Contains materials about Kennedy's first novel The Ink Truck, initially published in 1969 and then re-issued in 1984 following his success with Ironweed and his receiving the MacArthur Foundation's Genius Award. The novel details the last days of an unsuccessful newspaper strike and is very loosely based on Kennedy's experiences during a newspaper strike in Albany in the mid-1960s. The series includes multiple manuscript drafts, author's notes, book reviews, galleys, publisher agreements and correspondence, and advertising. Please note that the overall series dates are not inclusive.

This series focuses on Kennedy's second book Legs, the first in his "Albany Cycle" of novels. Published in 1975, Legs is a fictional account of the notorious Albany gangster Jack "Legs" Diamond. Included are multiple working and edited manuscript drafts spanning a period of several years, galley proofs, rejected and omitted pages, book reviews, profiles about Kennedy, book cover artwork, and correspondence with the publisher. There also are newspaper articles from the 1920s and 1930s about Legs Diamond which Kennedy used to conduct research on Diamond and the period. Please note the overall series dates are not inclusive.

This series consists of multiple manuscript drafts, notes, and galleys for Kennedy's third novel Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, published in 1978. The story introduces the Phelan family that figures prominently in five additional Kennedy books. Set in Albany during the Depression, Billy Phelan is a small-time gambler and bookie who becomes involved in the kidnapping of a local political boss' son. More than half of the folders in the series contain Federal Bureau of Investigation records of the actual John J. O'Connell, Jr. kidnapping and subsequent extortion case in 1933. The O'Connell family was heavily involved in Democratic Party politics in Albany. Kennedy also corresponded with the Federal Bureau of Investigation about the O'Connell kidnapping and received additional case records after the publication of Billy Phelan's Greatest Game.

This series consists almost entirely of manuscript drafts, edits, notes and galleys for the award-winning Ironweed, published in 1983. The novel, also set in Albany during the Depression, continues the story of the Phelan family. It focuses on Billy Phelan's father Francis, an alcoholic wanderer who returns to the city. Among its many honors, Ironweed received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction in 1983 and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1984.

The files document the evolution of the book from a short novel called The Lemon Weed about an alcoholic named Buddy, based upon an actual man Kennedy met and repeatedly interviewed during the 1960s. Of interest are photographs of men and women like Buddy in the streets and missions, taken by a photojournalist friend of Kennedy's and included in the first draft of The Lemon Weed for Subsistence Press.

Please see Series 8, Ironweed (Film Version), for materials documenting the transition of the book to film.

Published in 1983, William Kennedy's nonfiction work O Albany! is based upon a series of articles he wrote about the city for the Albany Times-Union in the early-mid 1960s, which garnered him a Pulitzer Prize nomination for journalism. The book looks at Albany neighborhoods, different ethnic and racial groups who settled within the city, landmarks and institutions, and key political leaders. The series includes manuscripts and draft copy, Kennedy's earlier newspaper features, research materials and notes. As all the materials span a significant amount of time, please note the overall dates for this series are not inclusive.

This series contains materials related to two children's books that William Kennedy wrote with his son Brendan; Charlie Malarkey and the Belly Button Machine, published in 1986, and Charlie Malarkey and the Singing Moose, which appeared in print in 1993. The series features working and edited drafts, galleys, newspaper clippings, reviews, and press tour materials. There also are several folders of correspondence. The files document the difficulties Kennedy encountered in attempting to publish the first book, including many rejection letters from publishing houses beginning in 1975. Of additional interest is correspondence about illustrations, foreign editions, possible film deals, and letters and a book from children who enjoyed the stories.

In the summer of 1983 William Kennedy accepted director Francis Ford Coppola's invitation to collaborate with him on a film script for The Cotton Club, a 1930s period drama built around the real Harlem night club in New York. He spent the remainder of that summer and the fall writing and editing, as the movie transitioned from the pre-production phase to principal photography. The film debuted in the United States in 1984. This series documents that intensive writing and re-writing effort with many working scripts, rehearsal scripts, shooting scripts, and editing scripts. In addition, there are production memos and notes, call sheets, publicity materials, reviews, correspondence, and a file about the movie premiere.

This series documents the transition of Ironweed from the 1983 award-winning novel to film in 1987. Like the book, the movie focuses on the character of Francis Phelan and his return to Albany during the Depression. William Kennedy wrote the script for the film which was directed by Hector Babenco and starred Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep. It was filmed on location in Albany and the surrounding areas. The materials include many draft and edited scripts, publicity materials, information about casting and locations, call sheets, correspondence, reviews, and two paperback copies of the novel with notes used for script writing. Note the overall dates for the series are not inclusive.

Please see Series 4, Ironweed, for materials related to the writing of the novel.

Contains drafts, edited copies, the final version, and galleys of Quinn's Book, published by William Kennedy in 1988. Part of the "Albany Cycle," this novel also involves the extended Phelan family, but focuses on the nineteenth century life and adventures of an ancestor named Daniel Quinn. There are many edited and unedited versions of the manuscript; however, the majority of copies are undated. The archivist tried to arrange these undated drafts in chronological order based upon the edits in each version.

