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Jerre Mangione papers

 Collection
Identifier: D.245

Biographical/Historical note

Chronology

- March 20, 1909: Gerlando (Jerre) Mangione is the first of four children born to Gaspare Mangione and Josephine (Polizzi) Mangione in Rochester, New York

- 1927-1931: Mangione attended Syracuse University, where he founded and edited the Chap Book and wrote "Museings" a daily column for the school newspaper

- 1931: Worked for Time Magazine

- 1934-1937: Robert M. McBride and Company, publishers; Wrote freelance book reviews for the New Republic, New York Sun, New York Herald Tribune Books, New York Post. Contributed articles to The Nation, Travel, Harper's Bazaar, Literary Digest, Globe, and Broun's Nutmeg

- 1936: First trip to Sicily

- 1937: Associate Information Specialist with the Resettlement Administration

- March 1937-September 1939: National Coordinating editor of the Federal Writer's Project

- October 1939: Public Relations Specialist with the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce- provided magazine publicity for the 1940 census. Worked for two months on the World's Fair Exhibit of the Federal Works Agency

- June 1940: Information Specialist for the Department of Justice- helped publicize alien registration of 1940

- February 1941: Public relations staffer for the Department of Justice

- July 1942: Appointed special assistant to the United States commission of Immigration and Naturalization Service- moved to new headquarters in Philadelphia.

- 1942: Mount Allegro published- a memoir depicting his early life in Rochester among his Sicilian relatives and immigrant neighbors.

- July 1946-July 1947: Awarded John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Literary Fellowship

- December 7, 1947: Marries Carolyn Carles

- 1948: Ship and the Flame published

- 1950: Reunion in Sicily published

- 1955-1962: Worked at A. Paul Lefton Advertising Agency

- 1957: Marries Patricia Anthony

- 1961: Becomes a Professor in the Department of English at the University of Pennsylvania

- 1965: Night Search published; Life Sentences for Everybody published

- 1968: A Passion for Sicilians: The World Around Danilo Dolci published

- 1969: America is Also Italian published

- 1972: The Dream and the Deal published

- 1975: Mussolini's March on Rome published

- 1978: An Ethnic at Large: A Memoir of America in the 1930s and 1940 ; Named Emeritus Professor of American Literature at the University of Pennsylvania

- 1987: Sold his personal papers to the University of Rochester Libraries.

- 1992: La Storia: Five Centuries of the Italian American Experience published; Awarded the Christopher Columbus Quincentanary Award by New York Governor Mario Cuomo

- 1993: Library of Congress archival exhibit on Mangione

- August 16, 1998: Jerre Mangione dies in Haverford, PA at the age of 89

- March 11, 2002: Patricia Anthony Mangione dies in Haverford, PA.

Scope and Contents

The Jerre Mangione papers consist of his extensive correspondence, personal and work-related documents, newspaper clippings and reviews, manuscripts, notes, and miscellanea.



Series I: Early life and family (1924-1970, undated) contains two subseries with materials from Mangione’s gradeschool and college days, including scrapbooks and yearbooks from his clubs and fraternities. The second subseries collects materials related to Mangione’s closest relations, organized by person, and includes memoirs, real estate, and court proceeding materials.



Series II: Early career (1948-?) contains two further subseries, chronologically organizing materials from Mangione’s advertising career with N.W. Ayers & Sons and the A. Paul Lefton Agency, and from his work with the Federal Writers’ Project. Both subseries contain correspondence, notes, drafts, and published examples of his work.



Series III: Writing (dates) is divided into four subseries. The first, Manuscripts, is organized chronologically by monograph title, and contains an extensive number of drafts with handwritten notes from both Mangione and his editors. Besides his published monographs, the series also contains material related to the unpublished They Knew They Were Naked. The second subseries (Articles/stories by Jerre Mangione) contains materials for both published and unpublished articles, and notebooks and other scratch notes. The third subseries contains files of research for his writing. The fourth subseries collects articles and reviews of Mangione and his work, written by others.



