de Grummond Collection

McCain Library and Archives
University Libraries
University of Southern Mississippi



SHEILA GORDON PAPERS

Collection Number
Collection Dates
Collection Volume
DG0381
1978-1987
.30 cu.ft. (1 box)

Biographical Sketch | Scope & Content | Series & Subseries | Box Inventory


Provenance
Material was donated by Sheila Gordon from 1979 to 1987.

Restrictions
Noncirculating; available for research.

Copyright
The collection is protected by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U. S. Code). Reproductions can be made only if they are to be used for "private study, scholarship, or research." It is the user's responsibility to verify copyright ownership and to obtain all necessary permissions prior to the reproduction, publication, or other use of any portion of these materials, other than that noted above.

Biographical Sketch
Sheila Gordon was born on January 22, 1927 in Johannesburg, South Africa. She received her bachelor's degree in 1946 from the University of Witwatersrand and later moved to New York. Many of her books focus on the issues of South Africa, including Unfinished Business (1975), The Middle of Somewhere (1990), and Waiting for the Rain (1987). Waiting for the Rain and The Middle of Somewhere were both awarded the Jane Addam's Children's Book Award by the Jane Addams Peace Association and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She has also written an autobiography entitled A Modest Harmony: Seven Summers in a Scottish Glen (1982) in which she describes "simple living" during her family's vacations in Scotland. She has also been a contributor to the New York Times, The Atlantic Review and Antaeus Quarterly.

Source:

Scope and Content
The collection contains typescripts and galleys for two titles. The materials are arranged alphabetically by title. Within each title the materials are arranged in the probable order in which they were created.

Monster in the Mailbox is about a little boy who thinks he will get a monster when he sends his money to a mail order company selling "monsters." The story was inspired by Gordon's own son who became discouraged when a real monster did not arrive in the mail as he had expected. There is a typescript, a galley, and photocopied sketches for this title.

Waiting for the Rain (1987) chronicles nine years of the lives of two South African boys, one black and one white. Unfortunately, their friendship ends in a violent confrontation because one is a student and one is a soldier. There is a typescript, a galley, and an invitation to the Jane Addam's Children's Book Award for this title.

Series and Subseries

A. Books


Box Inventory

Box/Folder 

A. Books

     A Monster in the Mailbox by Sheila Gordon, illustrated by Tony
     DeLuna (New York: Dutton, 1978).

     1/1       Typescript, edited with typesetter's marks, pp. 1-55.  

     1/2       Galley, "author's set," 24 April 1978, 21 pp.

     1/3       Sketches, photocopied, 10 pp.
          
     Waiting for the Rain: A Novel of South Africa by Sheila Gordon (New
     York: Orchard Books, 1987).

     1/4-1/7   Typescript, edited with typesetter's marks,

     1/4            Chapters 1-5, pp. 1-49.

     1/5            Chapters 6-9, pp. 50-99.

     1/6            Chapters 9-14, pp. 100-158.

     1/7            Chapters 15-16, pp. 159-205.

     1/8       Galley, "master set," 106 pp.

     1/9       Invitation to Jane Addams Children's Book Award, 1 item.


Processed: May 27, 1998

Biographical Sketch | Scope & Content | Series & Subseries | Box Inventory
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The de Grummond Children's Literature Collection

The University of Southern Mississippi
118 College Drive, #5148
Hattiesburg, MS 39406-0001
(601) 266-4349
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