José Rodrigues Miguéis papers (Ms.89.7)

The José Rodrigues Miguéis Papers comprise the author’s correspondence, literary manuscripts, interviews, diaries, calendars, notebooks, drawings, photographs, audio recordings, awards, clippings, personal library, and personal papers. It also includes work by others that relate to Miguéis, including literary reviews and criticism, adaptations of Miguéis’s work, drawings, and miscellaneous manuscripts. There is also a small amount of materials to and between his parents and siblings. The collection includes materials from the late 1800s and extends until the 1990s.

This collection also includes the Miguéis Library of approximately 2,000 books, devoted primarily to Portuguese and world literature and related literary criticism. These books are uncataloged but there is card-file for the library in the Reader Services area of the John Hay Library, and slips for the volumes are filed alphabetically by author. The books are housed in the John Hay Library and are arranged by accession number.

Series I. Correspondence This series contains a substantial amount of correspondence to and from José Miguéis which offers insight into the personal and professional life of the author. Notable correspondents include António Sérgio, Jorge de Sena, José Saramago, Aquilino Ribeiro, Raul Proença, Mário Neves, Manuel Mendes, David Ferreira, and John Kerr, Jr. It also includes condolences sent to his late wife Camila Campanella Miguéis after his death in 1980. It also contains a large collection of postcards many of which were written by and between his parents and siblings.

Series 2. Writings by Miguéis This series is a large collection of the author’s handwritten, typed, and published materials. It contains drafts of nearly every one of his publications, usually with substantial marginalia. These materials are useful for reconstructing the author’s creative process and timeline of publications and it spans a time period from the 1920s to the 1970s.

Series 3. Entrevistas This contains just one folder of interviews of Miguéis by various people, primarily for newspaper articles.

Series 4. Diaries, Calendars, and Notebooks This contains a series of notebooks dated from 1920 to 1980 that serve as diaries, memorandums, calendars, and general notebooks. Much of the material is mundane, such as contact information and to-do lists, but there are also various drafts of essays and stories.

Series 5. Drawings This is a collection of Miguéis’s drawings and illustrations, from small doodles to large compositions created between 1920s to 1970s. It contains primarily satirical caricatures. The media used includes pencil, charcoal, pen, paint, and pastels.

Series 6. Photographs This series contains a large collection of photographs that spans the life of the author and even includes some pictures of his parents and grandparents from the late 1800s. The photographs are divided in the following categories: Family, Friends and Colleagues, Pre-1935 photographs taken while Miguéis still lived in Portugal, Post-1935 photographs taken after he moved to the United States, Parties and Conferences, photographs solely of Miguéis, photographs taken by John Kerr, Jr. during a visit to the Miguéis home in 1968, and Miscellaneous.

Series 7. Audio This is a collection of audio recordings relating to Miguéis that includes cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, compact disks, and one 45rpm record. It contains interviews and speeches given at different events, as well as renditions of traditional Portuguese songs by Miguéis. Most of the recordings were done in the 1960s and 1970s.

Series 8. Awards This series contains the award given to Miguéis upon his induction into the Ordem Militar de Santiago da Espada, a Portuguese order of chivalry, in 1979, as well as three black-and-white photographs of the ceremony.

Section 9. Clippings The clippings are from newspapers and magazines and were saved by Miguéis. The folders in this collection are organized thematically, either by a person’s name, such as Ernest Hemingway, by a general heading, such as Political Activity in U.S., or by language. None of these saved clippings were written by Miguéis, but they offer a perspective into his personal interests.

Series 10. Personal Library The books, pamphlets, and periodicals in this series are part of the larger collection of approximately 2,000 books in the library owned by Miguéis noted above. These materials are stored in folders and boxes due to their fragile, thin, or weak condition. The books treat various subjects, but Portugal and Portuguese literature are principal among them. Nearly all of the periodicals and reprints are literary criticism. As with Clippings, none of the materials here were written by or are about Miguéis.

Series 11. Personal Documents Personal Documents comprises Miguéis’s miscellaneous paperwork that does not have any immediate connection to his literary career. Folder titles include: Maps, Menus, Copyright Applications, and Medications; other folders cover bank transactions, the author’s will, the sale of the family house, medical records, marriage certificates, and Miguéis’s curriculum vitae.

Series 12. Writings about Miguéis This series consists of writings by others about Miguéis. It is subdivided into three categories: General, which includes a dissertation about one of Miguéis’s novels, mentions of Miguéis in literary publications, and obituaries, among other things; Reviews, which contains book reviews of nearly all of Miguéis’s publications; and Clippings, which consists of various clippings, mainly from newspapers, that discuss Miguéis and his writings. These date from the early 1930s to the late 1970s.

Series 13. Adaptations by Others These materials are manuscript adaptations of Miguéis’s work for television, theater, and cinema.

Series 14. Manuscripts by Others This collection consists of a small number of literary manuscripts by others, including Mário Castro, Jaime Cortesão, Manuel de Sousa Pinto, and Raul Proença, among others. It is not known why they were in Miguéis’s possession.

Series 15. Drawings by Others Contains one whimsical caricature of Miguéis by José Lemos and other drawings by unknown artists.

Series 16. Miscellaneous This contains a variety of miscellaneous material and sheet music that apparently belonged to Miguéis’s sister, Irene.