Joan W. Blos Papers, 1971-2007

Summary

Creator:

Blos, Joan W.

Abstract:

Joan Blos is a writer of children's literature who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is best known for her novel A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32, which in 1980 won the American Library Association's Newbery Medal.(1) Blos has written several other works of historical fiction as well as picture books for younger readers. The collection documents her career as a writer through items including development materials, correspondence, manuscripts and illustrations of both published and unpublished works.

Extent:

7 boxes and 2 oversize boxes (11 linear feet)

Language:

English

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Holly V. Sorscher,

Background

Scope and Content:

The Joan W. Blos papers span the years 1971 through 2007 and are made up of some personal materials with the majority of the material. related to her literary works. The Personal series includes correspondence, manuscripts by students and others, and articles, announcements, events information, and awards not related to a specific literary work.

The remaining series are designated by book title and appear in publication order. Unpublished works follow published works and are listed in order of conception. Titles in the collection are: Just Think!; A Gathering of Days; Martin's Hats; Brothers of the Heart; Old Henry; Lottie's Circus; "Pioneers" (in Michigan Traditions); The Heroine of the Titanic; A Seed, a Flower, a Minute an Hour; Brooklyn Doesn't Rhyme; The Days Before Now; The Hungry Little Boy; Nellie Bly's Monkey; Bedtime!; Brother's of the Heart (a dramatization); Hello Shoes!; Letters from the Corrugated Castle; Bringing The Jackson Home; Thisca!; Brave Sisters, Fighting Women; When Times Square Was New; The Applesauce Tree; The Happy Park Day; Old Henry II; Samuel Foote's Nonsense; She's Busy!; The Scribble Scrabble Surprise; Rhymes and Reason; Bathtime; and Ker-choo! A Wintertime Story. Within each title series are several possible subseries:

Development Materials include items such as news clippings, photocopies of articles and stories, early handwritten and typed notes by the author, travel information, postcards, maps, brochures, and library request slips.

Correspondence is primarily with editors, publishers, and some illustrators. This section also includes corresponding manuscripts and drafts that have been edited by the author or editor.

Manuscripts are arranged chronologically and include correspondence from an editor or publisher.

Articles and Announcements include newspaper clippings, programs, announcements, reviews, advertisements for book signings and other promotional events, and interviews.

Events and Awards achieved by the author during her career.

Realia includes items such as playbills for the dramatization of Brothers of the Heart and a handmade quilt inspired by Brooklyn Doesn't Rhyme.

Illustrations, Artwork, and Publication Materials relate to the production of the corresponding title. Examples include mock-ups, color proofs, and unbound signatures for several of the picture books.

Audiotapes include a reading of A Gathering of Days , interviews, and Blos' Newbery acceptance speech for A Gathering of Days.

Study Guides include those associated with the dramatization of Brothers of the Heart.

The Blos papers provide a rich resource for scholars of children's literature along several different avenues. Blos' painstakingly thorough research process is evident in the almost two boxes of materials from her Letters from the Corrugated Castle. One is able to gain an understanding of Blos' creative process through the evolution of the manuscript for this piece of historical fiction. Nellie Bly's Monkey and The Heroine of the Titanic are longer picture books both researched and written as historical fiction. In addition to text, these materials, among other picture books in the collection, provide valuable insight into the collaborative process between author and illustrator. Correspondence between Blos and her editors and publishers provides a window into the business of children's book publishing over the span of Blos' writing career.

Biographical / Historical:

Joan W. Blos was born December 9, 1928, in New York, NY. She is the daughter of Max (a psychiatrist) and Charlotte (a teacher) Winsor. Joan married Peter Blos, Jr. (a psychoanalyst), June 7, 1953 and had two children: Stephen (deceased) and Sarah. Blos attended both Vassar College, B.A., 1949 and City College (now the City University of New York), M.A., 1956.

Blos is a writer of children's literature who is best known for her novel A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-32, which in 1980 won the American Library Association's Newbery Medal for the year's most distinguished contribution to American children's literature. Set in the early nineteenth century, A Gathering of Days is presented as a young girl's chronicle of her life on a New England farm. The book took Blos twelve years to complete. Fascinated by her family's summer home in New England, the midwestern author researched its past owners and based her novel on her findings.

Blos's novel Brothers of the Heart: A Story of the Old Northwest, 1837-1838 "began with an interest in a region and an exploration of its past: what was it like back then? This time I tell the story of a boy, Shem, the fiddler's crippled son, and the story's several settings include a newly established town, the commercial center of Detroit, and the Michigan wilderness. Among its varied characters, an elderly Ottawan woman is outstanding and her presence contributes another culture's strengths to the ongoing thread of the story."

Blos has also written picture books for younger readers, among them Hello, Shoes! and Bedtime! In Hello, Shoes! a boy and his grandfather search for the boy's shoes amid the clutter in his room. Once they are found, the boy buckles them himself for the first time ever, and then he and his grandparent head off for a fun time at the park.

Blos' next novel, Letters from the Corrugated Castle: A Novel of Gold Rush California, 1850-1852, published eight years after Hello, Shoes! in 2007, follows the life of thirteen-year-old Eldora, who, along with her adoptive aunt and uncle, moves from New Bedford, Massachusetts, to California during the Gold Rush. Not long after the move, Eldora discovers that she is not an orphan after all, and that her mother, now a wealthy landowner, resides in a nearby town. Eldora had been brought to the couple from South America after her mother was infected with cholera on a sea voyage and was forced to send her daughter on without her. In her new hometown, Eldora makes friends with many of the Mexican families there, as well as a boy named Luke, who moved to the area with his journalist father. After her newly-found mother suggests that she come live with her, Eldora leaves her aunt and uncle to move to San Pedro where her mother runs an inn. Eldora soon learns that life with her mother is not the fairy tale she imagined. The story is told through a series of letters from Eldora to her cousin Sallie in New Bedford, and newspaper articles from Luke's father.

Source: Contemporary Authors Online , Gale, 2009

Acquisition Information:

Collection was donated to the library by Joan Blos, 2008.

Processing information:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Holly V. Sorscher,.

Subjects

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Subjects:

Authors and publishers -- United States Children's literature.
Bedtime -- Juvenile fiction.
Children's poetry, American.
Circus -- Fiction.
Family – New York (State)-- New York -- Juvenile fiction.
Farm life -- New Hampshire--Juvenile fiction.
Food habits-- Fiction.
Frontier and pioneer life -- Michigan -- Fiction.
Gold mines and mining--California--History--19th century--Juvenile fiction.
Hats -- Fiction.
Indians of North America -- Fiction.
Mexican Americans -- Juvenile fiction.
Neighborliness -- Fiction.
Shoes-- Juvenile fiction.

Formats:

Correspondence.
Manuscripts for publication.
Illustrations (layout features).
Line copy.
Realia.
Audiotapes.
Examination study guides.
Articles.
Awards.

Names:

Titanic (Steamship) -- Juvenile literature.
Bly, Nellie, -- 1864-1922 -- Juvenile fiction.
Brown, Margaret Tobin -- 1867-1932 -- Juvenile literature.
Brown, Margaret Wise -- 1910-1952 -- Juvenile literature.