The Biographical Materials series, 1943-2000 (0.25 linear ft.), contains materials on the Aldridge family genealogy, Aldridge's veteran status, Aldridge's fifty-year high school reunion, and undated photographs that appear to span the period from 1943 to 1985, approximately.
14.4 linear feet
The John W. Aldridge Papers document the professional and personal life of one of the twentieth century's most distinguished literary critics, and a longtime University of Michigan professor of English. The records in this collection measure 14.4 linear feet, and date from 1943 to 2006, with the majority of the records from the period 1950 to 2000. They are primarily comprised of correspondence, lectures and addresses, teaching materials, writings and publications, research notes, clippings, program and topical files, and are arranged into nine series: Biographical Materials, Correspondence, Hopwood Awards Program, Lectures and Addresses, Scrapbooks, Teaching, USIA/Special Ambassador, Writings, and Audio-Visual Materials.
The Correspondence series, 1943-2006 (3 linear ft.), contains correspondence both to and from John W. Aldridge over a 66 year span. The series is organized into subseries chronologically by year, as well as by correspondent. In addition to personal and business letters, this series also includes a subseries of letters of recommendation Aldridge wrote on his students and colleagues' behalf. Noteworthy materials in this series include a 53 year correspondence with Aldridge's friend Grant Genung and correspondence with four of Aldridge's wives, as well as original and photocopied letters from William J. Buckley, Jr., John Dos Passos, Ralph Ellison, William Gaddis, Donald Hall, Joseph Heller, Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud, Arthur Miller, Wright Morris, Anäis Nin, William Styron, Lionel Trilling, John Updike, Gore Vidal, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Penn Warren, Tom Wolfe, and P.G. Wodehouse.
Researchers should note that while much of the correspondence in the John W. Aldridge Papers can be found in the correspondence series, additional correspondence is located in the Hopwood Awards Program, Lectures and Addresses, Teaching, USIA/Special Ambassador, and Writings series.
The records in the Hopwood Awards Program series, 1964-2000 (0.25 linear ft.), document Aldridge's work with the University of Michigan's Hopwood writing program. The series contains administrative files, program materials for the fiftieth anniversary of the Hopwood Festival, and Aldridge's introductory and welcome addresses for Hopwood speakers, including Joan Didion, E.L. Doctorow, William Gaddis, Joseph Heller, Lewis Lapham, Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud, Walker Percy, and Tom Wolfe, among others.
The Lectures and Addresses series, 1951-1995 (0.25 linear ft.), includes drafts and final copies of lectures, addresses, and presentations Aldridge gave at academic conferences, university functions, and memorial services. Included in this series are remarks Aldridge gave at the State University of New York at Potsdam on the work of T. Coraghessan Boyle, as well as his address and notes for a conference at the US Air Force Academy in 1986 celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of Joseph Heller's Catch-22.