Series IV: Teaching materials (date) is divided into two subseries, organizing materials from Mangione’s work as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and materials related to speaking engagements and conferences he attended as a presenter.



Series V: Materials about Jerre Mangione (date) is divided into four subseries. The first contains awards presented to Mangione; the second contains materials related to exhibits (including one put on by RBSCP) which focused on his life, work, and collection. The latter two subseries focus include articles, stories, and dissertations written about Mangione and his work by others.



Series VI: Photographs and audiovisual materials (date) is broken down by format, and organized chronologically. The record albums include 33 1/3rpm albums collected by Mangione, as well as a number of records produced by his nephews, Gap and Chuck Mangione, who are jazz musicians. The audiotapes include recordings of interviews and lectures, radio and television programs, voice memos, and a number of professional commercial recordings (including a tape of Barbara Streisand).



Series VII: Oversize items (date) includes oversize advertising materials (both created by Mangione or for his book tours), clothing, book awards, a plaster cast of Mangione’s head made when he was a student at Syracuse University, some glass plate negatives used in illustrating one of his books and a glass souvenir vase from his SU 50th Class reunion.



Series VIII: Correspondence (date) is organized in alphabetical order by the person of interest. While most of the letters are addressed to Mangione himself, some are between other individuals, either about Mangione, or tangential to his work. This series is maintained in original order as best as was possible. Files may also contain newspaper clippings or other “research” Mangione collected about people.



The last series, IX: Miscellaneous (1933-1993) collects material and ephemera which did not easily fit into other series in the collection. This includes clippings and proceedings regarding different court cases, a marker from the dedication of the Mount Allegro neighborhood, calendars, obituaries, certificates, passport materials, diaries, employment records, and more.

Creator

Dates

  • Creation: 1909-1998

Language of Materials

English

Extent

213 box(es)

Restrictions on Access

The Jerre Mangione papers are open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Collections & Preservation Department prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.

Restrictions on Use

In consultation with a curator, reproductions may be made upon request. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from a curator. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

The Jerre Mangione papers were Gift of Robert C. Stevens, 1986, augmented by Ben Morreale, 1994 and subsequent gifts from Jerre Mangione.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, item date], Jerre Mangione Papers, D.245, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Arrangement note

The collection is divided into nine series:

Series I: Early life and family

Subseries 1: Education

Subseries 2: Mangione family materials

Series II: Early career

Subseries 1: Advertising career materials

Subseries 2: Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) materials

Series III: Writing

Subseries 1: Manuscripts by Jerre Mangione

Subseries 2: Articles/stories by Jerre Mangione

Subseries 3: Research files

Subseries 4: Articles by other authors, collected by Mangione

Series IV: Teaching materials

Subseries 1: University of Pennsylvania teaching materials

Subseries 2: Conferences/speaking engagements

Series V: Materials about Jerre Mangione

Subseries 1: Awards

Subseries 2: Exhibits

Subseries 3: Articles/stores about Jerre Mangione

Subseries 4: Dissertations written about Jerre Mangione

Series VI: Photographs and audiovisual materials

Subseries 1: Photographs

Subseries 2: Record albums

Subseries 3: Audio tapes

Series VII: Oversize items

Series VIII: Correspondence

Subseries 1: General correspondence

Subseries 2: Correspondence with publishers and literary agencies

Subseries 3: Book dealers

Subseries 4: Correspondence with journals, magazines, and newspapers

Subseries 5: Correspondence with organizations, societies, and institutions

Series IX: Miscellaneous

Title
Jerre Mangione papers
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid prepared by Rare Books and Special Collections staff
Date
undated
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Revision Statements

  • February 2023: Finding aid was updated in February 2023 to incorporate item- and file-level information from the Jerre Mangione correspondence database.

Library Details

Part of the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation Library

Contact:
Rochester NY 14627-0055 USA