Manuscript Register

This document describes a collection of materials held by the
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-5921
Fax: 319-335-5900
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu

Posted to Internet: 1998

Acquisition Note: These papers were donated by Susan Fulton Welty over the years 1962 to 1995.

Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research.

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.

Copyright:  Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials"

Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.

Biographical Note

Susan Fulton was born in Fairfield, Iowa, and received a degree in Biology from Parsons College, and then an M.A. in Speech from the Univeristy of Utah. She married Joel Carl Welty, who eventually became Head of the Biology Department at Beloit College. During the years 1946 -- 1947, Mr. Welty worked as a volunteer for a Quaker group in Koblenz, Germany, providing humanitarian aid to the victims of the war. Mrs. Welty had applied to go as well, but the orgranization did not allow couples to go. While Mr. Welty was in Koblenz, Mrs. Welty taught school in Washington state. Mr. Welty wrote long letters home to his wife. These she would later collect, after his death, into a book called "The Hunger Year," published in 1993 under Carl Welty's name.

She was at this time no stranger to the publishing world. In the mid nineteen forties, she had published Christmas plays and poems. In 1951, she published a novel for young adults, The Knight's Ransom, based upon a true story from the time of the Crusades. In 1961 she published Look Up and Hope, a biography of Maud Ballingon Booth, one of the founders of Volunteers of America and known as "The Little Mother of the Prisons." Booth was a friend of Welty's mother, and when her mother died when Susan Welty was young, Booth took seriously her request to look after Susan.

In 1965, she published a non-ficiton book for young people, Bird With Bracelets, about the banding of birds for research. In 1966, she published a Christmas poem, Meditations on Christmas Eve. In 1968 she published A Fair Field, a history of her hometown of Fairfield, Iowa.

Throughout her career, she published in magazines and journals.

Scope and Contents

This collection consists mainly of her manuscripts for articles and serialized stories, but there are also early manuscripts for A Knight's Ransom, A Fair Field, and Look Up and Hope, as well as the Christmas pageants.

Also included is a scrapbook devoted to the Booths.

Related materials

The Hunger Year. Special Collections 95-1442

Inventory

"Apprentice Game Manager." Serial story. Published in The Epworth Herald August 21 -- October 16, 1937, in five installments. One letter. Copy of publication. (A story continuing "the Bird Banders", but based more upon the adventures of a Wisconsin student.)

Behind Locked Doors. Easter play. Published in International Journal of Religious Education, March 1939. 2 typescript copies. Note on producing the play. Related correspondence.

"The Bird Banders." Published in The Target, Feb. 6, 13, 20, 27, and March 6, 1937. Copy of the 5 installments with 3 letters from publisher. This serial story also appeared in Boyland (Congregational) and The Pioneer (Presbyterian). Based on the adventures in bird-banding of the author's husband with two Parsons College students, Malcom McDonald and Charles Gilly.

A Candle for the Christmas Guest. Play. Published as a separate by Row-Peterson, 1945. Dramatization of Tolstoy's story, "Where Love Is, God Is". Also published in International Journal of Religious Education, 1946. Typescript, where the title "Christmas Flight" is also used, 8p. Typescript of "Come, Christmas Guest," a program which provides a setting for the play. 4 related letters.

"Conservation by Common Consent. Article. Published in American Forests, June 1947. Corrected carbon typescript, with bibliography, 11p. 17 related letters. Copy of publication.

"Echoes of the Christmas Song." A Christmas service. Published in The Woman's Press, December 1939. 2 typescript copies. Notes on the carols and the sources. 3 letters. Copy of the publication.

"A Fair Field." Harvested by Charles Jacobs Fulton, [and, others] gleaned by Ben. J. and Lucile Taylor, [and others]; winnowed, threshed and combined by Susan Fulton Welty. Typewritten copy with preface, index, books by author, and title page. (Box 1). Hand written corrections throughout. Letter to publisher concerning the index. Publisher's proof (Box 2). Hand written and typewritten additions and corrections throughout.

"Followers of the Star." A Christmas pageant. Published in International Journal of Religious Education, September 1947. Carbon typescript, 12p. 2 related letters.

"Hell Week Boomerang." Published in Grit, story section, September 29, 1940, under pseudonym Joel Peters. Corrected typescript, 14 pages. Related correspondence.

"Holding and Releasing Speech. Article. Published in The Ave Maria, August 31, 1940. Corrected typescript, with a copy of publication.

"Honey Hunting in Angola." Published in Nature Magazine, April 1946. Carbon typescript, 9p. 7 related letters.

