Overview
| Repository: |
Yale University Divinity School
Library
409 Prospect Street New Haven, CT 06511 Email: divinity.library@yale.edu Phone: (203) 432-5301 |
| Call Number: | Record Group No. 145 |
| Creator: | Hersey, John, 1914-1993. |
| Title: | John Hersey Papers, |
| Dates: | 1900-1985 |
| Physical Description: | Total archival boxes 6; total linear footage 2.5' |
| Language(s): | Materials in English. |
| Summary: | This collection contains research materials for Hersey's novel The Call (1985), a fictional account of a missionary to China. John Hersey (1914-1993), a prominent American author, was born in Tientsin, China, the son of missionaries. |
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| Finding Aid Link: | To cite or bookmark this finding aid, use the following address: http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/divinity.145 |
| Request Materials: | To view manuscript and archival materials at the Yale Divinity Library, please submit the request form at http://www.library.yale.edu/div/request.htm. |
| Catalog Record: | A record for this collection, including location information, may be available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog. |
Administrative Information
Provenance
Gift of John Hersey.
Information about Access
Open to qualified researchers.
Cite As
John Hersey Papers, Record Group No. 145, Special Collections, Yale Divinity School Library.
Historical Sketch
John Hersey was born on June 17, 1914 at Tientsin, China, where his parents were missionaries. His father, Roscoe M. Hersey, Sr. worked for the YMCA. John Hersey returned to America where he attended Hotchkiss and then Yale, graduating in 1936. He spent a year at Clare College, Cambridge, served as secretary to Sinclair Lewis briefly and joined Time in 1937. During the Second World War broke out he was sent to the Far East and travelled in China and Japan, before becoming a war correspondent with the Marines. He went on to write numerous novels on a variety of subject. Hersey died in 1993.
Description of the Papers
I. Notebook 1
II. Notebook 2
III. Notebook 3
IV. Notebook 4
V. Notebook 5
VI. Notebook 6
This collection contains research materials gathered by Hersey while preparing to write his novel, The Call. The main figure in this novel, David Treadup, was partly based on the lives of six actual missionaries to China, including Hersey's
father. Hersey did a considerable amount of research in the personal papers of China missionaries and other figures such as ecumenical leader John R. Mott. The first five notebooks contain primarily copies of original documents related to mission work and political and social events in China. The sixth notebook (which was originally in two sections) consists of Hersey's notes on a variety of secondary sources.