William Burl Thomas papers

The William Burl Thomas Papers, 1920-1987, document the writing career and collecting interests of a well-educated reader and writer. The material includes Thomas’ short stories, novels, essays, and academic papers. There is no documentation of his personal life beyond what might be surmised from the subjects of his fiction.

Thomas’ most active years as a professional writer took place from the 1920s and into the early 1940s. At that time, he maintained a notebook on his queries to publishers, his submissions and the publisher response, and the amount paid for accepted work. Most of his early work was aimed at popular magazines, including a small amount of work published in pulps. Influenced by Ohio writer Sherwood Anderson, Thomas wrote longer fiction that dealt with the experience of farm and small town life in the Midwest in the early years of the twentieth century. College teaching was also satirized. In his later years, he re-worked many of his short stories and essays for a projected book publication. A memoir went through a number of revisions, and may have gradually changed from fictional to documentary in form. These later works were never published, but may serve to provide examples of Thomas’ early work. Since the subject matter of his novels seems to have an autobiographical source, these works may be read for their historical as well as their social significance.

Of particular interest are the lists and notebooks Thomas maintained which document his reading and book collecting over the course of most of his adult life. Researchers interested in book collecting may use these notebooks for clues about how Thomas generated his want lists. As a reader and collector of general American and British authors, Thomas was able to gather first and early editions of a number of notable writers.