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Douglas Day Papers
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- Textual record
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Sous-fonds
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6 cm textual records
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Name of creator
Biographical history
Douglas Turner Day III was born May 1, 1932, in Colón, Republic of Panama, to parents Bess Turner Nelson Day and Douglas Turner Day II. After an early academic career marked by demerits, Day enlisted in the US Marine Corps, where he achieved the rank of second lieutenant and served as a pilot until an automobile accident in 1955. After, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve.
Day took a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and PhD from University of Virginia (1952, 1959, and 1962 respectively) and joined the Department of English there as a professor of English and Comparative Literature in 1968; he retired in 2000. Day was a respected academic in his field, and he published several books of criticism, including Swifter than Reason: The Poetry and Criticism of Robert Graves (1963), a biography of Malcolm Lowry which won the 1974 National Book Award in Biography, and two novels, Journey of the Wolf (1977) and The Prison Notebooks of Ricardo Flores Magon (1991). Day also traveled and lectured extensively in Spain and South America, and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 1995.
Day was married five times. First to Mary Hill Noble, from 1954 to 1967, with whom he had two sons and two daughters (one of whom died in infancy). Second to Elisabeth Marie Holscher, from 1967 to 1978, with whom he had one son. Third to Gay Allis Rose Clifford from 1979 to 1982. Fourth to Nancy Ellen Willner from 1982 to 1988. And finally, to Sheila Marie McMillen from 1990 until his death by suicide in 2004. Day had a debilitating stroke in February 2004 and died in his home in Charlottesville, Virginia, in October. His children are Douglas Turner Day IV, Ian Day, Patrick Day, and surviving daughter Emily Day Whitworth.
Custodial history
The papers were collated by Elisabeth Buxton (née Holscher), Day's second wife, upon the dissolution of their marriage and subsequent sale of their house. The files were donated to RBSC in November 2021.
Scope and content
The sous-fonds consists of four types of materials: correspondence, drafts of Day’s biography of Malcolm Lowry, research materials collected during the writing of the biography, and published materials, mostly reviews of Dark as the Grave Wherein My Friend is Laid by Malcolm Lowry, published posthumously, and co-edited by Margerie Lowry and Douglas Day. Correspondence is primarily between Day and publishers, including Oxford University Press and Harold Matson Co., the lawyer Richard G. Green, and Margerie Lowry. Drafts of Day’s biography include one typewritten, annotated draft of the first 42 pages and a handwritten draft of the first 47 pages on yellow legal pad paper. Research materials include typed reminiscences on Lowry by David Markson and James Stern, copies of letters sent to and by Lowry in 1950, and two copies of Margerie Lowry’s will, one from 1965 and one from 1966. Published materials include several reviews of Dark as the Grave, edited by Day and Margerie Lowry, a short story by Lowry published posthumously in Show, a copy of Time magazine with an article on Lowry, newspaper clippings, a few biographical articles on Lowry, and a copy of Lowry’s poem Sestina in a Cantina.
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Papers did not come with any apparent original order. File divisions were determined based on content. Materials were divided into four files: correspondence with Day, partial drafts of Day's biography of Malcolm Lowry, Day's research materials on Malcolm Lowry, and published materials.
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More on Day's relationship with UBC Library and RBSC can be found in the Library fonds (UBCA-ARC-1230).