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Special Collections

Brodsky Faulkner Collection

The Brodsky Faulkner Collection

The Brodsky Faulkner Collection ranks as one of the four major William Faulkner Collections in the world -- the others being at the universities of Mississippi, Texas and Virginia. Of these, the Brodsky Collection is the only one to have been completely assembled by a private collector, Louis Daniel Brodsky. Southeast Missouri State University received the Brodsky Faulkner Collection in 1989 through a gift-purchase arrangement with the collector.

The collection boasts the most extensive gathering of Faulkner books, including signed limited editions, first trade editions with dust jackets, autographed and inscribed copies, galley proofs and advance reading copies, and textual and binding variants. More than two hundred of these volumes are signed or inscribed by William Faulkner.

Additionally, the collection contains more than 2,000 pages of handwritten or typewritten manuscripts of published and unpublished fiction, poetry, plays and essays by Faulkner; film scripts; 3,000 letters by, to or about the author; more than 2,000 photographs relating to his life and career; and ten linear feet of research material amassed by Faulkner biographer, Joseph Blotner, including correspondence, interviews, essays and newspaper clippings.

The Center for Faulkner Studies at Southeast Missouri State University sponsors and supports educational and scholarly projects related to the life and work of William Faulkner. Researchers wishing to access the Brodsky Faulkner Collection should contact Special Collections and Archives.

For preservation and security reasons, access to the original manuscripts is restricted to scholars, including doctoral candidates. Even these researchers must demonstrate a need to see the originals that goes beyond the requirements of most routine research. A researcher who believes that his or her work requires access to the originals must contact the Special Collections Librarian prior to arrival at the Library to obtain permission for access.