The Manuscripts Collection includes over 800 personal papers and collections covering a wide range of subjects. These collections of unpublished primary source material were generated by individuals, families, and organizations with connections or relevance to Wake Forest University and its curriculum. Types of materials in these collections include writings, correspondence, photographs, architectural drawings, audio-visual materials, and computer files.

Manuscript finding aids and inventories provide more detailed information about personal and literary manuscript collections. Many of these finding aids are available online. A few collections do not yet have electronic finding aids; paper indexes for these collections are available in the Special Collections Department.

Existing areas of strength: 20th century American literature and history, 20th century Irish poetry and publishing, English and American theater history, and the cultural and social history of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. Major manuscript holdings include: Dolmen Press Archive/Liam Miller Papers; Harold T. P. Hayes Papers; Maya Angelou Film and Theater Collection; Laurence Stallings Papers; Wilbur J. Cash Papers; Allen Mandelbaum Papers; Gen. Evelyn T. Foote Papers; Gerald W. Johnson Papers; Ronald Watkins Papers; Clarence Herbert New Collection; Gertrude and Max Hoffmann Collection; Jan Hensley Collection of North Carolina Authors

Active Collecting Areas: Manuscripts that enhance existing major collections or that fall into one of the categories listed below. In general, we collect personal papers of individuals. Records of organizations are occasionally added to the collection, but we are unable to accept large institutional archives.

Specific areas of interest include:

• Personal papers of North Carolina authors not already collected elsewhere
• Materials that directly pertain to authors and subjects in the Rare Books Collections
• Papers of alumni or other persons associated with Wake Forest that enhance documentation of the university’s history or that directly pertain to other collecting areas
• Primary source materials that document the cultural life and history of Winston-Salem and the surrounding region