William T. Brannon Papers
Abstract
In 1971, William Brannon donated materials to the University of Southern Mississippi Archives. The collection largely consists of magazines, manuscripts, and correspondence related to the writer’s career as both a staff and freelance writer whose work appeared in many publications.
Dates
- 1935-1981
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
Noncirculating; available for research.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code).
Biographical / Historical
William Brannon was born in Pachuta, Mississippi on March 6, 1906 to Lorena Ezra and Mae Holliday Brannon. He attended college at Northwestern University and went on to work as a staff writer, and later as an editor, for the St. Petersburg Times in St. Petersburg, Florida. He went on to work as an editor for a Chicago-based publication called Real America from 1933-1936. Following this, he worked as a freelance writer, and as a staff writer for the true crime magazines Official Detective, True Detective, and Master Detective. In total, he wrote more than 5,000 stories and articles for magazines and newspapers (many of them under pseudonyms), as well as authoring the books Yellow Kid Weil, Con Man, The Lady Killers, and The Crooked Cops. Brannon was known as “The Dean of Crime Writers” in the early 1950’s, winning an Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1950-51 for outstanding crime writing.
Extent
32.50 Cubic Feet
Language of Materials
English
Provenance
Donated by William T. Brannon in March 1971.
- Authors -- Mississippi. Subject Source: Local sources
- Authors. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Brannon, W. T. (William Tibbetts), 1906-1981
- Certificates. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Clippings (Books, newspapers, etc.). Subject Source: TGM II, Genre and physical characteristic terms
- Criminology. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Financial documents. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Legal forms. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Letter. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Manuscript. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Manuscripts -- Editing. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Periodicals. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Pulp literature. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Records (Documents). Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Screenplays. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- True crime stories. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Yearbook. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- William T. Brannon Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Collection processed and finding aid written by Andrew Rhodes. Assisting in the processing were Dale Autry, Hayden McDaniel, and Amy Myers.
- Date
- November 4, 2019
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Historical Manuscripts and Photographs Repository
118 College Drive - 5148
Hattiesburg MS 39406-0001
601.266.4345
