Collections : [Business, Literary, and Local History Manuscripts]

Contains materials about Kennedy's first novel The Ink Truck, initially published in 1969 and then re-issued in 1984 following his success with Ironweed and his receiving the MacArthur Foundation's Genius Award. The novel details the last days of an unsuccessful newspaper strike and is very loosely based on Kennedy's experiences during a newspaper strike in Albany in the mid-1960s. The series includes multiple manuscript drafts, author's notes, book reviews, galleys, publisher agreements and correspondence, and advertising. Please note that the overall series dates are not inclusive.

This series focuses on Kennedy's second book Legs, the first in his "Albany Cycle" of novels. Published in 1975, Legs is a fictional account of the notorious Albany gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond. Included are multiple working and edited manuscript drafts spanning a period of several years, galley proofs, rejected and omitted pages, book reviews, profiles about Kennedy, book cover artwork, and correspondence with the publisher. There also are newspaper articles from the 1920s and 1930s about Legs Diamond which Kennedy used to conduct research on Diamond and the period. Please note the overall series dates are not inclusive.

This series consists of multiple manuscript drafts, notes, and galleys for Kennedy's third novel Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, published in 1978. The story introduces the Phelan family that figures prominently in five additional Kennedy books. Set in Albany during the Depression, Billy Phelan is a small-time gambler and bookie who becomes involved in the kidnapping of a local political boss' son. More than half of the folders in the series contain Federal Bureau of Investigation records of the actual John J. O'Connell, Jr. kidnapping and subsequent extortion case in 1933. The O'Connell family was heavily involved in Democratic Party politics in Albany. Kennedy also corresponded with the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the O'Connell kidnapping and received additional case records after the publication of Billy Phelan's Greatest Game.

This series consists almost entirely of manuscript drafts, edits, notes and galleys for the award-winning Ironweed, published in 1983. The novel, also set in Albany during the Depression, continues the story of the Phelan family. It focuses on Billy Phelan's father Francis, an alcoholic wanderer who returns to the city. Among its many honors, Ironweed received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 1983 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1984.

Published in 1983, William Kennedy's nonfiction work O Albany! is based upon a series of articles he wrote about the city for the Albany Times-Union in the early-mid 1960s, which garnered him a Pulitzer Prize nomination for journalism. The book looks at Albany neighborhoods, different ethnic and racial groups who settled within the city, landmarks and institutions, and key political leaders. The series includes manuscripts and draft copy, Kennedy's earlier newspaper features, research materials and notes. As all the materials span a significant amount of time, please note the overall dates for this series are not inclusive.

This series contains materials related to two children's books that William Kennedy wrote with his son Brendan; Charlie Malarkey and the Belly Button Machine, published in 1986, and Charlie Malarkey and the Singing Moose, which appeared in print in 1993. The series features working and edited drafts, galleys, newspaper clippings, reviews, and press tour materials. There also are several folders of correspondence. The files document the difficulties Kennedy encountered in attempting to publish the first book, including many rejection letters from publishing houses beginning in 1975. Of additional interest is correspondence about illustrations, foreign editions, possible film deals, and letters and a book from children who enjoyed the stories.

In the summer of 1983 William Kennedy accepted director Francis Ford Coppola's invitation to collaborate with him on a film script for The Cotton Club, a 1930s period drama built around the real Harlem night club in New York. He spent the remainder of that summer and the fall writing and editing, as the movie transitioned from the pre-production phase to principal photography. The film debuted in the United States in 1984. This series documents that intensive writing and re-writing effort with many working scripts, rehearsal scripts, shooting scripts, and editing scripts. In addition, there are production memos and notes, call sheets, publicity materials, reviews, correspondence, and a file about the movie premiere.

This series documents the transition of Ironweed from the 1983 award-winning novel to film in 1987. Like the book, the movie focuses on the character of Francis Phelan and his return to Albany during the Depression. William Kennedy wrote the script for the film which was directed by Hector Babenco and starred Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. It was filmed on location in Albany and the surrounding areas. The materials include many draft and edited scripts, publicity materials, information about casting and locations, call sheets, correspondence, reviews, and two paperback copies of the novel with notes used for script writing. Note the overall dates for the series are not inclusive.

Contains drafts, edited copies, the final version, and galleys of Quinn's Book, published by William Kennedy in 1988. Part of the "Albany Cycle," this novel also involves the extended Phelan family, but focuses on the nineteenth century life and adventures of an ancestor named Daniel Quinn. There are many edited and unedited versions of the manuscript; however, the majority of copies are undated. The archivist tried to arrange these undated drafts in chronological order based upon the edits in each version.

William Kennedy continued his writings about the Phelan family with Very Old Bones, his next installment in the "Albany Cycle" of novels published in 1992. This book is set in the 1950s in the city and narrated by Orson Purcell, the out-of-wedlock son of Peter Phelan. The majority of the series consists of manuscript drafts and edited copy, although there are a small number of files containing correspondence, publicity materials, articles and reviews, and excerpts of the novel published in magazines.