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Henderson mss., 1975-2005

Papers, 1975-2005, of Bill Henderson at the Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Electronic finding aid encoded by Donald C. Force.

Summary Information

Repository
Lilly Library (Indiana University, Bloomington)
Indiana University
1200 E. Seventh St.
Bloomington, IN 47405-5500
Phone: 812-855-2452
Fax: 812-855-3143
Email: liblilly@indiana.edu
http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly

Creator
Henderson, Bill, 1941-

Title
Henderson mss.,1975-2005

Collection No.
LMC 2511

Extent
5000 items

Language
Materials are in English.

Abstract
Consists primarily of the papers and manuscripts of author and editor Bill Henderson.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Biographical Note

Born April 5, 1941 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, William Charles Henderson attended Hamilton College and pursued graduate studies briefly at both Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. He and his uncle Howard Galloway started the small publishing house Nautilus Books in 1970, which then published Henderson's first novel The Galapagos Kid under the pseudonym Luke Walton. Neither the novel nor the publishing house proved successful.

In 1973 Henderson launched the Pushcart Press with The Publish it Yourself Handbook-Literary Tradition and How-To Without Commercial or Vanity Publishers, compiled and edited by him. The handbook was not only successful but has seen several reprintings over the years. He started the Pushcart Prize series in 1976. This annual anthology that celebrates small presses and little magazines and their writers has continued without interruption. In 1982 Henderson started the Editors' Book Award for overlooked manuscripts. In this program he asks editors at commercial houses to nominate manuscripts they were not able to publish because of financial pressure. He then chooses one from these nominations and publishes it by Pushcart Press.

Over the years several selections published in this series have been reprinted in mass market and trade paperback editions, occasionally by the very commercial house that had rejected them the first time around. In addition to his editing and publishing work, Henderson has also written several volumes of memoirs, essays and book reviews for the New York Times, Publishers Weekly and elsewhere, and has been a visiting lecturer at several colleges and summer writing programs.

Arrangement/Organization

The collection is organized into the following series: I. Correspondence; II. Pushcart; III. Writings; and IV. Additions.

Scope and Content Note

Consist primarily of the papers and manuscripts of author and editor Bill Henderson. The correspondence from authors, editors and poets is primarily concerned with letters of nomination for the Pushcart Prize anthologies. Series II consists primarily of form letters, clippings of reviews and ads, and printed brochures and announcements relating to the Pushcart Prize, as well as materials regarding the trademark registration of the pushcart, a history of the Pushcart Press, The Editors' Book Award, and reviews and articles about the Press. Series III consists of manuscripts, correspondence and reviews, etc. of writings and works written, edited, or published by Bill Henderson.

  • Indexing Terms

  • The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

    • Names
    • Pushcart Press.
    • Henderson, Bill, 1941- --Correspondence.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information
Purchase; 2005.
Usage Restrictions
Prior arrangements are not necessary before coming to the Library, however, patrons from out of town are encouraged to communicate with the Library in advance of their visits to ascertain availability of materials.

Photocopying permitted only with permission of the Curator of Manuscripts, Lilly Library.

Preferred Citation
[Item], Henderson mss., Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana.

Series: Box 1 Correspondence

General correspondence

(21 folders).

Arranged alphabetically


Abish, Walter

Ashbery, John

Bass, Rick

Booth, Philip

Bowles, Paul

Bukowski, Charles

Carruth, Hayden

Carver, Raymond

Gallagher, Tess

Grumbach, Doris

Hoagland, Edward

Irving, John

Kizer, Carolyn

Nin, Anais

Oats, Joyce Carol

Plimpton, George

Stafford, William

Wilentz, Theodore

Pushcart Prize correspondence and nominations, 1975-1982 

(14 folders)


Box 2 Pushcart Prize correspondence and nominations, 1983-1992 

(23 folders)


Box 3 Pushcart Prize correspondence and nominations, 1993-2000 

(27 folders)


Box 4 Pushcart Prize correspondence and nominations, 2001-2005;  undated A-Z

(17 folders)


Series: Pushcart

Miscellaneous files concerning the Pushcart Prize and Pushcart Press


Pushcart Prize

Box 4
Folder 18

Miscellaneous notes and fragments concerning Pushcart Prize and nominations, etc.

Folder 19 Form letters to authors, 1975-2005 

Folder 20 Form letters to editors concerning nominations, 1976-2005 

Folder 21-22 Clippings: ads and reviews

Folder 23 Press releases

Pushcart Press

Folder 24 History

Folder 25 Miscellaneous.

Includes materials concerning trademark registration of Pushcart


Folder 26 The Editors’ Book Award

Folder 27 Clippings concerning Pushcart Press and Bill Henderson

Folder 28 Printed

Series: Writings

Writings and works written, edited, or published by Bill Henderson. Arranged alphabetically by title after the biographical materials.


Box 5
Folder 1

Biographical materials

Folder 2-4 The Art of Literary Publishing: Editors on Their Craft , edited by Bill Henderson (Yonkers, NY: Pushcart Press, 1980 ).

Photocopy of T.D. with corrections and changes in black ink. October 27, 1979.


Folder 5 The Art of Literary Publishing.

Reviews


Folder 6-8 Her Father: A Memoir (Boston: Faber & Faber, 1995 ).

Copy edited manuscript


Folder 9-10 His Son (New York: W.W. Norton, 1981 ).

T.D., final draft, 1980


Folder 11 "Introduction [to Pushcart Prize XXV]" (New York: W.W. Norton, 2001 ).

Photocopy of proofs


The Little Magazine in America: A Modern Documentary History , edited by Elliott Anderson and Mary Kinzie (Yonkers, NY: Pushcart Press, 1979 )

Folder 12 Correspondence, 1975-1981 

Folder 13 Ads and reviews

Folder 14 Miscellaneous

Minutes of the Lead Pencil Club: Pulling the Plug on the Electronic Revolution , edited by Bill Henderson (Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1996 )

Folder 15-16 Manuscript draft

Folder 17 Ads and reviews

Folder 18 "Pop" [short story] T.D. ca. 1975 

The Publish It Yourself Handbook: Literary Tradition and How-to , edited by Bill Henderson (Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press, 1973 )

Folder 19-22 Printer’s manuscript

Folder 23 Ads and reviews, including an announcement for 1987 revised edition

Folder 24 "The Search for Horatio Alger." T.D. ca. 1971 

Folder 25 "Small Presses Today: A Continuing Vitality." T.D., 10 p. ca. 1975-1976 

Tower: Faith, Vertigo and Amateur Construction, (New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2000 )

Folder 26-27 Copy-edited manuscript

Folder 28 Correspondence, 1999-2000. 

Correspondence is with editors and readers at FSG; also individual letters from Doris Grumbach, Jan. 2, 1999, George Plimpton, Jan. 4, 2000, and others.


Folder 29 Reviews

Folder 30 "A Tradition of Do It Yourself Publishing."

Draft manuscript, heavily revised throughout. 30 p.


Series: Additions, 2007

Box 6
Folder 1

Pushcart Press, 2006.  Printed

Folder 2-4 Pushcart Prize XXXI nominations

Folder 5-7 Simple Gifts (New York: Free Press, 2006).

First draft manuscript, 2001; reviews.


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