James Southall Wilson

A nationally known scholar, English professor James Southall Wilson launched the Virginia Quarterly Review in 1925 at the request of President E. A. Alderman, and continued to edit it for six years. From the beginning it was a critical success, with articles by leading literary names on both sides of the Atlantic. Alumni News to proclaimed that, "It has probably created more good will for the university among intelligent people everywhere than any other agency that has been created by the university during the last quarter of a century."

In this letter, Wilson discusses the founding of the Virginia Quarterly Review.

Letter from DuBose Heyward to James Southall Wilson, 1931. In organizing the conference, Wilson also corresponded with William Faulkner, Willa Cather, Ellen Glasgow, Allen Tate, and Thomas Wolfe.

On leaving the Quarterly, Wilson organized the 1931 Southern Writers Conference inviting well known authors to the grounds to discuss "The Relation of the Southern Author to His Public." Although Willa Cather and Thomas Wolfe regretfully declined, many noted authors attended including Sherwood Anderson, James Branch Cabell, Allen Tate, and William Faulkner, who compared his presence at such an august gathering to a country hound dog afraid to leave the wagon that brought him to town. Ellen Glasgow and DuBose Heyward presided at the discussions.