This collection contains approximately 2,500 items. Many items are William Sydney Porter first editions as well as other articles of correspondence, printed materials, financial/legal documents, literary productions of William Sydney Porter and others. There are also scrapbooks, radio dramalogues, newspaper clippings, sketches and drawings, photographs, magazines, paintings and an audio recording. Inclusion dates range from 1843 through 1970, with the bulk of material from William Sydney Porter's lifetime, 1862-1910. The books, radio dramalogues, and magazines were indexed individually in 1982. They are ordered alphabetically by title within this volume. Magazine articles from allied collections have been incorporated into this index and can be identified by their location.

See also the following allied collections, registers of which are included in this volume: Roberta Porter Hon Collection; E. W. Bridges Collection of O. Henryana; McAlister Collection of O. Henryana; and the Paul S. Clarkson Collection.

Arrangement: The series are: Correspondence, Printed Material, Financial and Legal Documents, Literary Productions, Scrapbooks, Miscellaneous, Books, Radio Dramalogues, Newspapers, Works of Art, Photographs, Magazines, Paintings, and Audio Recordings.

Access Restrictions: Access is open to researchers, by appointment. There are copyright restrictions, and also restrictions on extremely fragile items.

Provenance: This collection has been donated by many people between 1947 and 1983. A partial listing of donors includes: Mrs. Sara Coleman Porter, Mrs. Robert L. Beal; Mr. A. E. Weatherly; Mr. Howard Sartin; E.M. Oettinger; Edward Benbow; Mr. W. H. Houston; Travis Callum; Mr. W. A. Stern; Mrs. Bertha Fox Ballinger; Mr. William J. Moore; E.W. Bridges; Mrs. Jessie McPherson; Mrs. C. B. Foster; Mrs. Rose Stone; and Miss Lina Gray. A special contribution to this collection was that of E. M. Oettinger. Also, many of the first editions are from Paul S. Clarkson (see the register introduction for the Clarkson Collection).

Processing: This collection was organized and described by Archivist Karen Carol in the 1980s. It was digitized and reviewed by Archives Assistant Christine Dumoulin in August, 2004.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

William Sidney Porter (O. Henry) (1862-1910) was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, on September 11, 1862. His father, Algernon Sidney Porter was a physician and also maintained a farm which included fourteen slaves. His mother was Mary Jane Virginia Swaim Porter (1833-1865), also of Guilford County. Two other sons were born to the couple: Shirley Worth Porter (1860), and David Weir Porter (1865), who died in early childhood.

The Porter Family: The Porter family moved into Greensboro in 1865 and took up residence in the Ruth Worth Porter house on West Market Street (later 424 W. Market Street). William's grandmother, Ruth, lived with her spinster daughter Evelina (called "Miss Lina”). William (hereinafter referred to as WSP) spent most of his childhood there. After the death of their mother in 1865 from tuberculosis, and he and his brother were reared by his grandmother and aunt.

Miss Lina Porter: In 1867, Miss Lina Porter began giving her nephews basic schooling in the parlor of the Porter home. Soon her reputation as an instructor spread and a small school house was built on the Porter lot to accommodate other local children. "Miss Lina’s School" was the extent of WSP's early education although he did attend public high school in Greensboro in 1877-1878. Miss Lina was strong-willed and opinionated, and since she served as both a surrogate mother and his teacher, she was a strong influence on WSP's early years. In 1874, a new house was built on the Porter lot, where WSP and his family moved.

In 1879, WSP’s schooling ended and he was put to work as a clerk in his uncle's drug store. The W. C. Porter & Company Drug Store was located at 121 South Elm Street in Greensboro, where he worked for three years. In 1881 he was licensed as a Pharmacist by the State of North Carolina.

The Texas Years: In 1882 at the age of 20, WSP was unmarried, still living at home, and in a profession he found less than exciting. When Dr. & Mrs. James K. Hall, family friends ' invited him to accompany them on a trip to Texas to visit their four sons, he leaped at the opportunity. Lee Hall was managing a large ranch - empire in Texas and two of his brothers worked under him. WSP stayed with Richard Hall, and what was to have been a visit developed into a two year stay. While on the ranch, his health improved although he never did any regular ranch work. WSP missed North Carolina, though he was determined not to return home until he had "made his fortune". During this period he did much sketching and at one time it seemed his career might be that of a cartoonist. This, however, did not develop. He also wrote some stories during this period but his lack of the confidence, contacts and experience that he would later acquire kept these stories from gaining national prominence.

