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Jane Hamilton Papers, 1983-2000

Collection Overview

Title: Jane Hamilton Papers, 1983-2000

ID: 03/245

Creator: Hamilton, Jane (Class of 1979) (1957 July 13 -)

Extent: 6.0 Cubic Feet

Arrangement: Arranged by the author by novel in loose chronological.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

Papers of author and Carleton College graduate Jane Hamilton, class of 1979. This collection contains materials created during the writing, editing, publication, and promotion of Hamilton's novels The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World. Included are drafts, editor's notes, and research, as well as screenplays for movies based on the books. Correspondence with Oprah Winfrey and other materials related to each novel's selection for the Oprah Book Club, and Hamilton's appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show, are also included.

Biographical Note

Jane Hamilton was born in Oak Park, Illinois in 1957. Both her grandmother and her mother were journalists and fiction writers, and she assumed that if you were a girl you were supposed to become a writer. She graduated from Carleton in 1979 with that aim in mind, although she’d been told by various professors that writing fiction was not usually a viable profession. This was sound advice. She married an apple farmer, Robert Willard, in Rochester, Wisconsin in 1982. Between harvest and planting she wrote her first novel, The Book of Ruth, published in 1988. She has written six novels since, several short stories, and many essays.

Her daughter Hannah graduated from Carleton in 2010. Her son attended Lawrence University, where he had an English class from a Carleton grad who’d studied with the great professors of the 1980s, Carleton doing its work in Wisconsin.

Hamilton’s work has won prizes and two of the novels, The Book of Ruth and A Map of the World, have been made into films. She has taught at Carleton College, in the Warren Wilson MFA program, at Luther College, as well as conducting many workshops nationally and internationally. Although there was not a writing program at Carleton when she matriculated, the two workshops she took, and the professors she studied with, were instrumental in teaching her the craft of writing.

