5/18/99
AU LIBRARIES RECEIVES PART OF LATE EUGENE WALTER'S COLLECTION
AUBURN -- Auburn University Libraries has received a portion of the voluminous personal library of the late celebrated writer and artist Eugene Walter.
Among the items donated to AU were copies of Paris Review, Transatlantic Review and Botteghe Oscure; original Mardi Gras costume designs from the late 1940s; various "squiggle" sketches by Walter; photographs, numerous translations of film scripts from his work with renown director Federico Fellini; typescripts of Walter's own works; correspondence from the 1960s; and scripts from Walter's radio program on WHIL.
"Some of the more significant pieces in the collection are the original costume designs by Walter, especially Mardi Gras designs from the 1940s," says Dale Foster, head of AU Libraries Special Collections Department. "The collection also includes type scripts from films scripts he translated for Fellini as well as type scripts from his original writings."
The materials are available for use by researchers in AU's Ralph B. Draughon Library. The books are housed in the Special Collections Department in the Eugene Walter Collection. Manuscript materials are housed in the Archives and Manuscripts Department of the library in the Eugene Walter Papers. Both departments are located on the ground floor of the library.
Known as Mobile's "Renaissance Man," Walter is probably best remembered for this 1954 novel, The Untidy Pilgrim, which was awarded the Lippincott Fiction Award. He was also given an O'Henry Citation in 1959 for I Love You Batty Sisters. He helped to found several notable literary journals, including Paris Review, Transatlantic Review and Botteghe Oscure.
Born in Mobile in 1921, Walter spent much of his life in Rome working with such film directors as Fellini and Franco Zefirelli. He translated numerous film scripts, including Fellini's Satyricon, which was published by Ballantine Books. He also composed some of the music used in productions by these directors.
Walter was also a noted writer on Southern cooking, having published Delectable Dishes from Termite Hall. His American Cooking: Southern Style was part of the Time-Life magazines series of "Foods of the World."
Walter died in Mobile at age 76, on March 28, 1998. His remains were interred in Mobile's historic Church Street Graveyard, by special permission of the city of Mobile.
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CONTACT: Dale Foster at 334/844-1755; or University Archivist Dwayne Cox at 334/844-1707.