The Ken Purdy Papers document the full range of his professional interests, spanning five decades in journalism, publishing, and writing. The papers primarily focus on events from the late 1940s through the early 1970s, with considerably less emphasis on the earlier part of his life. There is also very little information on his personal life. The collection consists of biographical material; correspondence; contracts and financial records; photographs; sound recordings; scrapbooks; a virtually complete set of his published writings, both fiction and non-fiction; and a smaller file of his unpublished writings and film work.
BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL consists of general background information, including press releases and promotional material on various projects, biographical material, obituaries and tributes, information on the Purdy Memorial Scholarship at the University of Wisconsin, and bibliographies. The bibliographies include a list of published and unpublished pieces which he prepared himself, often listing information on the price paid for the piece, and notes and bibliographies prepared by an intended biographer. These bibliographies have been exhaustively checked against the collection by the archival processor and a revised bibliography prepared which contains a comprehensive list of published and unpublished fiction and non-fiction, book reviews, and scripts. Also included is a 1974 catalog of the Purdy estate sale in 1974, several recorded interviews with Purdy, and a selection of photographs generally documenting his career activities.
CORRESPONDENCE, which is primarily professional in focus, is divided into three categories: incoming letters, outgoing letters, and office memoranda. Outgoing correspondence contains extensive coverage of the period from the 1950s through the 1970s. Prominent correspondents here include a number of racing and automotive figures and Arthur H. Motley, Hugh Hefner, and other editors, publishers, and journalists with whom he was associated. The incoming correspondence is more extensive and documents all phases of his professional career. In addition to a general chronological file, there is a file of incoming letters filed alphabetically by subject which deals with his relations with Brandt & Brandt, Littauer & Wilkinson, Playboy, and other publishers and agents, as well as with other special topics. The Playboy correspondence, like the majority of the editorial correspondence, consists of letters from top executives commenting upon Purdy's manuscripts. Also of special note among the subject correspondence are the letters concerning two articles about his son's battle against polio, letters of condolence written to Mrs. Purdy after his death, and an extensive file of letters from Stirling Moss.
The third category of correspondence consists of inter-office memoranda pertaining to his work at Victory, True, and Argosy. These generally consist of expenditure reports, circulation information, and marketing strategies. The Victory file contains some information on the magazine's proposed peacetime successor. Also of note is a memo in the True file on the Alger Hiss case.
BOOKS AND WRITINGS is comprised of printed copies of virtually everything authored by Purdy, together with representation of much of his unpublished and unproduced work. The writings have been grouped by genre and include books, fiction and non-fiction articles (these are further divided into published and unpublished files), newspaper articles, book reviews, film and television scripts, miscellaneous writings, and information on aborted projects. Pertaining to his magazine work is a volume of Radio Digest and a microfilmed dummy and clippings pertaining to Victory. A complete file of Victory in all of the languages in which it was published was transferred to the Government Documents Section of the Historical Society Library.
Purdy's film and television work includes both original scripts by him and others and rewrite jobs he performed. Although only Le Mans and Arruza were completed and released and therefore are the most extensively documented, the collection also includes synopses, outlines, treatments, and screenplays in various stages on several uncompleted projects. The aborted projects files consist of research, notes, and original writings on a project in which Purdy was to collaborate with Artie Shaw, a Bugatti book outline, and a project on world gold reserves.
On tape are several recorded INTERVIEWS made by Purdy with racing figures such as Dan Gurney and Stirling Moss and a conversation with Ian Fleming. (Because this interview was altered by Playboy Purdy asked that his name be removed from the piece). Also on tape are recorded notes, readings of several Purdy stories, Purdy broadcasting from a racetrack, and other MISCELLANY.
LEGAL AND FINANCIAL RECORDS consists of contracts relating to publication and film projects and a small file of automobile and payment receipts and wage and royalty statements.
