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Guide to the Merle Miller Papers

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Collection Overview
Date Span:1948 - 1961
Creator:Miller, Merle (1919-1986)
Extent:2.00 linear feet.
Collection Number:MSC0660
Repository:University of Iowa Special Collections
Summary:Editor at Yank, Time and Harper's, biographer of presidents, script writer, and novelist. Drafts, correspondence, printer's copies, and reviews for four of his books; the materials for The Sure Thing (1953) are extensive.

Merle Miller (1919 -- 1986) was born in Montour, Iowa. He grew up in Marshalltown, Iowa, and attended the University of Iowa. There he worked as the city editor on the Daily Iowan. He did not graduate, as he refused to take the swimming and R.O.T.C. courses required at that time. He was a correspondent for the Philadelphia Record before joining the Army in 1941. Seeing action in both the European and Pacific theatres, he became an editor of the miliatry magazine, Yank. After the war, Miller was for a short while a contributing editor to Time and an editor at Harpers. He also worked as a television script writer before being blacklisted during the McCarthy era. Miller is best known as a novelist and a biographer. He wrote biographies of three presidents, Truman, Eisenhower and Johnson. His other books include Island 49, That Winter, Reunion, and A Day in Late September.

The papers of Merle Miller date from 1948 to 1961 and are comprised of two boxes of manuscripts for four of his works. There are drafts, printers copies, correspondence, and book reviews. The manuscript record is most complete for The Sure Thing, which was published in 1953.

The bulk of Miller's papers is at Boston University.

Access: This collection is open for research.

Use: Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Acquisition: Mr. Miller donated these papers to the University of Iowa Libraries over a period of years.

Preferred Citation: The papers of Merle Miller, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.

Repository:University of Iowa Special Collections
Address:Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone:319-335-5921
Curator:Greg Prickman
Email:lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Website:http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/

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This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.


Personal Names:
Miller, Merle, 1919-1986

Topics:
American literature
Authors, American

Geographic Names:
Iowa

Genre/Form of Materials:
Drafts (Documents)

Title:
Sure thing

Browse:
English & American Literature
Writers Archive at Iowa
Novelists, Story Writers, & Poets