Search

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.