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Damon Knight Papers

An inventory of his papers at Syracuse University

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Knight, Damon,1922-2002.
Title: Damon Knight Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1956-1978
Quantity: 10.0 linear ft.
Abstract: Papers of the American author, science fiction short story writer and novelist. Typescript manuscript stories and novels, galley proofs, and Knight's subject files which include clippings, correspondence, photographs, and printed material about authors, publishers, organizations, and miscellaneous subjects.
Language: English
Repository: Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
222 Waverly Avenue
Syracuse, NY 13244-2010
https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

Damon Francis Knight (1922–2002) was an award-winning American science fiction author, editor, and critic. His first story was published in 1941 in the science fiction pulp magazine Amazing Stories; over his career he has written novels, short stories, criticism and other non-fiction, and edited numerous anthologies. His best-known short story is "To Serve Man," which was adapted into a Twilight Zone episode.

Knight was a founding member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), cofounder of the National Fantasy Fan Federation, cofounder of the Milford Writer's Workshop, and -- with his wife, author Kate Wilhelm -- cofounder of the Clarion Writers Workshop. These two highly-regarded writers' workshops have produced a remarkable number of award-winning writers, including Octavia Butler, Cory Doctorow, Vonda McIntyre, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Bruce Sterling.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Damon Knight Collection consists of general files, writings, writings by other authors, and miscellaneous. There is also a set of later additions which has not yet been integrated into the main collection.

General files contains folders on a wide range of individuals, topics, organizations, and ideas. There is also biographical information about Knight.

Writings is broken down into two categories, published material and unpublished material. Published material is made up of known anthologies, novels, short stories, and critical essays. The folders include rough drafts, typescripts, correspondence, reviews, royalty receipts, etc. for each title. Unpublished material, for the most part, is composed of short stories. Also to be found in this series are joint undertakings, unfinished material, an outline, and a project.

Writings by other authors contains translations from the French of various authors, and writings in English by American and other authors. Authors include Rene Barjavel, James Bliss, Ursula K. LeGuin, R. A. Lafferty, Joanna Russ and more.

Miscellaneous material consists of miscellaneous unidentifiable pages of various writings and jacket covers, fragments, tape recordings, cartoons (by Knight), index cards relating to Fortean research on psychic phenomena, an untitled galley, and handwritten notes of unknown origin.

1980 additions contains later additions that have not been integrated into the previous accessions -- primarily writings but also some correspondence and printed material as well as material related to The Futurians, an organization of which Knight was a member. Much of the writings relates to the Orbit anthologies (Orbit 12 through Orbit 17).

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Arrangement of the Collection

General files are arranged alphabetically. Writings is subdivided into published and unpublished; within that items are arranged alphabetically by type and then by title. Writings by other authors is subdivided into two categories: translations from the French, and English writers. Both sections are arranged alphabetically according to the author's last name.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has a number of collections relating to science fiction and fantasy authors and publications, both in the manuscript collections and in our Rare Books collection. See the the SCRC Subject Index for a listing of manuscript collections, and refer to the Classic Catalog for a listing of cataloged books and publications.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Knight, Damon, 1922-2002 -- Archives.

Subjects

American literature -- 20th century.
Authors, American.
Clippings.
Novelists, American.
Science fiction, American.

Genres and Forms

Correspondence.
Galley proofs.
Manuscripts for publication.
Notes (documents)
Photographs.

Occupations

Authors.
Novelists.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Damon Knight Papers
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MPK
Date: May 1978
Revision history: 12 Mar 2007 - converted to EAD (MRC)

