J. Michael Lennon Papers
Scope and Contents
This collection is divided into four series: Sangamon State University, Reveille to Taps Documents, Reveille to Taps Media, and the James Jones Literary Society. The bulk of the collection relates to James Jones: Reveille to Taps, a documentary produced by Lennon and Jeffrey Van Davis for Sangamon State University and the Illinois Humanities Council in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities, copyright 1984. The documentary explores James Jones' life and work, his childhood in Illinois, and his stay at the Handy Colony and his relationship with Lowney Handy. Other materials relate to Lennon’s time as a professor at Sangamon State University (now University of Illinois-Springfield).
Series I: Sangamon State University, 1973-1991 contains material related to Lennon’s time as a professor and administrator for Sangamon State University. Consists primarily of course materials and administrative material for the English, Literature, and Management programs. Arranged alphabetically.
Series II: Reveille to Taps Documents, 1942-1991 contains documents related to the documentary James Jones: Reveille to Taps, which explores Jones’ life and work, his childhood in Illinois, and his stay at the Handy Colony and relationship with Lowney Handy. The series includes interview transcripts, correspondence with media companies and interviewees, promotional material, notes, viewer feedback, reproductions of letters sent to, from, or relating to Jones, and an inventory of the tapes in Series III. Arranged chronologically.
Series III: James Jones Literary Society, 1948-2003, contains papers relating to the Society, including meeting notes, correspondence, newsletters, and financial records. Arranged chronologically.
Series IV: Reveille to Taps Media, 1983-1985 contains media items related to the documentary James Jones: Reveille to Taps. Videotapes include footage of Marshall, IL, Robinson, IL, the Handy Colony and Handy House, the Jones House, and interviews with the family, friends and acquaintances of Jones including Kaylie Jones, Gloria Jones, Willie Morris, John Bowers, Norman Mailer, Mary Ann Newlin Crank, Clem Woods, Tinks Howe, "Jonny," James Giles, Annis Skaggs Fleming, Joanne Strange, Vic Smith, the Cobbs, Thorton Bline, Max Henry, Larry Lewis, Alberta Eagleton, Louise Lewis, Earl and Belva Turner, Margaret Turner, and Terry Crawford. Also includes videotapes of the movies "Some Came Running," "From Here to Eternity" and the finished "Reveille to Taps." The reel to reel audio tapes contain narration for the documentary.
Dates
- 1949-2003
- Majority of material found within 1973-2003
Creator
- Lennon, Mike (Person)
Access
The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the University of Illinois- Springfield (UIS).
Copyrights
Copyrights to this collection are held by UIS.
Biography
John Michael Lennon was born on June 13, 1942 in Fall River, Massachusetts.
He grew up in Somerset, Massachusetts, and received his A.B. from Stonehill College in 1963. Lennon joined the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War, serving as an officer on the USS Uvalde for 30 months. He then taught military law and history at the U.S. Navy’s Officer Candidate School during the late 1960s.
Lennon received his M.A. (1969) and Ph.D. (1975) in English from the University of Rhode Island. He began his scholarly work on Mailer here, writing his dissertation on Mailer’s “Armies of the Night.” Also during this time he met Mailer for the first time, having written a letter in support of him after his altercation with Gore Vidal on The Dick Cavett Show and being invited to hear him speak in person. This began a lifelong friendship and professional relationship.
Lennon joined Sangamon State University as an Assistant Professor of Literature in 1972, later rising to full professor. During his time at Sangamon State University he became involved with academic administration, helping to form the university’s Institute of Public Affairs and being named its first director in 1988.
In 1992, Lennon joined Wilkes University as their Vice President for Academic Affairs. He stepped down from the position in 2000 and moved to the English Department, which he chaired for two years. He founded the low-residency MA/MFA in creative writing at Wilkes in 2004 and served as co-director of the program.
Lennon maintained a close relationship with Mailer throughout his career and became his literary executor in 1981. He edited and published several collections of Mailer’s work and of interviews he conducted with Mailer. Lennon conducted extensive research of Mailer’s unpublished papers, and from 2005-2007 acted as literary consultant to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas-Austin, assisting with the cataloging of Mailer’s papers. Lennon became Mailer’s authorized biographer in 2006, and published the biography “Norman Mailer: A Double Life,” in 2013. Lennon helped to found The Norman Mailer Society and served as its president until 2017, as well as the James Jones Literary Society, for which he was president until 1995.
Lennon married Donna Pedro on October 15, 1966, with whom he has three children.
Extent
11 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Provenance
The bulk of this collection was transferred to the archives by Michael Lennon in 1986, with further accessions in 1992 and 2005.
Property Rights
UIS owns the property rights to this collection.
Processing Information
This collection was reprocessed in January 2025.
Items Moved to the Handy Colony Collection during initial processing: 2 Copies of This is my Beloved by Walter Benton with note saying ‘To my wife Lowney. Forevermore, James Jones, movie script for “From Here to Eternity” (186 pages; includes letter from Lowney Handy concerning movie script), ‘The Bark of the Wolfhounds’ - 27th U.S. Infantry Yearbook, 1941, and photographs: James Jones in Military Uniform, 1943, 5”x7” James Jones and Lowney Handy 5”x7” James Jones with gun, 10”x8 ¼” (2 copies) James Jones, 7”x9” James Jones at typewriter, 8”x10” James Jones with Montgomery Clift playing bugle, 8”x10” James Jones and Lowney Handy, 8”x10” James Jones and Lowney Handy in truck, 10”x8” Young James Jones, 8”x10” Copy of James Jones Charcoal, 8”x 10” (3 copies) James Turner (Lowney Turner’s father), 8”x10” Jacqueline Jones, Tokyo, Japan, Dec. 29, 1951, 3” x 4 ¼” Lowney Handy and James Jones “Caught,” 3 ½” x 5”.
Creator
- Lennon, Mike (Person)
- Title
- Finding Aid to the J. Michael Lennon Papers
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the UIS Archives/Special Collections Repository
Archives/Special Collections LIB 144
One University Plaza, MS BRK 140
Springfield IL 62703-5407 US
217-206-6520
archives@uis.libanswers.com