Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
All gifts matched up t0 $36,000SUPPORT OUR WORK!
Culture

You Can Now Read Saul Bellow’s Personal Papers At The University Of Chicago

Scholars of Saul Bellow, the Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, can now peruse the most sizable collection of his personal papers that has yet been made available at the University of Chicago Library.

Bellow, whose works include “Herzog,” “The Adventures of Augie March,” and “Humboldt’s Gift,” was a professor at the University for three decades. His papers contain his correspondences with literary giants including Philip Roth, Lillian Hellman, Samuel Beckett and Arthur Miller, in addition to manuscripts of his novels and speeches, appointment books, and clips of newspaper coverage of his work.

“Opening up the Bellow papers will provide generations of scholars with the materials they need to develop new insights into Saul Bellow and 20th-century American history and culture,” said Brenda Johnson, Library director and University librarian, in a University press release.

While the Canadian-born Bellow passed away in 2005, the collection’s entries include works produced between 1926 and 2015. A complete guide to the collection, which includes at least two references to what appear to be writing requests from the Forward, can be found here.

Here is why I'm matching up to $36,000 in gifts to the Forward:

Hello, fellow Forward reader! I’m Joel Brown, a Forward reader and supporter for more than 15 years, and currently the chair of the board of directors.

I’m an avid Forward reader because it ticks so many of my essential boxes: excellent journalism, Jewish focus and diverse viewpoints. In today’s political climate, what I most appreciate is the Forward’s independence — made possible by the generosity of its membership.

The Forward is committed to bringing you unbiased, nuanced Jewish news. From my position as board chair, I see an exciting future as we expand our position as the definitive independent voice of contemporary American Judaism.

That’s why I’m paying it Forward, by matching $36,000 of reader gifts. It’s an investment in the Forward’s newsroom, to continue telling the American Jewish story with truth and independence.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.