1936-1991 (1936-63, bulk)
4.25 linear feet (10 boxes)

Scope and Content: Letters and postcards written or received by Woody Guthrie.  The correspondents include family members, friends, business associates and fans.

A small amount of other correspondence held by the Archives is also included in this record group.

The record group includes extensive correspondence between Woody Guthrie and his second wife, Marjorie Mazia [Guthrie], particularly for the period 1942-1945.  Woody's letters to Marjorie deal with virtually every conceivable aspect of their relationship -- romance, sex, children, politics, daily life, and military service, as well as financial and artistic matters.

Correspondence between Woody Guthrie and his sister, Mary Jo Edgmon, provides insights into Woody's youth and family.

The wide variety of Guthrie's correspondents reflects the range of his activities, interests and influence.  Correspondents include Eddie Albert, Moe Asch, Will Geer, Alan Lomax, poet Walter Lowenfels, Pete Seeger, and dozens of fans, including many from the United Kingdom.
 
In addition to Guthrie's correspondence, the record group contains other correspondence.  The majority of this additional material consists of correspondence from and to Guthrie's second wife, Marjorie Mazia.

Arrangement Note: The correspondence is arranged in four series --
Woody Guthrie: Outgoing (Correspondence-1;)
Woody Guthrie: Incoming (Correspondence-2)
Other Correspondence (Correspondence-3)
and Postcards (Correspondence-4) -- and is housed as follows

      Correspondence-1      Boxes 1-3
      Correspondence-2      Boxes 1-5
      Correspondence-3      Box 1
      Correspondence-4      Box 1

The first two series (Woody Guthrie's correspondence) are arranged alphabetically (by recipient and author, respectively); within the alphabetical arrangement, the correspondence is in chronological order. In both of these series, correspondence to and from unknown individuals is arranged chronologically, and may be found immediately following the alphabetical folders.

The Incoming Correspondence series (Correspondence-2) includes a large amount of fan mail, written in 1959 and 1960.  Due to the volume of this material, individual correspondent folders were created for only some of the writers.  The remaining fan mail (Box 4, Folders 5-25) is arranged chronologically (by year) and then by residence of author (e.g., North America, United Kingdom, and Republic of Ireland).

Additionally, Correspondence-2 includes two groups of letters that contain both incoming and outgoing correspondence.  The first, consisting of correspondence (and newspaper notices) concerning the death of Woody's daughter, Cathy Ann Guthrie, in 1947, is arranged alphabetically (Box 5, Folders 1-8).  This correspondence includes a letter from novelist Howard Fast.  The second, photocopies of Almanac Singers papers (received from Pete Seeger) is arranged chronologically (Box 5, Folder 10).

Correspondence-3 (other correspondence) consists of Marjorie Mazia's outgoing correspondence, arranged alphabetically by recipient; Marjorie Mazia's incoming correspondence (arranged alphabetically by author); and
correspondence written and received by people other than Guthrie and Mazia (arranged alphabetically by author).

Correspondence-4 contains postcards from the other three series, including postcards from Woody Guthrie to Marjorie Mazia sent over a ten year period (1942-52); Marjorie's postcards to Woody; and booking engagement notices and requests.

Ambellan, Elizabeth and Harold
     (see also Correspondence-3, Box 1, Folder 10.1)

1956

Columbia Recording Company
     Common Ground (see Anderson, Margaret)
     Ditsler, Marian (see Asch, Moe)

Mazia, Marjorie
     [Correspondence-4 contains Mazia postcards, 1942-52]

Note: Additional outgoing correspondence may be found in Incoming Correspondence, Box 5 (correspondence related to death of Cathy Guthrie, and correspondence from Almanac Singers papers.)

BOX 3