Patrick Samway, S.J. Papers

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: Collection 63

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Samway Papers include a range of material related to Samway’s interest in and research on Southern literature with an acute focus on his biography of Walker Percy published in 1997. In addition to French correspondence, material regarding Samway’s humanitarian work in Haiti and Africa can also be found. The types of material in this collection include correspondence, monographs, essays, speeches, ephemera, photographic prints, negatives and audiocassettes. Samway corresponded with a number of writers, scholars, and members of the Percy family.

Dates

Created: 1970-2005
Other: Majority of material found in 1985-2005
Other: Date acquired: 06/11/1995

Creator

Samway, Patrick H. (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research use except the contents of Box 26 and Folders 1-3 of Box 27. These items are restricted until 2024.

Conditions Governing Use

Physical rights are retained by the J. Edgar and Louis S. Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans. Copyright is retained in accordance with U.S. Copyright Laws.

Biographical or Historical Information

Patrick Samway, S.J., Professor Emeritus of English at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He taught at LeMoyne College, Syracuse, NY (1973-84), where he chaired the English Department (1977-81). In addition, he has twice been a Fulbright Lecturer in American Literature: at the University of Nantes, France (1975-76) and at the University of Paris VII, France (1979-80), as well as Bannan Scholar-in-Residence, University of Santa Clara (l982-83); Visiting Associate Professor of English, Boston College (1983-84); Adjunct Associate Professor of English, Fordham University (Lincoln Center: 1984-89); Visiting Associate Professor of English, Loyola University, New Orleans (Spring 1988). From 1984 to 1999, he served as Literary Editor of America, a weekly journal of opinion published in New York City by the Jesuits of North America. For two years after that he was the Will and Ariel Durant Professor of Humanities at Saint Peter’s College, Jersey City, NJ. In addition he held the Donald MacLean, S.J., Jesuit Chair for two years at Saint Joseph's University (2001-03).

Father Samway is the author of John Berryman and Robert Giroux: A Publishing Friendship (2020); Flannery O’Connor and Robert Giroux: A Publishing Partnership (2018); William Byron, S.J.: A Biographical Essay (2018); edited The Letters of Robert Giroux and Thomas Merton (2015); a two-volume, bilingual textbook in French and Haitian Creole entitled Haïti aux Haïtiens: Un Livre d’Éducation Civique / Ayiti pou Ayisyen: Yon Liv Edikasyon Sivik (2014, 2015), as well as Educating Darfur Refugees: A Jesuit’s Efforts in Chad (2008); Walker Percy: A Life (1997), which was selected by The New York Times Book Review as one of the notable books of 1997, and Faulkner's “Intruder in the Dust”: A Critical Study of the Typescripts (1980). He has edited A Thief of Peirce: The Letters of Kenneth Laine Ketner and Walker Percy (1995) and a volume of essays of Walker Percy entitled Signposts in a Strange Land (1991). With Ben Forkner he has co-edited four anthologies of Southern literature: A New Reader of the Old South (1990); Stories of the Old South (1989); A Modern Southern Reader (1986), and Stories of the Modern South (1981). With Michel Gresset he co-edited Faulkner and Idealism: Perspectives from Paris (1983) and A Gathering of Evidence: Essays on William Faulkner’s “Intruder in the Dust” (2004).

Extent

49.00 Linear Feet

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement Note

The arrangement scheme for the collection was imposed during processing in the absence of a usable original order.

Source of Acquisition

Samway, Patrick

Method of Acquisition

Gift, 1994.02

Accruals and Additions

As the collection continues to grow, an additional subset of the collection is being gathered and stored in the unprocessed storage area on the 5th floor. See accession record in Archon for subsequent donation dates.