Title: May Justus Collection

Date/Date Range :   1923-1983

Extent: 1.0 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection houses bibliographies of books by May Justus; a partial list of anthologies containing her poems; miscellaneous photographs; detailed biographical material concerning her life and work; personal correspondence (16 letters); miscellaneous manuscript copies of her works; and, the UT Press manuscript of her book, The Complete Peddler's Pack.

Call number: MS-1107

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

Aquisition Information:

May Justus donated these papers 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-1107. 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. May Justus died on November 7, 1989.

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 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.

This collection includes materials acquired in 1982 and 1983, subsequent to the establishment of the May Justus Collection at U. T. It should be viewed as complementary to the earlier materials, thus contributing to a more balanced view of the work of Miss Justus, a prolific writer of children's stories and poems. Among the items included in the present collection are bibliographies of books by May Justus; a partial list of anthologies containing her poems; miscellaneous photographs; detailed biographical material concerning her life and work; personal correspondence (16 letters); miscellaneous manuscript copies of her works; and, the UT Press manuscript of her book, The Complete Peddler's Pack. Finally, the collection includes a comprehensive file of book contracts and copyright agreements with her various publishers from the period of the late 1920's through the 1970's, as well as a few miscellaneous items. Interested researchers may also wish to consult UTK-MS-383 and UTK-MS-671.

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