Title: May Justus Collection

Date/Date Range :   1930-1972

Extent: 1.0 linear feet

Abstract:

The May Justus collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, and clippings documenting several of her literary works.

Call number: MS-0383

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

May Justus donated this collection to the Special Collections Library.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], May Justus Collection, MS-0383. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of one box.

Born and raised in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains, May Justus has never lived long in any city or town, "For I feel at home only in the mountains." During her twenty-five years of teaching, she began to write stories based upon her own experiences as a little girl and upon folk songs and tales passed on to her by her mother. Even after her retirement, she continued a story-and-song program and for twenty years maintained a children's library in her attic.

Miss Justus writes that "It makes me happy to know that my writing has helped preserve the ways of my people for children of other areas for generations to come." Also the teacher of handicapped and retarded children in her home, Miss Justus has received several literary awards, among them the Julia Ellsworth Ford Prize for Gabby Gaffer's New Shoes in 1935 and for Near-Side-And-Far in 1936 and the Boy's Club Award in 1950 for Luck for Little Lulu.

The May Justus collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, and clippings documenting several of her literary works.

• Justus, May, 1898-.
• Authors, American -- Tennessee.
• Great Smoky Mountains (N.C. and Tenn.).