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Inventory

General files
Box 1 Ackerman
Box 1 Addressograph
Box 1 Advent Publishers
Box 1 Altshuler
Box 1 American-English Dictionary
Box 1 Argot
Box 1 Arrivals and Departures
Box 1 Artists
Box 1 Astronomical
Box 1 Assassins
Box 1 Austin, William N.
Box 1 Beaumont, Charles
Berkley Novels
Box 1 Davidson
Box 1 Dickson
Box 1 Disch
Box 1 Farmer
Box 1 Harrison
Box 1 Hayes
Box 1 Herbert
Box 1 Jesby
Box 1 Laumer (4 folders)
Box 1 Nelson
Box 1 Thomas/Wilhelm
Box 1 Wilhelm
Box 1 Zelazny
Box 1 Bills, Receipts
Box 1 Bio
Box 1 Biographical Data
Box 1 Blackbeard, Wm.
Box 1 Bluenoses and Philistines
Box 1 Boggs
Box 1 Book Reviews
Box 1 Books
Box 1 Books, Publishing History
Box 1 Bookshelf of America
Box 1 Book-Of-The-Month Club
Box 1 Book Purchases 1961, 1962 (2 folders)
Box 1 Boucher
Box 1 Boyer, Nick
Box 1 Bradbury
Box 1 Britannica Reports
Box 1 Budrys, Algis (2 folders)
Box 1 Cabin Boy
Box 1 Campbell, John W. Jr.
Box 1 Caper
Box 1 Ceiling
Box 1 Charts, Tables (2 folders)
Box 1 Cheever
Box 1 Chess
Box 1 Chess Code
Box 1 Chessmen Designs
Box 1 Christmas Cards
Box 1 Ciardi
Box 1 Clara
Box 1 Arthur C. Clarke
Box 1 Clippings
Box 1 Coffee
Box 1 College Applications
Box 1 Coleman, Sid
Box 1 Communications
Box 1 Communism
Box 1 Computer Stories
Box 1 Computers
Box 1 Conklin
Box 1 Correspondence 1958 (2 folders)
Box 1 Cosmology
Box 1 Courthouse
Box 1 Crackpots
Box 1 Crime
Box 1 Critical History of Science Fiction S-F (Notes)
Box 1 Criticism
Box 1 Crossen
Box 1 Crosswords
Box 1 Cults
Box 1 Davenport, Basil
Box 1 Deane, Davidson
Box 1 De Camp
Box 1 Del Rey, Lester
Box 1 Del Rey-Harrison
Box 1 Delaware Valley Telephone Co.
Box 1 Dick, Philip K.
Box 1 Dickson
Box 1 Doorway Novel
Box 1 Economists
Box 1 Education
Box 1 Electronics
Box 1 Ellison, Harlan
Box 1 Embarassing moments
Box 1 Emshwiller, Ed and Carol
Box 1 Engineering
Box 1 Epigraphs
Box 2 Eripmav
Box 2 Eskimos
Box 2 Esperanto
Box 2 Fan correspondence
Box 2 Fan letters (2 folders)
Box 2 Fans
Box 2 Fickas
Box 2 Fiction and Science Fiction (F and SF) Book Co. (Witter)
Box 2 Fine and Ward
Box 2 Fortean Society
Box 2 Foundation for the Study of Cycles
Box 2 Friend, Oscar
Box 2 Freaks
Box 2 Freeloaders
Box 2 Fultz
Box 2 Games
Box 2 General Artist Corporation
Box 2 German science fiction stories and correspondence
Box 2 Gold
Box 2 Greenberg
Box 2 Grennell
Box 2 Harness
Box 2 Harrison
Box 2 Helen
Box 2 Holt, Rinehart and Winston
Box 2 The Hugo Losers
Box 2 Ideas
Box 2 IF-Correspondence
Box 2 INFO
Box 2 Insurance
Box 2 International Fantasy Awards
Box 2 Janifer, Lawrence M.
Box 2 Jews
Box 2 Johnson, W. Ryerson
Box 2 Journal
Box 2 Journalists
Box 2 Kinsey
Box 2 Kornbluth
Box 2 Laumer, Keith
Box 2 Laura and Chet
Box 2 Letters
Box 2 Levinson
Box 2 Library of Science
Box 2 Linard
Box 2 Literary characters
Box 2 London
Box 2 Lowndes
Box 2 Lunar Colony
Box 2 McCain, Vernon L.
Box 2 McCarthy
Box 2 McCary, Bob
Box 2 Magazine lists
Box 2 Mail order lists
Box 2 Malaya
Box 2 Mankind Fashions (Hong Kong)
Box 2 Maps
Box 2 Mary
Box 2 The Meadows of Steel (anthology)
Box 2 Medicine
Box 2 Metallurgy
Box 2 Methods