"How to Write Your Own Christmas Pageant." Published in International Journal of Religious Education, November 1937. Reprinted in Lutheran Herald, December 6, 1938. Correspondence, 11 letters. Copy of IJRE publication.

In Spite of Prison. Easter Play. Published in The New Century Leader, March 1939. Carbon typescript, 7 pages. Letter from publisher.

"Island of Hope." Article. Published in Presbyterian Life, June 19, 1948. "Ghosted" by Susan Welty in her husband's name. 3 corrected typescript versions: 1. "International center of infectious good will", 15 pages. 2 -- 3. "Work campers help build a college". Typescript and carbon. 10 related letters.

Knights' Ransom. Short version ("Follett's version"): Carbon typescript, 223 pages, both sides of sheet used. Some penciled revisions. Another version of chapter one, carbon typescript, 14p. Long version, in two separately-fastened parts:

Knight's Ransom. Part I: "Twelve Greenland Falcons." Typescript. pp. 1 -- 149a. Part II: "On to Iceland." Typescript. pp.150 -- 321. Source material on Greenland , Iceland, falconry, consisting of correspondence, notes, clippings: one large folder. Bibliography of sources: 2 versions: 1. 5 typewritten sheets; 2. 3 sheets with some additional titles. Correspondence: about 50 letters between author and publisher.

Library Open Hours. A one-act play. Published in 100 Non-royalty One-act Plays, comp. by William Kozlenko, 1940. Carbon typescript of text. Related correspondence.

The Light Shines. A Christmas Play. Published as a separate by David C. Cook Co., 1938. Carbon typescript entitled "The star rises." 5 related letters.

"Little Mother of Men Behind Bars." Article. Published in Magazine Digest, January, 1946. Typescript, with inserts. 1 related letter. Copy of the publication.

Look Up and Hope. Early long version, typescript, 462p. Early long version, carbon typescript, footnoted, 462p. Text on both sides of the sheets. Printer's copy, 426p. Author's galley proofs, with corrections. Folder of corrections, chiefly relating to front and back matter. Author's source material: 4 folders. a) Handwritten notes from Volunteers Gazette; b) Memorial clippings. c) Miscellaneous printed material. d) Typescript notes, chiefly from newspapers, with a chronological list of references to Mrs. Booth in the New York Times, 1894 -- 1948.

"The man who invented MPH." Article. Published in Car Life, July 1957. Carbon typescript entitled "Automotive pioneer: from speed to safety." 13p. 8 related letters. Copy of the publication. Copy of the privately-printed biography of A. P. Warner, edited by Susan Welty, entitled Making Things.

"Manuel." Published in The Target, February 6, 1937, under pseudonym Joel Peters. Correspondence: 2 letters from publisher and 2 from author's father supplying information about Iowa Civil War regiments. Though imaginary, the story is based on the life of a citizen of Fairfield, Iowa. Appears in the same issue of The Target as the author's "Bird Banding".

"Meet the people of Pangchuang." Article. Published in This Month, June 1945. Carbon typescript of text, with corrections and bibliography. Handwritten notes. Correspondence.

Quarantine. A one-act play. Published in 100 Non-royplty One-act Plays, compiled by William Kozlenko, 1940. Carbon typescript of text. Author's contract. Related correspondence.

Rainbow Gold. A one-act play. Published under pseudonym Joel Peters in 100 Non-royalty One-act Plays, comp. by William Kozlenko, 1940 Carbon typescript of text Author's contract. 3 letters.

Saint Francis Spreads Christmas Joy. Play. Published as a separate by Row-Peterson, 1944. Carbon typescript. List of the songs, poems and chants. Author's contract. 3 letters.

"She Helps Men to a Fresh Start." Published in The Christian Science Monitor magazine, May, 1943. Carbon typescript, 7p, entitled "She makes the crooked straight." 2 letters.

"Slavery Is Not Dead." Article. Originally published in This Month, March 1946, under title "Portugal's slave colony." Reprinted in condensed version in Negro Digest, April 1946. One file is a copy of the Negro Digest article.

"Tiger on a Hill." Published in Nature Magazine, June -- July, 1945. "Ghosted" as if by the author's husband, Joel Carl Welty. Carbon typescript, 10p. 7 letters.

"Voices and Virtues." Article. Published in The Improvement Era. January 1940. Typescript, with minor corrections. 4 letters.

"Why Are We Here?" An address delivered by Maud Ballington Booth, 1934. Published by The Volunteers of America.

"Why is children's day?" Published in New Century Leader, May 1939. Carbon typescript. Related letters.

Scrapbook of newspaper clippings relating to the Booths.