Donley Watt Papers
In 2004, acclaimed short story writer and novelist Donley Watt donated extensive literary papers to the Southwestern Writers Collection.
An archival inventory of the materials is given below. Note that access to unprocessed materials is granted on a case-by-case basis. Please contact the Archivist for details about access to the Donley Watt Collection.
Box 1
Materials related to Reynolds a novel by Donley Watt
- brown composition book that contains a few pages of handwritten notes
- “note card” size advertisements
- correspondence
- photocopies of reviews and newspaper clippings
- various pages of handwritten notes
- various partial annotated manuscript pages
- various annotated typed complete manuscripts
- original clean typed manuscript dated 12/23/2000
Box 2
Materials related to Day of the Dead by Donley Watt
- typed clean complete (final version) manuscript dated June 2002. Along with
manuscript are some handwritten notes and a computer disk.
- annotated typed manuscript. Along with manuscript is a computer disk
- clean complete typed manuscript. Along with manuscript is handwritten note
that reads “Not Final Draft” and a computer disk
- drafts and unfinished stages of the manuscript. Along with manuscript are
3 computer disks (materials from computer disks have not been printed)
- clean incomplete typed manuscript
- annotated complete typed manuscript. Attached to manuscript are various
letters of correspondence and a computer disk
Miscellaneous materials
- unpublished essays, correspondence, photocopies of reviews, newspaper clippings,
book catalogs, photos, short stories, and story ideas
Box 3
Miscellaneous materials
- unpublished essays, correspondence, photocopies of reviews, newspaper clippings,
book catalogs, photos, short stories, and story ideas
Short story
- typed short story titled “J.B. Reynolds Cares”, 1986
Materials related to Reynolds
- annotated typed edited and revised early version. Also included with materials
are 3 computer disks (materials from computer disks have not been printed)
- complete final version dated 06/21/2001 (in 2 folders)
Materials related to Dancing with Lyndon
- various annotated incomplete chapters and page proofs
- clean complete typed manuscript
Box 4
Materials related to Dancing with Lyndon
- 2 sets of clean complete page proofs. Along with material is one computer
disk.
- clean complete typed manuscript
- various incomplete annotated typed manuscripts
- annotated complete typed 2nd draft dated 08/24/2001
- clean incomplete typed 1st draft (1st 153 pages) dated July 2001
- various pages of handwritten notes
- annotated 2nd draft
- 1st complete typed draft
- correspondence and newspaper clippings
- clean complete typed final draft
- clean complete typed early draft
- various computer disks related to the manuscript (materials from computer
disks have not been printed)
Box 5
Materials related to Can You Get There from Here? (short story collection)
& The Journey of Hector Rabinal – a novel. (Original folder title,
given by artist, is in " " and most of their contents contain annotated
typed manuscripts along with various handwritten notes)
- “Novella-Hector”
- “Waiting for a Good Day to Leave”
- “Can you Get There from Here?” (story in collection)
- “The Way Things Happen”
- “The Way Things Happen”
- “Caddo”
- “Can You Get There from Here? Short story collection”
- “The Man Who Talked to Houses. Drafts. Short story collection”
- “Not Just Another Waltz. Part of short story collection”
- “Ducks”
- “The Way the Big World Is”
- “A High Place”
- “In the Mood”
- and four computer disks (materials from computer disks have not been printed)
Materials related to Haley, Texas. Items included: photocopies of reviews,
newspaper clippings, correspondence with publishers, small auto-bio, incomplete
annotated typed manuscript.
(Original folder title, given by artist, is in " " and most of their
contents contain annotated typed (short) manuscripts)
- “Dreaming Mexico”
- “Five Days Working”
- “Vices”
- “Events”
- “Food”
- “Moving On”
- “Bazette”
- “Land”
- “Church”
- “Moving On”
- “Damon – draft”
- “Haley, Texas” – annotated typed manuscript
Box 6
Materials used for Seven Days Working (not all essays were used)
- “Moving On, Always Moving On”
- “Bazette”
- “A Day or Two of Fiddling”
- “The Texas Stream”
- “God, Church and other Unfathomable”
- “Food”
- “Books”
- “Vices”
- “Saturday – Day 6”
- “Wednesday – Day 3”
- “Five Days Working”
- “Day Five – Death”
- “Work II”
- “Work I”
- “ Something Old, Something New Something White and Black and Brown”
Materials related to Haley, Texas
- heavily annotated typed manuscript with numerous handwritten notes included
various letters of correspondence with publisher Cinco Puntos Press
- incomplete typed manuscript
- also included six computer disks (materials from computer disks have not
been printed)
Miscellaneous materials. Original folder in “ “ given by artist.
- mockup book covers for Can You Get There from Here?
- “Sara & Deanie – Notes” – unpublished typed
annotated story
- “Flying” – typed manuscript published in the Writers Forum
- “Girls Stories-unpublished” – typed short stories Sleeping
Over, Fifty-fifty, and A Home Game
- “Prologue to ‘Charlie’”
- “SMU Press” – correspondence
- “TCU Press” – correspondence
- “A never completed short story that I adapted, changed & used
in Hector Rabinal” – annotated typed short story
- “Essay –(about men in camp) An Innocent in a New Land”
- “Charley (prologue)
- “Essay-A Special Place” – typed essay
- “Unpublished story”
- “Prizes, Awards, Clippings” – materials from the MFA program
at the Univ. of Arizona
- “Houston Antique Dealer story”
- “SWTSU-Mark Busby” – correspondence
- “Essay” – titled Junior’s World
- “Essay titled A Texas Steam”
- “Sharon Friedman & other agents” – correspondence
- “Wish Me Luck” – typed manuscript with various handwritten
notes included
- “A Home Game” short story not published
- “Shooting Straight”
- various book reviews and newspaper clippings
- “Misc. letters and essays”
- A Sliver Watch published in the Texas Observer in 1995
- Moving – never completed
- Waiting – partial story never completed
- “Poetry – some for a class @ U of AZ and some early bad attempts
wrong genre for me”
Box 7
Miscellaneous materials. Original folder in “ “ given by artist.
- “A novel beginning that evolved into ‘Day of the Dead’
an unpublished novel that I never got quite right” titled Durango
- “Ducks Chapter 2”
- “Sam Cristobal de las cases 1st trip research for Hector Rabinal with
William Pitt Root (1989?)” – folder includes photos and pages
of handwritten notes
- “Dreaming Mexico and Other Essays”
- various letters of correspondence
- “Correspondence letters from Scott Busby”
Box 8
- “Misc. Letters”
- b/w slides along with 3 5x7 b/w photos of Donley Watt
- five small note books which contain many handwritten indiscernible notes
- video cassette titled “Donely Watt October 7, 2003 Craft Lecture 11:00am
CWW Reading 7pm Shirley Recital Hall”
- four 4x6 (and one photo copy) photos of Donley Watt at Salem College in
NC performing a reading and class lecture in 2003