Correspondence, 1941-1972

This series contains eighteen letters of Katherine Anne Porter and Edna Frederikson. Eleven are Frederikson's letters to Porter. Three of the Frederikson letters are rough drafts of originals located in the Papers of Katherine Anne Porter. Six additional Frederikson letters are carbon copies of originals in the Porter papers. There is no existing original for the last of the carbon copies of Frederikson's letters to Porter (April 23, 1942). All of Miss Porter's letters in the collection are originals. Seventeen of the letters date from 1941 to 1943, when Mrs. Frederikson left her teaching position in Harrisonburg to devote her energies to creative writing. Frederikson posted the last of these letters to Porter just before the April 1972 publication of Three Parts Earth, when she sent Porter a pre-publication copy of the novel. Mrs. Frederickson and Miss Porter discuss writing, South Hill, Mrs. Frederikson's efforts to obtain an invitation to Yaddo, and other personal matters, including plans to divorce their respective husbands. Notable persons mentioned include author Eudora Welty, agent Diarmuid Russell, and Elizabeth Ames, the director of Yaddo. The series is composed of originals, rough drafts, and carbons of typed letters, and one autograph Porter letter. The correspondence is arranged in chronological order.