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Josephine Harris Papers 1954-1986

MS SC SM-27

Biographical Note

Josephine Horen was born to Joseph Lewis and Rose (Ronay) Horen on December 9, 1919. She graduated from Marshall College and began her career working as the Illinois Political Editor of the International News Service (1944-1946). During this time, she called an author named Mark Harris to reprimand him for identifying Springfield, Missouri as Springfield, Illinois. Rather than feeling contrite, Harris began courting Horen. The couple married on March 17, 1946 in Springfield, Illinois and co-directed the Santa Fe, New Mexico bureau of The Albuquerque Journal from 1947 to 1948. Mark and Josephine Harris had three children: Hester Jill, Anthony, and Henry.

Josephine Harris later began teaching. During her career, she taught art, humanities, psycholinguistics, and American and British literature at such institutions as the University of Colorado at Denver, San Francisco State University, the California Institute of the Arts (where she was a charter faculty member and administrator), Carnegie-Mellon University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Arizona State University. Josephine Harris died in Goleta, California on January 5, 2011.

Scope and Content Note

This collection houses a variety of research materials that Josephine Harris compiled while working on a planned but uncompleted biography of three writer's wives: Estelle Faulkner (wife of William Faulkner), Elinor Frost (wife of Robert Frost), and Janet Lewis (wife of poet and critic Yvor Winters). Among these materials are correspondence between Harris and her research contacts, newspaper clippings, magazine articles, newsletters, notes, and six cassette tapes of Harris' interviews with Janet Lewis (1978-1979) and Lesley Frost (1978). Among the individuals Harris spoke to during her research are Dean Wells (William Faulkner's niece); Professor Emeritus James Silver of the University of South Florida (who corresponded with Estelle Faulkner); Professor Joseph Blotner (William Faulkner's biographer); Lesley Frost Ballantine (daughter of Elinor and Robert Frost); and Janet Lewis.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.

Copyright

Arizona State University does not own the copyright to this collection. We recognize that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.

Access Terms

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Josephine Harris Papers, MS SC SM-27, Arizona State University Library.

Provenance

Josephine Harris donated these papers to Special Collections in 1995 (Accession #2003-02946).

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