The Fine Print
The collection is open for research.
The Zora Neale Hurston literary estate is represented by: Victoria Sanders Literary Agency, 241 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 11H, New York, NY 10014.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Zora Neale Hurston Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Acquisition
After Hurston died on January 28, 1960 in a Fort Pierce, Florida, hospital, her papers were ordered to be burned. A law officer and friend, Patrick DuVal, passing by the house where she had lived, stopped and put out the fire, thus saving an invaluable collection of literary documents for posterity. The nucleus of this collection was given to the University of Florida libraries in 1961 by Mrs. Marjorie Silver, friend and neighbor of Hurston. Other materials were donated in 1970 and 1971 by Frances Grover, daughter of E. O. Grover, a Rollins College professor and long-time friend of Hurston's. In 1979 Stetson Kennedy of Jacksonville, who knew Hurston through his work with the Federal Writers Project, added additional papers.
Abbreviations Used to Describe Documents
AL=Autograph Letter (handwritten but not signed by the author)
ALS=Autograph Letter Signed (handwritten and signed by the author)
AN or a.note=Autograph Note (handwritten note by author)
l or ll.=Leaf or Leaves
Ms=Manuscript
TL=Typewritten Letter
TLS=Typewritten Letter Signed
Ts=Typescript
Subjects and Access Terms
African American authors -- Biography.
African American authors -- Correspondence.
African American women -- Biography.
African Americans -- Folklore.
American fiction -- African American authors.
Hurston, Zora Neale -- Correspondence.
Hurston, Zora Neale -- Political and social views.
Novelists, American -- 20th century -- Biography.