William Kennedy continued his writings about the Phelan family with Very Old Bones, his next installment in the "Albany Cycle" of novels published in 1992. This book is set in the 1950s in the city and narrated by Orson Purcell, the out-of-wedlock son of Peter Phelan. The majority of the series consists of manuscript drafts and edited copy, although there are a small number of files containing correspondence, publicity materials, articles and reviews, and excerpts of the novel published in magazines.

This series includes draft copy, galleys, research materials, correspondence, and notes used to prepare William Kennedy's Riding the Yellow Trolley Car, a collection of his essays, articles, and reviews written across four decades. This second nonfiction book from Kennedy appeared in 1993. Of note is the earliest item within the collection, a short story entitled "Eggs" from 1946 which Kennedy submitted to Collier's: The National Weekly for consideration. In addition there are files about publicity, including a book tour, reviews, and fan mail. Please note the overall dates for the series are not inclusive.

For his next volume in his "Albany Cycle," William Kennedy returned to recurrent characters Edward and Katrina Daugherty, first introduced in Billy Phelan's Greatest Game. Kennedy charts their lives and subsequent, turbulent marriage in the city between 1884 and 1912 in The Flaming Corsage, published in 1996. The series includes multiple drafts and edited manuscripts, book tour materials, cover artwork, reviews, articles, correspondence, and information about the audio version of the book.

This series consists of manuscript drafts, edited copy, and reviews for Roscoe. Published in 2002, it is part of William Kennedy's "Albany Cycle" of novels. Opening in 1945 Albany, Roscoe centers around Roscoe Conway, a decades-long insider of the Democartic Party and the political machine in the capital city.

In 1996 and 2002 publishers packaged together several of William Kennedy's "Albany Cycle" novels into single volumes for release in the United States and international market. In 1996 Penguin Books released Legs, Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, and Ironweed together for the first time with a new author's introduction. Six years later Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster UK, published two books each containing three re-issued "Albany Cycle" novels. The first consisted of Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, Ironweed, and Very Old Bones. The second featured Quinn's Book, The Flaming Corsage, and Legs. This series includes materials related to these publications as well as a 1976 outline by Kennedy of his vision for the "Albany Cycle" of planned books, and correspondence and proposed artwork for paperback copies of "Albany Cycle" novels issued from Penguin in 2002.

Spanning several decades, this series features William Kennedy's essays and a news articles written for such varied outlets as newspapers, magazines, a city guide, a writers' cook book, a National Endowment for the Humanities Project, and a museum. In many instances, the files also include supplemental materials such as research, notes, and correspondence. Please note this series does not contain Kennedy's feature articles for the Albany Times-Union in the mid-1960s on slums, housing integration or poverty. These may be found in Series 17: Investigative Journalism.

This series contains correspondence sent to William Kennedy from fellow authors, journalists, politicians, and members of the film industry. Most notably, the files document his relationships with other well-known writers of American literature, especially his decades-long friendships with mentor Saul Bellow and Hunter S. Thompson. Also included is correspondence with Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, Frank McCourt, Doris Grumbach, John Updike, and more. Materials include letters, greeting cards, post cards, fax transmissions, e-mail and one Western Union mailgram. Nearly all of the other series also include correspondence related to the respective series.

This series consists of draft articles, background research materials, memos, notes, magazine and newspaper clippings on a number of subjects that William Kennedy explored and reported upon, especially for his Pulitzer Prize nominated series of features for the Albany Times-Union during the mid-1960s. Those articles included investigations into Albany slums, poverty, housing integration, and racial inequalities. While the initial copy appeared in the 1960s, the files in this series document Kennedy's continued interest and active research of the same topics in subsequent decades. Kennedy used the materials on slums as background for O Albany!. Please note the overall dates for the series are not inclusive.

This series features biographical materials about William Kennedy. The majority of documents are news clippings about his work, book reviews and analysis, profile pieces, interview transcripts, articles featuring Kennedy's insights and comments on literature and the arts, and related correspondence. Of interest are newspaper clips and a program from Kennedy's first play Grand View which debuted at the Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany in 1996. There also is a VHS tape of William Kennedy's Albany which aired on PBS and a file discussing the celebration of the acquisition of this collection by the University at Albany. For articles written by Kennedy see Series 15: Essays and Articles or Series 17: Investigative Journalism.

In 1995 William Kennedy accompanied President Bill Clinton to Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland as part of an American delegation, following a cease fire between the Irish Republican Army and the Loyalist Military Command in Northern Ireland in 1994. The delegation included elected officials, business, labor, religious, and community leaders and was designed to promote both peace and U.S. investment. This series documents that particular trip, including invitations, arrangements, news clips, maps, travel items, correspondence, and backgrounders. In addition, Kennedy and his wife attended a White House dinner in 1996 given by the Clintons in honor of the President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, and the first State visit by an Irish president in more than 30 years. The invitation and dinner menu and related correspondence also are included.