanfordÕs short stories. These letters trace the evolution from
the 1980 edition of Windfall,
privately printed by the Sanford family, to the 1988 edition, published by SMU
Press.
The
third series contains both published and unpublished creative works by Winifred
Sanford. These stories appear in several formats, including original
publications of magazines, tearsheets from these magazines, typewritten and
handwritten manuscripts, and photocopies, all saved by the author or members of
her family. Fourteen of SanfordÕs
15 short stories appear in this series, as well as her non-fiction works. One
short story, ÒThe Wedding,Ó appeared in The WomenÕs Home Companion in 1931, but no copy of it appears in
this collection.
The
last three series include materials gathered from a variety of sources:
newspapers, publishing catalogs, literary and historical journals, and a VHS
cassette of The Stars Fell on Henrietta. They contain a variety of materials that pertain to
SanfordÕs literary career but that were not penned by her. The reviews indicate
how SanfordÕs works were received by the public. The last two series reflect
the literary interests of the author and her family.
Series Description
Maintained by
the author and her family, Personal Documents contain only a few materials
related to Winifred SanfordÕs university career and her funeral. These
documents provide biographical data about the author. Included are photocopies of University of Michigan class
record and Alumni information, the MinisterÕs notes for SanfordÕs funeral
service, and ÒDallas Unitarian,Ó newsletter announcing SanfordÕs death.
The
Correspondence Series is arranged chronologically and constitutes the bulk of
the record group. The Winifred Sanford subseries, 1924 - 1982, is divided into
two categories, the first of which contains letters documenting her literary
career. Of special interest are numerous letters to and from H. L. Mencken,
many of which contain his encouragements and advice to her, (see Correspondence
List). The series also includes original incoming letters written by publishers
and editors to Winifred Sanford as well as carbon copies of typed letters and
handwritten drafts of her responses to them. Of note is an incomplete list of
her own short stories drawn up by the author on June 26, 1958. The second category
includes personal letters written to the author after the private printing in
1980 of her collected short stories, entitled Windfall and Other Stories.
The Helen
Sanford subseries, 1981 - 2003, for the most part contains correspondence to
and from Winifred SanfordÕs daughter, Helen J. Sanford, at the end of the
authorÕs life and after her death. It is also subdivided into two categories,
the first of which reflects the efforts of various publishing companies to gain
permission from the Sanford family to reprint Winifred SanfordÕs short stories
in anthologies and collections. Of note is a letter to Betty Wiesepape granting
her permission to use SanfordÕs correspondence for her MasterÕs thesis entitled
Winifred Sanford: Her Life and Times. This thesis is catalogued in the SWWC book collection.
Also included are letters and contracts regarding the 1988 publication of Windfall
and Other Stories as
well as the familyÕs wish to donate SanfordÕs papers to the Southwestern
Writers Collection. The second category contains personal letters written to
Helen Sanford regarding her motherÕs death and the death of Suzanne Comer,
senior editor at SMU who was instrumental in publishing the 1988 printing of Windfall.
The Writings
Series is divided into the Published Works subseries, 1924 - 1988, and the
Unpublished Works subseries, 1945 - 1986. The first contains tearsheets and
photocopies of SanfordÕs published short stories, arranged alphabetically by
title. Of special interest is a collection of eight of SanfordÕs short stories
and one article gathered by her mother-in-law Helen Hall Sanford and placed in
a small folder for posterity. Original copies of the American Mercury and WomanÕs Home Companion are catalogued and housed separately in
order to better preserve these fragile items. Copies of Windfall (1980 and 1988) are also included in the
SWWC book collection. Also contained within this subseries are original
receipts and Assignments of Copyright for SanfordÕs short stories sold to the American
Mercury and the Paget
Literary Agency, as well as materials relating to Mira von Hollander-MunkhÕs
German translation of ÒThe Forest
Fire.Ó
The second
subseries contains various unpublished materials, arranged alphabetically by
title. Included are a typewritten copy of an ÒChoosing Your Type of Story,Ó an
outline prepared by Winifred Sanford in the 1940s on how to write a short
story, two typewritten copies of ÒDeep C,Ó a short story submitted to several
magazines in 1945 but not published, ÒMemoriesÓ and ÒMemories by Buttercup
Bailey,Ó two undated, handwritten works by Winifred Mahon when she was a child,
and two undated copies of ÒStar in the East,Ó found among the possessions of
Winifred SanfordÕs sister after the latterÕs death in 1986.
The Reviews
Series contains photocopies and
original reviews of Winifred SanfordÕs works. The bulk of this material
pertains to reviews of the 1988 printing of Windfall. Included are materials relating to the
1996 ÒArts and Letters Live,Ó in which ÒWindfallÓ was read by Sheriden Thomas.
Collected and
maintained by Winifred Sanford and her family, the Works by Others Series includes
materials that were not written by Sanford. Represented are an article by Anne
Pence Davis and a story by Fay M. Yauger, both members of the Wichita Falls
Manuscript Club. In addition, there are various tearsheets of articles on how
to write short stories from the WriterÕs Digest, and a typewritten screenplay for and
VHS cassette of The Stars Fell on Henrietta. This film was based on SanfordÕs short
story ÒLuckÓ and was written by her grandson, Philip Railsbeck. It is
catalogued and housed in the SWWC book collection.
The Clippings
Series contains photocopies and original newspaper clippings pertaining to
various topics of interest to Sanford or to her family: a 1947 newspaper
clipping about oilfield jargon; a broadside from the Southwestern Writers
Collection; newspaper articles about Texas painter Jerry Bywaters, whose
painting ÒOil Field GirlsÓ appeared on the cover of Windfall (1988); materials relating to the death
of Suzanne Comer.
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inventory