Box 2 Mexico
Box 2 Mid-Century Book Society
Box 2 Mom
Box 2 Monopolies
Box 2 Museum Directors
Box 2 Mystery Writers of America, Inc.
Box 2 Natural History
Box 2 National Translation Center
Box 2 Nebula
Box 2 Negroes
Box 2 Night of Light
Box 2 Notebooks
Box 2 Notes
Box 2 Notes-Forts
Box 2 Nuclear physics
Box 2 Nuclear power plants
Box 2 Nuclear weapons
Box 2 Nuetzel, Charles
Box 2 Nutrition
Box 2 Personal (3 folders)
Box 3 Painters
Box 3 Perverts
Box 3 Philologists (3 folders)
Box 3 Philosophers
Box 3 Photos
Box 3 Physicists
Box 3 Physics
Box 3 Pictorial
Box 3 Poems
Box 3 Poets
Box 3 Polite
Box 3 Political Philosophy
Box 3 Politicians
Box 3 Planete
Box 3 Predictions
Box 3 Primitive art
Box 3 Professional expenses
Box 3 Professional Printing Co., Inc.
Box 3 Proof Incorporated
Box 3 Prospectuses
Box 3 Prosthetics
Box 3 Pseudoscience
Box 3 Psychology data
Box 3 Psychiatry
Box 3 Publishing
Box 3 Quotations
Box 3 Radio-television
Box 3 Recipes
Box 3 Regress
Box 3 Revisions
Box 3 Reynolds
Box 3 Richmonds
Box 3 Rome
Box 3 Royalty
Box 3 Saints
Box 3 Sawyers, Inc. (View Master)
Science fiction
Box 3 Adventures
Box 3 Forum (2 folders)
Box 3 Sculptors
Box 3 Security
Box 3 Shaw, Larry
Box 3 Shaw, Bob
Box 3 Sidgwick and Jackson, Ltd.
Box 3 Singers
Box 3 Smith, Evelyn E.
Box 3 Space travel
Box 3 Spain
Box 3 Square pegs
Box 3 Super checkers
Box 3 Switzerland
Box 3 Synthetics
Box 3 Television
Box 3 Television ideas
Box 3 Testimony
Box 3 Time finance
Box 3 To Be Continued
Box 3 Transvestites
Box 3 Trixie
Box 3 Trudy
Box 3 Tucker, Bob
Box 3 Turkey
Box 3 UFO's (Unidentified Flying Objects)
Box 3 Uncivilization
Box 3 Universities
Box 3 Valerie
Box 3 Velikovsky
Box 3 Warner, Sylvia Townsend
Box 3 White, E.B.
Box 3 White, James
Box 3 Willis
Box 3 Witchcraft
Box 3 Writers
Box 3 Xerox copies of articles
Box 3 Zoology
Writings
Published material
Box 3 Reviews (3 folders)
Anthologies
Box 3 A Century of Great Short Science Fiction Novels (2 folders)
Box 3 A Century of Science Fiction (2 folders)
Box 4 Orbit 3 - typescript
Box 4 Orbit 4 - typescript
Box 4 Cities of Wonder - typescript, galley proofs
Novels
Box 4 A For Anything - galley, partial (4 folders)
Charles Fort, Prophet of the Unexplained
Box 4 Notes
Box 4 Typescript
Box 5 Galleys (3 folders)
Box 5 Hell's Pavement (2 folders)
Box 5 Masks
Box 5 Mind Switch - galley
Box 5 The Rithian Terror
Box 5 Three Novels - typescript
Box 5 Rule Golden - typescript, galleys, book (3 folders)
Box 5 World Without Children - typescript, galley (2 folders)
Box 6 Worlds to Come - typescripts, galley (3 folders)
Short stories
Box 6 Don't Live In the Past
Box 6 Far Out
Box 6 Natural State
Box 6 Turning On - typescript, galley (2 folders)
Critical essays
Box 6 In Search of Wonder 1956, 1960, 1967 (3 volumes)
Unpublished material
Articles
Box 6 Oddities From Heaven
Box 6 The Next Ten Years in Science Fiction
Short stories
Box 6 The Affair of the Upside Down House
Box 6 A Likely Story
Box 6 Anachron
Box 6 The Analogues
Box 6 Another World
Box 6 Are You Tied On
Box 6 Ask Me Anything
Box 6 Auto Da-fe
Box 6 The Avenger
Box 6 Babel II
Box 7 Back to Death (2 folders)