Box and Folder Listing

Box 1: The Book of RuthAdd to your list.
Folder 1: First drafts of “The Fruit Cakes and the Cane,” the story that became The Book of Ruth, 1983Add to your list.
Folder 2: Correspondence with Katrina Kenison, editor at Ticknor & Fields, editor of The Book of Ruth; Two letters from the Ticknor copy-editing department, 1987-88Add to your list.
Folder 3: Racine Journal Times article reporting of the murder in Dover, Wisconsin, that inspired The Book of Ruth, 1983Add to your list.
Folder 4: Correspondence and press involving Oprah Book Club for The Book of RuthAdd to your list.
Folder 5: Two rejection letters from Abigail Thomas, of the Liz Darhansoff Literary Agency; other rejections from agents; letter about the book from the writer David ShieldsAdd to your list.
Folder 6: Letters from Elizabeth Weinstein, (Betsy), about The Book of Ruth; list of agents that Betsy sentAdd to your list.
Folder 7: Outline in spiral notebookAdd to your list.
Folder 8: Early character explorations; bits from the point of view of May, Jem (later called Ruby), Matt, and DaisyAdd to your list.
Folder 9: Scribbles and notes made during the process; sheet of corrections from Bob WillardAdd to your list.
Folder 10: Screenplay by Suzette Couture for The Book of Ruth, with suggestions from HamiltonAdd to your list.
Folder 11: Contracts; correspondence with Amanda Urban in relation to The Book of RuthAdd to your list.
Folder 12: Reviews of The Book of RuthAdd to your list.
Folder 13: Draft of the first chapter submitted for Wisconsin Arts Board GrantAdd to your list.
Folder 14: Correspondence with writers Joan Chase and Louise Erdrich; letter from bookseller Susan MayallAdd to your list.
Folder 15: Hamilton's notes on folders and items in this box, 2018Add to your list.
Folder 16: Chapter 2, draft 1Add to your list.
Folder 17: Chapter 2, draft 2Add to your list.
Folder 18: Draft 2 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 19: Draft 3Add to your list.
Folder 20: Draft 3Add to your list.
Folder 21: Draft 4 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 22: Draft 5 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 23: Draft 6 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 24: Draft 7 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 25: Draft 8 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 26: Draft with copyeditor's notesAdd to your list.
Folder 27: Draft with copyeditor's notesAdd to your list.
Folder 28: Draft with copyeditor's notesAdd to your list.
Item 1: Medallion from Wisconsin Library Association - Banta Award, 1989Add to your list.
Box 2: The Book of RuthAdd to your list.
Folder 1: Royalty statementsAdd to your list.
Folder 2: Draft 9 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 3: Draft 9 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 4: Draft 10 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 5: Draft 10 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 6: Draft 11 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 7: Draft 11 - incompleteAdd to your list.
Folder 8: Hamilton's notes on folders and items in this boxAdd to your list.
Item 1: Bound draft - The Book of RuthAdd to your list.
Item 2: Bound draft - Ruth Grey DahlAdd to your list.
Item 3: Bound draft - Come Riddle Me, Riddle MeAdd to your list.
Box 3: A Map of the WorldAdd to your list.
Folder 1: Clipping and brochureAdd to your list.
Page from the United Mine Workers Journal, 1976, including an image of The Gem of Egypt important to the character "Howard." Brochure entitled "The Dedication of Racine County's" Law Enforcement Center" 1980.
Folder 2: Partial drafts of early versionsAdd to your list.
Folder 3: Partial draft of an early versionAdd to your list.
Folder 4: Draft of alternate plotlineAdd to your list.
Folder 5: Early draft of Alice section 1Add to your list.
Folder 6: Early draft of Alice section 3Add to your list.
Folder 7: Early draft of Alice section 3Add to your list.
Folder 8: Early draft of Alice sectionsAdd to your list.
Folder 9: "Various stumblings"Add to your list.
Miscellaneous unorganized drafts
Folder 10: NotesAdd to your list.
loose and bound
Folder 11: Hamilton's notes on folders in this boxAdd to your list.
Box 4: A Map of the WorldAdd to your list.
Folder 1: Howard sections - early draftsAdd to your list.
Folder 2: Howard sections - early draftsAdd to your list.
Folder 3: Howard sections - early draftsAdd to your list.
Folder 4: Howard sections - early draftsAdd to your list.
Folder 5: Howard sections - early draftsAdd to your list.
Folder 6: Howard sections - early draftsAdd to your list.
Folder 7: Howard sectionAdd to your list.
Folder 8a-8c: Draft - mostly completeAdd to your list.
Folder 9a-9c: DraftAdd to your list.
Folder 10a-10c: Edited manuscriptAdd to your list.
Folder 11a-11c: Copy of Hamilton's corrections to typeset draftAdd to your list.
Folder 12: Hamilton's notes on folders in this boxAdd to your list.
Box 5: A Map of the WorldAdd to your list.
Folder 1a-1c: Proofs from DoubledayAdd to your list.
Folder 2a-2c: Proofs from DoubledayAdd to your list.
Folder 3: Black dialect instructionalAdd to your list.
Folder 4a-4b: ReviewsAdd to your list.
Folder 5a-5b: Letters from readersAdd to your list.
Folder 6: OutlineAdd to your list.
Folder 7: Letters by Hamilton explaining why she wrote A Map of the WorldAdd to your list.
Folder 8: Correspondence regarding permission to use quotesAdd to your list.
Folder 9: First draft of screenplay by Janet Dulin JonesAdd to your list.
Folder 10: First draft of screenplay by Peter HedgesAdd to your list.
Folder 11: The Oprah Winfrey Show bookclub for A Map of the WorldAdd to your list.
Folder 12: Correspondence with Oprah Winfrey, 1996Add to your list.
Folder 13: Contract with Doubleday, 1993Add to your list.
Folder 14: Hamilton's notes on folders in this boxAdd to your list.
Folder 15: Hamilton's comprehensive index to papers donated 2018-06-14Add to your list.