Guide to Jim Harrison papers available to researchers

ALLENDALE, Mich. -- Grand Valley State University's Special Collections and University Archives recently announced that the Jim Harrison papers are available to researchers.

Thanks to a grant from Meijer Foundation, in 2005 Grand Valley acquired the papers of internationally renowned writer and Michigan native Jim Harrison, whose work has been published in 22 languages. Harrison’s poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and children’s literature have been published since the early 1960s. His critically acclaimed trilogy, Legends of the Fall, reinvigorated the novella form in America. 

University Archivist Nancy Richard has spent the better part of the past year sorting, organizing and preserving the more than 300 boxes of materials written by, to and about Harrison. The collection contains extensive correspondence to Harrison from friends, family, fans, and fellow writers including Dan Gerber, artist and writer Russell Chatham, French gourmand Geÿard Oberleÿ, and Chef Mario Batali.  

Researchers who are interested in studying the Harrison papers at Grand Valley should contact University Archivist Nancy Richard at (616) 331-8726 or [email protected] . A guide to his papers is now available online at www.gvsu.edu/forms/library/HarrisonRHC-16Final.pdf . To learn more about Harrison and the collection, see the winter issue of Grand Valley Magazine at www.gvsu.edu/gvmagazine .