In 1884, Richard Hall moved to another ranch. While on a stopover in Austin, Texas, WSP decided to stay and the Halls introduced him to a well connected family. In an attempt to start a career as a druggist, he wrote to Greensboro for references and received two excellent ones. He became a drug clerk in a local establishment but kept the job for only a few months. He spent his time after that sketching (for amusement) and writing skits and verses. As he submitted these to periodicals, he began to establish a large collection of rejection slips. During this period in 1886 appeared his first documented use of the pseudonym “110. Henry”; he wrote it in a lady friend's autograph album. Also while in Austin, WSP became known as a singer and joined the Hill City Quartette (1885).

In 1886 WSP began working for his friend John Maddox as a bookkeeper in Maddox's real estate firm. He learned bookkeeping from Charles E. Anderson of this firm and worked hard for at least a year. By this time WSP had also been courting Athol Estes (1868-1897), the daughter of Mr. & Mrs. T. G. Roach. Mrs. Roach strongly objected to the relationship since Athol’s father had died from tuberculosis as had WSP's mother. However, with his very adequate salary from his new job as a draftsman at the Texas Land Office and the self-confidence he had gained while in Austin, WSP was undeterred; he and Athol eloped in 1887.

The newlyweds moved in with the Charles Anderson family for six months. Porter continued to write skits and verse and some were published. The Porters soon rented a small house in Austin and in 1888 their son was born. He lived only a few hours and it was months before Athol recovered from the birth and death of her child. A year later she was pregnant again and in 1889 Margaret Worth Porter was born. Again Athol’s recovery was long and torturous. In the summer of 1890 and again in 1891, Athol and Margaret visited Miss Lina Porter back in Greensboro. WSP joined them on the 1890 trip.

With the election of 1890, WSP lost his job in the land office (it had been a political appointment). Soon through the efforts of friends he found a job as teller in the First National Bank at Austin. This was a difficult job as loose banking practices (overdrafts were allowed, bank officers withdrew from cash drawers without proper procedure, etc.) were common. Meanwhile, in 1894 WSP had bought the press of the Iconoclast, an unsuccessful radical monthly newspaper published in Austin. WSP decided to change it to a comedy sheet and to supplement his bank salary. He began weekly publications in April of 1894 and after two issues the name of the paper was changed to the Rolling Stone. Porter wrote the vast majority of the eight-page paper himself, producing it after banking hours and at night. WSP lost his banking job late in 1894 when a bank examiner discovered shortages in his account ledgers. He then put all of his energies in the publishing of the Rolling Stone. It was never a successful enterprise even after he opened a branch office in San Antonio, Texas. By the end of April, 1895, Rolling Stone had suspended publication. In July, 1895, WSP was brought before a grand jury under charges of embezzlement with respect to the shortages at the First National Bank. No indictment was returned however, and the bank examiner appealed to the Treasury Department of the United States. Meanwhile in mid-October, WSP moved to Houston, Texas, to take a job as writer for the Houston Post. Athol and Margaret joined him after several months. His daily column there, which he did in addition to some special work, was entitled "Some Postscripts"; he also did cartooning.

In early 1896 court reconvened in Austin and a new warrant was drawn against WSP for embezzlement. Four indictments were filed in amounts totaling over $5,000. He returned to Austin where bond was posted two days later. Thereupon he went back to Athol in Houston, who was now seriously ill with tuberculosis. He continued to write sporadically for the Post and a request for a continuance for his case was granted. WSP was now due in Austin in July, 1896, to stand trail. Athol and Margaret traveled back to Austin independently, but WSP never arrived. Although he left Houston on July 6, 1896, he changed trains en route to Austin and arrived in New Orleans. There he boarded a boat for Honduras (which at the time was the only Central American country that had no extradition laws).

While in Honduras, WSP met Al Jennings, another American fugitive. WSP wrote Athol periodically while away and by early 1897 he had decided to return to his now desperately ill wife. Again his bail was posted and he spent his time nursing Athol. His pending trial was postponed until February 1898. Athol died in July 1897. Also in that year WSP sold his first short story, The Miracle of Lava Canyon, to a national magazine published by the S. S. McClure Company.

The Prison Years: In February WSP's trial opened. The various indictments were consolidated to the point that he was tried on three indictments of two charges totaling $854.08. WSP made no effort on his own behalf and was convicted on February 17, 1898. Sentenced to a five-year term, he entered the Ohio State Penitentiary in April. He continued to write short stories and changed the spelling of his name from "William Sidney Porter" to "William Sydney Porter.11”. It was to remain so the rest of his life and often after this period he dropped the William entirely. His assignment within the prison was as night druggist, a position which he filled conscientiously and which allowed him some freedom of movement within the prison. While in prison he wrote 14 of his best known stories, three of which were published while he was incarcerated. During this time and afterwards, he wrote under a pseudonym (usually “110. Henry" but occasionally others). In 1900, WSP was reassigned as Secretary to the Steward's Office. The office was physically removed from the prison and he was allowed freedom of movement with minimal supervision. His sentence was reduced for good behavior to 39 months and he was released July 24, 1901.

