The Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections holds the archive of American essayist and author E. B. White, a graduate of Cornell University’s class of 1921.
The E.B. White Collection contains manuscripts, letters, documents, clippings, photographs, filmstrips, film reels, note cards, cassette tapes, bound photocopies, medals and awards by, to, or about E.B. White, spanning the entire range of his activities throughout his life. Letters consist of ca. 3,000 letters by White and 25,000 letters to him from others. Correspondents include: Katharine Sergeant White (his wife), James Thurber, Frank Sullivan, Harold Ross, William Shawn, Gus Lobrano, S.J. Perelman, Nathaniel Benchley, Howard Cushman, Alice Burchfield Sumner, Scott Elledge, and publishers such as Harper & Row, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, and Macmillan.
Manuscripts consist of drafts, notes, and some galley proofs for his books Charlotte’s Web, The Elements of Style, the Essays of E.B. White, the Letters of E.B. White, One Man’s Meat, The Points of My Compass, Poems and Sketches, and Stuart Little, as well as drafts of his “Notes and comment” and “Talk of the Town” columns for the New Yorker magazine from 1934-1953.
Printed materials include a comprehensive collection of published books by E.B. White, in multiple editions and translations; White’s contributions to the New Yorker and other magazines; his editorials for his high school newspaper; and ca. 350 articles about him, including interviews. Related manuscript and book collections include those concerning New Yorker writers A.J. Liebling, Frank Sullivan, and James Thurber.