Box 7 The Banjo of Bildad O'Shane
Box 7 Be My Guest
Box 7 Beachcomber
Box 7 The Big Pat Boom
Box 7 Blackout
Box 7 The Blind Pilot
Box 7 The Blue Papa
Box 7 The Blue Rose
Box 7 The Bullet From Nowhere
Box 7 Cabin Boy
Box 7 Catch That Martian
Box 7 The Coach
Box 7 Collectors Item
Box 7 The Cornered Rabbit
Box 7 Corpus Delicti
Box 7 The Country of the Kind
Box 7 The Cube
Box 7 Days of Darkness
Box 7 Death With Father
Box 7 Decline and Fall
Box 7 Definition
Box 7 The Devil's God-Daughter
Box 7 D 10
Box 7 Double Meaning
Box 7 Down Went Polly
Box 7 Dulcie and Decorum
Box 7 The Earthquarter (2 folders)
Box 7 The Enemy
Box 7 Eros
Box 7 Extempore
Box 7 An Eye for a What
Box 7 Eairy Tales
Box 7 Faun's Lament
Box 7 Finnegan's Wake
Box 7 The First Days of May
Box 7 The Fog
Box 7 Four In One
Box 7 The Flower of Venus
Box 7 Freudian Slip
Box 7 From Where I Sit
Box 7 Fritch Video Crap
Box 7 Giant Killer
Box 7 God's Nose
Box 7 Gook-Harpies Bazoo
Box 7 The Handler
Box 7 Homecoming
Box 7 Identity
Box 7 Idiot Stick
Box 7 If Thy Right Eye Offend Thee
Box 7 In Defense of Bad English
Box 7 In Defense of Beards
Box 7 In The Beginning
Box 7 The Identical Men
Box 7 The Indigestible Invaders
Box 7 The Innocence of Evil
Box 7 Insurance
Box 7 It's Sport Or Is It
Box 7 The Last Word
Box 7 The Leg in the Wood Lot
Box 8 Legacy
Box 8 Leveque's Wife
Box 8 Logogenetics
Box 8 Lords of The Earth
Box 8 Maid to Measure
Box 8 Man In the Jar
Box 8 The Man Who Played Satan
Box 8 The Mangel
Box 8 The Mighty Fallen
Box 8 Murder's Weekend
Box 8 No World for One
Box 8 Not With A Bang
Box 8 Pigskin Phoenix
Box 8 The Prodigal Corpse
Box 8 The Quarrel
Box 8 The Rat
Box 8 The Second Class Citizen
Box 8 Semper Fi
Box 8 Shoot And Be Damned
Box 8 The Small Snatch
Box 8 The Solar Comedy
Box 8 Soundings
Box 8 Special Delivery
Box 8 Stranger Station
Box 8 Strictly Fantastic
Box 8 Surface Tension
Box 8 Thing of Beauty
Box 8 The Third Little Green Man
Box 8 Ticket to Nowhere
Box 8 Time Enough
Box 8 The Tokens
Box 8 They're Not Going Anywhere -- But Let's Say Goodbye
Box 8 To Be Continued
Box 8 To Serve Man
Box 8 Too Big For Boothill
Box 8 Too Many Crooks
Box 8 The Tree of Time
Box 8 Truly Human
Box 8 Turncoat
Box 8 Undead on Arrival
Box 8 What Rough Beast (2 folders)
Box 8 What You Don't Know
Box 8 Who? What? Where? When? Why?
Box 8 Why Don't You Die?
Box 8 We Live Inside
Box 8 The World On The Border
Box 8 The Worshippers
Box 8 Year One, Age of Space
Box 8 You're Another
Joint Undertakings
Short stories
Box 8 Peephole
Box 8 Mate In Four
Box 8 The Enigma of V 51
Unfinished material
Box 8 Four In One
Box 8 Outline for juvenile science fiction novels
Box 8 Pulpwood Anthology Project
Writings by other authors
Translated from French
Barjavel, Rene
Ashes, Ashes
Box 8 Rough Draft
Box 9 Typescript; galleys (2 folders)
Box 9 The Time Drivers
Box 9 Le Voyageur Imprudent
Berthorrel, Pierre
Box 9 Si Les Femmes Metaient Comptees
Cheinisse, Claude F.
Box 9 The Dead Fish
Box 9 Juliette
Box 9 Contes Pour Les Enfants Pas Sages
Box 9 A Sense of History
Box 9 The Suicide
Damonti
Box 9 Olivia
Box 9 The Non-Humans
Box 9 The Notary and The Conspiracy
