Tracy Daugherty Papers, 1933-2018

The Tracy Daugherty Papers offer a deep look into the personal, academic, and authorial life of Emeritus Professor Tracy Daugherty. These records cover not only Daugherty’s adulthood, but his childhood and teenage years as well. The six series in this collection cover his personal life, academic and administrative work, writing and accolades. They are organized as Personal, Academic Work, Administrative Work, Class Materials, Writing Files and Awards & Events.

Series 1 contains personal materials, including notebooks written at different times in Daugherty’s life. Through his book research and academic positions, Daugherty travelled extensively, including trips to New York, Yemen, and Nicaragua, and often kept travel journals. He also kept notebooks during his childhood, with topics such as astronomical phenomenon. Also included are early drafts of his writings, including a set of hand-drawn newspapers called “The Shot Gazette.”

Series 2 is composed of his undergraduate and graduate academic work. This includes his notes from different courses, as well as materials for the classes he taught during his graduate studies at the University of Houston. Also included are materials related to his search for employment.

Series 3, Administrative Work, covers Daugherty’s time at Oregon State University, starting with his hiring and continuing through his retirement as an Emeritus Professor. While at OSU, Daugherty helped to start and grow the MFA program in Creative Writing, taught courses, and organized many events for visiting writers; this series includes correspondence and administrative files reflecting this work. Series 4, Class Materials, includes assignments, readings, and syllabi.

This collection also includes all of his published work. Along with the books themselves, series 5 contains his research materials, items related to book publication, and book reviews. Of note is correspondence with friends and family members of the subjects of his biographies, such as Joan Didion, Joseph Heller, Billy Lee Brammer, and Donald Barthelme.

Also included is the Event and Awards series which holds many of the fliers and documents pertaining to the many occasions surrounding Tracy Daugherty since the 1980s. This series holds the forms, articles and letters involving the Guggenheim Fellowship awarded to Daugherty in 2006. It also contains many posters and articles regarding book signings and readings of Daugherty’s many books.

Biographical / Historical Notes

Tracy Daugherty was born June 5, 1955 in Midland, Texas. Daugherty is a well-respected author and Emeritus Professor at Oregon State University. Daugherty grew up in a city dominated by the oil-industry in western Texas, and he draws on memories of the environment and landscape in his work. He remembers being drawn to the sky as a child, which was more interesting than the tumbleweed, which led to an early interest in astronomy and recording his experiences in writing. Daugherty also credits his grandfather, a member of the House of Representatives in Oklahoma, with encouraging his interest and abilities in writing. When he was growing up his grandfather pushed him to gather stories, write about them, and learn how to talk about his work.

In 1973, Daugherty started college at Southern Methodist University, a liberal arts school in Dallas, Texas. He graduated in 1977 with a Bachelor of Arts and later obtained a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. While at the university, Daugherty and his peers worked on a literary magazine and helped establish the Southern Methodist University Literary Festival. After completing his MFA, he was accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Houston in 1980. While at University of Houston, Daugherty met Donald Barthelme, who became his mentor and advised him on both his dissertation and first novel, Desire Provoked, which was published in 1986. Barthelme also became the subject of his first biography, published in 2009 and entitled Hiding Man: A Biography of Donald Barthelme. Though it was originally conceived of as a personal project, his first biography received critical praise and was deemed a success in the literary world. His publishers asked him to write more in the same genre. Just One Catch: A Biography of Joseph Heller and The Last Love Song: A Biography of Joan Didion followed; both were published by St. Martin’s Press.

While working on his M.F.A. and Ph.D., Daugherty taught undergraduate classes; his interest in teaching at a college level grew as he found teaching to be compatible with his work as a writer. Daugherty completed his dissertation in 1985 and began applying for teaching positions; he accepted a position at Oregon State University in 1986 and continued to write novels, short story collections, and biographies.

Daugherty enjoyed teaching introductory literature courses because he was able to watch their fascination and respect for the literary world increase. Teaching also allowed him to stay connected with other writers and watch as the next generation of writers explored new definitions of literature. Early into his teaching career, he recognized the need for a Master’s program in Creative Writing at OSU. After fourteen years of advocating for and creating the program, Daugherty saw the the Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing introduced in 2001; it has grown from a few courses into a successful undergraduate and graduate program.

Over the years, Daugherty has come to realize that he prefers to work with small publishing houses rather than large ones. After his first novel was published with Random House, subsequent books have been published with W.W. Norton & Company, Southern Methodist University Press, University of Nebraska Press, St. Martin’s Press, John Hopkins University Press, the Texas Review Press, and University of Georgia Press.

In 2013, Daugherty retired from Oregon State University with the position as Emeritus Professor. He lives in Corvallis and is involved with the local writing community through his work with the Magic Barrel, a literary event that raises money for the Linn Benton Food Share, and graduate students through advising. Daugherty has also maintained a position in the Association of Writers & Writing Program in Portland and attends the nation-wide conference every year. He strongly believes that writers must stay a part of the community and promote literature rather than “withdraw in the ivory towers.”

Author: Mary Williams and Tiah Edmunson-Morton

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 21 boxes, including 1 oversize box, 45 photographs

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: These materials were donated to the Special Collections and Archives Research Center by Tracy Daugherty in 2018.

Related Materials:

Tracy Daugherty was interviewed in 2015 for the OSU Sesquicentennial and that interview is a part of the Oregon State University Sesquicentennial Oral History Collection (OH 026).

This collection is also complemented by The Special Collections and Archives Research Center houses the papers of several Oregon State English faculty including the Peter Copek Papers (MSS Copek); Elizabeth Henley Collection (MSS Henley), also a poet;Ray S. Hewitt Collection (MSS Hewitt); Bernard Malamud Papers (MSS Malamud); Sigurd Peterson Collection (MSS PetersonS); M. Ellwood Smith Papers (MSS SmithME), and the Richard Dankleff Sound Recording (MSS Dankleff) of poetry reading. The Edwin T. Reed Papers (MSS Reed) include poetry written by Reed.

Records pertaining to the English Department are included in the College of Liberal Arts Records (RG 143) and the English Department Photographs (P 222). The Academic Affairs Records (RG 022) include information about the growth of the English Department.

Preferred Citation: Tracy Daugherty Papers (MSS Daugherty), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Tracy Daugherty Papers, 1933-2018

Collection Overview

Abstract

Scope and Content Notes

Biographical / Historical Notes

Administrative Information

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