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Collection Data
- Description
- E. Annie Proulx (1935-) is an American author, journalist, and historian who has published eleven books, including the novels Postcards, The Shipping News, Barkskins, and the story collection Close Range. Proulx's papers date from 1839 to 2024, and detail her creative output throughout her literary career. The collection includes Proulx's research materials, writing, interviews, correspondence, and personal ephemera.
- Names
- Proulx, Annie (Creator)
- Conarroe, Joel, 1934- (Contributor)
- Goldman, Francisco (Contributor)
- McMurtry, Larry (Contributor)
- Nash, David, 1945- (Contributor)
- Ossana, Diana (Contributor)
- Plante, David (Contributor)
- Stupich, Martin, 1949- (Contributor)
- Proulx, Annie (Author)
- Dates / Origin
- Date Created: 1839 - 2024
- Library locations
- Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
- Shelf locator: Berg Coll MSS 22245
- Topics
- Tokarczuk, Olga, 1962-
- Tóibín, Colm, 1955-
- American literature -- 20th century
- Historians -- United States
- Ranching
- Journalists
- Novelists
- Newfoundland and Labrador
- Texas
- Wyoming
- Genres
- Correspondence
- Clippings
- Interviews
- manuscripts for publication
- notes (documents)
- Fiction
- Notes
- Biographical/historical: Originally written by Anne Garner in 2014, with additional edits by Em Longan in 2025.
Edna Ann Proulx, better known by her pen name Annie Proulx, is a novelist, short fiction writer, historian, and essayist. She was born in Norwich, Connecticut, in 1935, to Lois Nellie Gill Proulx, a painter and amateur naturalist, and George N. Proulx, the vice-president of a textile mill. She is the oldest of five daughters. After briefly attending Colby College, she obtained a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Vermont in 1969. In 1973 she earned her Master of Arts from Sir George Williams University (now Concordia University) and received a doctorate in history in 1975.
From 1975 to 1988 she worked as a journalist, writing about horticulture, cuisine, architecture, and wildlife for magazines such as Gourmet, Horticulture, Gray's Sporting Journal, Organic Gardening, and Country Journal. During this period she published two books, Sweet and Hard Cider (1980) and The Complete Dairy Foods Cookbook (1982) for publisher Rodale, Inc. Proulx has since requested that these early books remain out of print.
Proulx's first collection of short fiction, Heart Songs and Other Stories, was published in 1988. In 1990, she completed her debut novel, Postcards, for which she won the 1993 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Proulx was the first woman to receive this prize. Her second novel, The Shipping News, won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and the Heartland Award for Fiction.
Accordion Crimes, Proulx's third novel, was published in 1996. In 1997, she was awarded the Dos Passos Prize for Literature. In 1998, her story "Brokeback Mountain" won the National Magazine Award, The New Yorker Award for Fiction, and the O. Henry Prize. In 2005, it was adapted for a Paramount Pictures film written by Larry McMurtry and Dianna Ossana, and was directed by Ang Lee. Proulx also wrote a play and a libretto for an opera based on the same story.
Proulx moved to Wyoming in 1994, and the state was the inspiration for three collections of short stories. Her second collection of short fiction, Close Range: Wyoming Stories, was published in 1999; the lead story, "The Half-Skinned Steer," was selected by John Updike for the Best American Stories of the Century (1999). In 2000, Proulx's short story collection Close Range: Wyoming Stories won The New Yorker Award for Fiction. Her fourth novel, That Old Ace in the Hole, was published in 2002. This was followed by two collections of short stories: Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2 (2004) and Fine Just the Way It Is: Wyoming Stories 3 (2008).
In 2008, Proulx published and edited Red Desert: A History of a Place, a collection of thirty-eight essays, of which she wrote ten. Bird Cloud: A Memoir, was published in 2011, and is named for the custom home she had built in Saratoga, Wyoming, on a 640-acre nature preserve through which runs the North Platte River. Proulx sold Bird Cloud in 2014 and briefly moved to Port Townsend, Washington, before settling in New Hampshire.
Proulx published Barkskins, her first novel since 2002's That Old Ace in the Hole, in 2016. She was awarded the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2017, and the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction in 2018. Barkskins was adapted into a television series by National Geographic and premiered on May 25, 2020.
Proulx published a nonfiction book, Fen, Bog Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis, in 2022.
Proulx has been married three times, and has four children: Sylvia ("Muffy"), Gillis, Jonathan, and Morgan.
- Content: Annie Proulx's papers date from 1839 to 2023, and chronicle her career as an author, historian, and journalist. The papers document Proulx's evolution as a writer; her enduring ecological, sociological, and historical research interests; how those interests inform her work; and the publishing industry as seen from an author's perspective.
The collection is arranged into six series that cover Proulx's written works, both published and unfinished; artwork done by Proulx, friends, and family members; correspondence; research materials, including Proulx's research library; press and publicity materials; and personal materials, including genealogical research into the Proulx family.
Of particular note are the earliest drafts of works such as Postcards, The Shipping News, and "Brokeback Mountain." Drafts, galleys, correspondence, awards, travel itineraries, and written interview notes are all present.
The collection includes some born-digital drafts of works and correspondence, as well as materials related to Dead-Line Limited, Proulx's business entity. Some commercial media, including a sizable portion of Proulx's collection of albums, are included. Other audio and video recordings include interviews, radio recordings, and recorded educational materials related to Proulx's research and her works.
Materials related to Fen, Bog, and Swamp: A Short History of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis, published in 2022, are not present in the collection.
- Physical Description
- Extent: 19.71 linear feet (433 boxes, 183 volumes, 1 tube, 7 folders). 4.3 gigabytes (3,989 computer files). 60 audio recordings. 20 moving image recordings
- Type of Resource
- Text
- Still image
- Sound recording
- Moving image
- Identifiers
- Other local Identifier: Berg Coll MSS 22245
- NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b20302122
- MSS Unit ID: 22245
- Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 6cbe00f0-fbc4-013e-5f8f-0242ac110003