Henneberg
Box 9 The Gods Are Born
Box 9 The Rose of the Country of Roses
Hougron
Box 9 Monster World
Le Fevre
Box 9 Hot and Cold
English writers
Anderson, Poul
Box 9 The Disinherited
Blish, James
Box 9 An Expectation
Box 9 Maeterlinck
Box 9 Theory of Right Action
Box 9 The Coming Forth
Box 9 Tabby, Dead
Box 9 Atalantidon
Borman, Sonya
Box 9 Splice of Life
Conway, Ritter
Box 9 A Baker's Dozen for Boothill
Cox, Arthur Jean
Box 9 Fame
Disch, Thomas B.
Box 9 The Asian Shore
Fleming, Stuart
Box 9 Doorway to Kel-jar
Box 9 New Day on Aurora
Box 9 The Secret of Kaljmar
Forbes, Charles
Box 9 Message Found on a Microscope
Kidd, Virginia
Box 9 Kangaroo Court
Lafferty, R.A.
Box 10 Entire and Perfect Chrysolite
Box 9 The Hole On The Corner
LeGuin, Ursula
Box 9 The End
McKenna, Richard
Box 9 The Secret Place
Rice, Allison
Box 10 The Loolies are here
Russ, Joanna
Box 10 Second inquisition
Scott, Robin
Box 10 Maybe Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck, was a little bit right
Sererence, Felix
Box 10 Aillinn o' my dreams
Thorp, Roderick
Box 10 Sunburst
Wilhelm, Kate
Box 10 A cold dark night with snow
Wolfe, Gene
Box 10 How the whip came back
Box 10 Eyebem
Miscellaneous
Box 10 Miscellaneous (3 folders)
Box 10 Fragments
Box 10 Cartoons
Box 10 Holograph notes
Box 11 Galley, untitled
Box 11 Fortean research file (10" 3x5 cards)
Box 11 Tape recordings, reel-to-reel (5 reels)
1980 accession
Orbit 12
Box 12 Correspondence (3 folders)
Box 12 Typescript
Box 12 Typescript (fragments)
Orbit 13
Box 12 Correspondence (5 folders)
Box 12 Typescript (2 folders)
Box 12 Galley - author proof
Orbit 14
Box 12 Correspondence (2 folders)
Box 12 Typescript (2 folders)
Box 12 Typescript (fragments)
Box 12 Galley - readers proof
Box 13 Page proofs
Orbit 15
Box 13 Typescript (2 folders)
Box 13 Page proofs - master set - 1st pass
Box 13 Page proofs - master set - 3rd pass
Orbit 16
Box 13 Shot copy
Box 13 Page proofs, master set, 1st pass
Box 13 Page proofs,master set, 3rd pass
Orbit 17
Box 13 Typescript (2 folders)
Box 13 Page proofs, master set, 1st pass (incomplete)
Box 13 Page proofs, master set, 3rd pass
Futurians
Box 13 Correspondence
Box 13 Interviews
Box 13 Research material (3 folders)
Box 13 Research material? Michel, John, "Best laugh in the world", tsc.
Box 13 Illustrative material
Box 13 Photographs
Box 14 Negatives
Box 14 Typescript, corrected (2 folders)
Box 14 Typescript, photocopy, corrected (2 folders)
Box 14 working draft, misc. pages (8 folders)
Box 14 Galley - master set corrected
Box 14 Galley - index and material for index (2 folders)
Futurian Science Literary Society
Box 15 Minutes of meeting 1938
Box 15 Financial records 1938
Golden road
Box 15 Correspondence (1 item)
Box 15 Manuscript - photocopied printed material (4 folders)
Science fiction of the thirties
Box 16 Manuscript - photocopied printed material (2 folders)
Westerns of the forties
Box 16 Manuscript - photocopied printed material (2 folders)
Box 16 Correspondence 1972, 1978 (2 items)
Box 16 "The Starlost" / Ellison, Harlan - photocopies printed material

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