Spencer, Elizabeth, 1921-....

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Writer Elizabeth Spencer was born in 1921 in Carrollton, Miss. Spencer married John Rusher in 1956 and was sometimes known as Elizabeth Rusher among friends and family. Spencer taught writing at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, 1976-1986, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1986-1992.

From the description of Elizabeth Spencer papers, 1911-2003 (bulk 1999-2003. WorldCat record id: 59109545

Writer Elizabeth Spencer was born in 1921, in Carrollton, Miss., to James Luther Spencer and Mary James McCain Spencer. Spencer graduated from Belhaven College in Jackson, Miss., in 1942. She went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in English from Vanderbilt University. She taught English for several years in Mississippi and Tennessee and wrote two novels, Fire in the Morning (1948) and This Crooked Way (1952) before she won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1953, which allowed her to move to Italy to focus on her writing. While in Italy, she met John Rusher, an Englishman who taught English to Italians. They were married 29 September 1956, the same year Spencer's novel The Voice at the Back Door was published.

Spencer spent 1976 to 1986 at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, as a writer-in-residence and professor in the graduate writing program. In 1985, she was elected to the American Institute of Arts and Letters (now the American Academy of Arts and Letters). From 1986 to 1992, Spencer was visiting professor of creative writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Spencer was a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers (1987) and served as vice-chancellor, 1993-1997. In 1998, she published Landscapes of the Heart, a memoir of the Spencer and McCain families and growing up in Mississippi. On 17 December 1998 of that same year, Spencer's husband died. In 2001, a collection of many of Spencer's previously published stories was published along with some new fiction under the title The Southern Woman . In 2003, Spencer's 1960 novel, The Light in the Piazza, was adapted into a musical (music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, book by Craig Lucas).

Spencer has received many awards for her writing, including the Thomas Wolfe Award for Literature (2002) and the William Faulkner Medal for Literary Excellence (2002). She received an honorary doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1998.

From the guide to the Elizabeth Spencer Papers, (bulk, ), 1911-2003, 2013, 1999-2003, (Southern Historical Collection)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Farley, Nancy. Correspondence of Nancy Farley [manuscript] 1944-1959. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Robert S. Phillips Papers, 1964-1989 Syracuse University. Library. Special Collections Research Center
creatorOf Spencer, Elizabeth, 1921-. Elizabeth Spencer papers, 1911-2003 (bulk 1999-2003. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
referencedIn Rubin, Louis Decimus, 1923-. Louis Decimus Rubin papers, 1945- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
referencedIn Sam Ragan Papers, 1948-1996 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection
creatorOf Elizabeth Spencer Papers, (bulk, ), 1911-2003, 2013, 1999-2003 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection
referencedIn Guettel, Adam. The light in the piazza / music and lyrics by Adam Guettel ; book by Craig Lucas ; based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer, 2005. New York Public Library System, NYPL
referencedIn Percy, Walker, 1916-1990. Walker Percy papers, 1910-1992. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
creatorOf Additional Papers of Alan Cheuse 1991-1995 University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Spencer family photographs, ca. 1890s, 1940s Arizona Historical Society, Southern Arizona Division
referencedIn Fred Chappell papers, 1944-2013 and undated David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
referencedIn Luella Crawford Dodds papers, undated Hudson Library & Historical Society
referencedIn Walker Percy Papers, circa 1910-1992 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection
referencedIn National Book Awards. National Book Awards collection, 1996. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
referencedIn New Yorker records New York Public Library. Manuscripts and Archives Division
referencedIn Wang, Daren. Porches: The South and her writers interviews, 1996-1998. Emory University. Special Collections and Archives
referencedIn Reynolds Price Papers, bulk, 1927-2010 and undated, 1956-2006 David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
referencedIn Donald and Katharine Foley Collection of Penguin Books, post 1965 Bancroft Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith Anderson, T. J. (Thomas Jefferson), 1928- person
associatedWith Bandry, Michel. person
associatedWith Betts, Doris. person
associatedWith Blais, Marie Claire. person
associatedWith Blotner, Joseph Leo, 1923- person
associatedWith Boeckman, Frances. person
associatedWith Bragdon, Gloria. person
associatedWith Caram, Eve La Salle. person
associatedWith Chappell, Fred, 1936- person
associatedWith Charney, Ann. person
associatedWith Cheuse, Alan. person
associatedWith Cole, George. person
associatedWith Cole, Hunter. person
associatedWith Concordia University corporateBody
associatedWith Cronyn, Tandy, 1945- person
associatedWith Denham, Alice. person
associatedWith Dodds, Luella Crawford, 1879-1978 person
associatedWith Douglas, Ellen, 1921- person
associatedWith Ebershoff, David. person
associatedWith Ellison, Ralph. person
associatedWith Farley, Nancy. person
associatedWith Foley, Donald L. person
associatedWith Foley, Katharine person
associatedWith Foote, Shelby. person
associatedWith French, Warren G., 1922- person
associatedWith Gallant, Mavis. person
associatedWith Goodwin, William. person
associatedWith Guettel, Adam. person
associatedWith Gurganus, Allan, 1947- person
associatedWith Howell, Elmo. person
associatedWith King, Morton Brandon, 1913- person
associatedWith Kramish, Arnold, 1923- person
associatedWith Lansing, George S., 1943- person
associatedWith May, Philip S. person
associatedWith McCain, John, 1936- person
associatedWith Montserrate, Angela. person
associatedWith Muhlig, Adam. person
associatedWith National Book Awards. corporateBody
correspondedWith New Yorker Magazine, Inc corporateBody
associatedWith Percy, Walker, 1916-1990. person
associatedWith Phillips, Robert S. person
associatedWith Phillips, Robert S. person
associatedWith Prenshaw, Peggy Whitman. person
correspondedWith Price, Reynolds, 1933-2011 person
associatedWith Ragan, Sam, 1915- person
associatedWith Rubin, Louis Decimus, 1923- person
associatedWith Rusher, John. person
associatedWith Samway, Patrick H. person
associatedWith Seay, James, 1939- person
associatedWith Slavick, William H. person
associatedWith Smith, Lee, 1944- person
associatedWith Smith, William Jay, 1918- person
associatedWith Spencer family. family
associatedWith Spencer family. family
associatedWith Srinivasan, Seetha. person
associatedWith Sullivan, Walter, 1924-2006. person
associatedWith Sutherland, Fraser. person
associatedWith Terry, David. person
associatedWith University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill corporateBody
associatedWith Vaughan, Samuel S. person
associatedWith Vivante, Paolo. person
associatedWith Vivante, Vera. person
associatedWith Wang, Daren. person
associatedWith Welty, Eudora, 1909-2001. person
associatedWith Wyatt-Brown, Anne M., 1939- person
Place Name Admin Code Country
Carrollton (Miss.)
Southern States
Mississippi
Subject
Authors, American
Women authors, American
Families
Women college teachers
Occupation
Activity

Person

Birth 1921-07-19

Americans

English

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SNAC ID: 16110414