Writer Ron Rash’s archive finds new home at University of South Carolina
The personal archive of international best-selling writer and South Carolina native Ron Rash has found a new home at the University of South Carolina.
The archive, which spans Rash’s life from boyhood to the present, details his career as a poet, short story writer and novelist and joins other contemporary American literature collections at the university’s Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library. Among Rash’s award-winning works are the novel, “Serena,” which also was made into a movie, and the short story collection “Chemistry and Other Stories.”
“Ron Rash is a rising superstar,” said Tom McNally, dean of University Libraries. “He is a great writer who has international acclaim and so many more works that he will produce. His archive is an excellent addition to the amazing manuscript collections we are building. These are unique primary research materials that draw scholars and students to our university and state and are the source of books, journal articles and dissertations.”
“Announced Thursday (April 27), the archive was made possible with the support of the Easterling-Hallman Foundation to support the acquisition of modern American literature manuscript collections. Thursday night Rash will be awarded the university’s Thomas Cooper Medal at a dinner in his honor.”
Rash, disciplined in many aspects of life, has a daily regimen of exercise and writing. A novel can take him three years and 15 drafts, with his final draft always addressing sound and rhythm.
Those drafts, which convey the writing process, are part of the archive, which also features correspondence with writers, editors and publishers, research notes and materials in the development of his novels, short stories and poems, first editions of all his works, family history and genealogy and personal journals kept as a teenager.
“It is both flattering and bit eerie when a writer is discussing his or her archives,” said Rash who was approached by McNally and writer Pat Conroy about adding his archive to the university’s collection of Southern writers. “Pat Conroy was really committed to putting together a nice archive. Valuing the work was evident from everyone at the university. I feel honored to be with writers such as Robert Burns, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Pat Conroy.”
Rash says he was particularly drawn by the university’s commitment to outreach and to have his archive available to students and scholars.
“It is hugely important. As a writer, it has been valuable to look at drafts and letters by other writers. They reveal so much. They give insight into a life and how one lives. I like that an archive is not for just for a few people but open to everyone,” Rash said.
McNally says great collections attract other great collections.
“It was Pat (Conroy) who told me to go and get Ron’s papers now,” McNally said. “People see what we do with the collections we have acquired. They see how we integrate them into the curriculum and promote them. We don’t just put items on the shelf and let them collect dust. These things really resonate with donors. And, the beautiful Hollings Library is a place anyone would their collections to call home.”
Rash’s stories have introduced and connected readers around the world to the Appalachia region of the South. And although he has spent most of his life in North Carolina, he is proud of his South Carolina roots, evident in many of his works and never far from his thoughts.
Select pieces of the Ron Rash Archive will be on display in an exhibit titled, “More than a Southern Author: Influences and Impact in the Works of Ron Rash,” in the Hollings Library through July 31. The gallery is open weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and there will be a special open viewing 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 29. Once processed by university archivists, the entire collection will be available to the public.