Meanwhile Margaret, his daughter, had stayed with her grandparents the Roaches while her father was in prison. The family soon moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Margaret was never told of her father's conviction. WSP returned to Pittsburgh and stayed nearly a year, during which time he published nine stories along with several others which were accepted during that time and published later.

His Final Years: In the spring of 1902, WSP moved to New York to firmly establish his writing career. During the remainder of the year he published 17 stories. His output continued with a dozen stories published in the first four months of 1903, 66 published in 1904, 54 in 1905, 11 in 1907, 29 in 1908, and 8 in 1909. He did not usually use the typewriter for his manuscripts but rather wrote with a sharp pencil on yellow copy paper. He also published collections of stories: Cabbages and Kings (1904), The Four Million (1906), The Trimmed Lamp (1907); Heart of the West (1907), Voice of the City (1908), The Gentle Grafter (1908), Roads of Destiny (1909), Options (1909), and Strictly Business (1910). Whirligigs and Sixes and Seven were published posthumously.

In 1907 WSP married Sarah Coleman, a woman he had known as a child in Greensboro. Although they lived in New York for various periods, she later moved to her parents' home in Asheville, North Carolina. WSP remained in New York, although he visited Asheville several times in an attempt to recover his health. While in New York in addition to organizing his book he contemplated work on a novel (which was probably never begun) and collaborated on a musical presentation, LO. His health, however, continued to decline. On June 3, 1910 he was admitted to a New York hospital where he died two days later of sclerosis of the liver, diabetes and an enlarged heart. He was interred in Asheville, North Carolina.

Biographical Sources: The biographical information was gathered from the following sources: Arnett, Ethel S. O. Henry from Polecat Creek. Greensboro: Greensboro Printing Co., 1966, Clarkson, Paul S. A Bibliography of William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) . Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, Ltd., 1938, and Langford, Gerald. Alias O. Henry. New York: The Macmillan Co., 1957.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The WSP collection is a multi-faceted collection of approximately 2,500 items relating to WSP (O. Henry). The collection includes books, magazines, manuscripts, newspapers and clippings, photographs, and other materials.
Several items of correspondence are between WSP and his daughter Margaret (1:2-1:4) with whom he rarely shared the same residence. Especially interesting are the letters written while WSP was in the Ohio State Penitentiary (1:10). Also interesting is the correspondence between WSP and his New York editor Bill Davis, giving chronic excuses for deadlines missed and urgent pleas for cash advances (1:1). Of the Margaret Porter correspondence, perhaps the most memorable item is a letter written to her father while he was in prison asking why he did not come home. Other letters reveal anecdotes and interesting facts about the life of WSP.

The printed materials consist of items associated with WSP's early life as well as items published after his death. The musical score from LO, a musical on which WSP collaborated in 1909, is included (2:3). A collection of booklets provide a good source of information about WSP (2:9-2:10).

Of the financial and legal documents a tuition bill from Lina Porter's school and a receipt signed by WSP's grandfather Sidney are included as are documents relating to W. C. Porter's drug store, including an agreement between Porter and Dalton and C. P. Mendenhall to build an addition to the drug store (2:1-2:2). Only a few sheets in the literary productions series are in WSP's own hand, but the series does include an interesting memoir written by Shirley Porter (2:4). The scrapbooks relate chiefly to the O. Henry Hotel and the O. Henry/Richardson memorial in the Greensboro Historical Museum (5:1-5:2).

Series 7 is a collection of books, including numerous O. Henry first editions, and many of the magazines represent the original publication of several short stories. The newspapers and clippings are of a general nature relating to the life of WSP as well as his publications, memorials, etc. The works of art include pencil sketches both by WSP and his aunt Lina. Although many of the photographs are reproductions there are several original photos, photographs, and tintypes of the family of WSP. Xerox copies were made previously of several items in this as well as other collections and they are filed under the appropriate series.

The weaknesses of this collection are the lack (with few exceptions) of original manuscript stories written by WSP, and little original material is included from his years in Texas. However, the collection has several major strengths. The correspondence series is important for numerous reasons. The letters written to daughter Margaret from WSP while in prison are rare evidence of three years that WSP tried to erase completely from his life. The correspondence to Bill Davis points out the stormy push-pull relationship between WSP and his editors. The musical score from LO (2:3) is an excellent example of an effort made by WSP in his years of declining production. The collection of books and magazine publications is one of the more complete in existence with many first editions. The WSP sketches are rare evidence of his almost-career. Finally, the collection of family photographs is an important element in any study of WSP (11:1-11:19).