J. Powers - Suitable Accommodations - An Autobiographical Story of Family Life - The Letters of J. F. Powers, 1942-1963

Joann Wiley O’Connell(1930–): Called Jody. Joe O’Connell’s wife; five children.

Richard Palmquist(1922–2005): Called Dick. Worked for the Chancery of the St. Cloud Diocese; later owned insurance agency.

Mary Pluth Palmquist(1927–): Called Mary Jean. Richard Palmquist’s wife; teacher; six children.

Fredric Petters(1926–): Called Fred. Owned a fabric and fur shop in St. Cloud; later worked at the Liturgical Press at St. John’s.

Rosemary Boyle Petters(1925–): Called Romy, Rome (only by JFP). Fred Petters’s wife; potter; seven children.

Other Friends and Correspondents

George Barnett: Called Barnhart by JFP. Friend; was at Sandstone with him.

Jack Conroy(1898–1990): Proletarian writer, best known for his 1933 novel, The Disinherited . Good friend.

Father Harvey F. X. Egan(1915–2006): Called Mon pere, Detachismus. Ordained in 1941; JFP’s great benefactor, dispenser of frequent loans.

Sister Mariella Gable, OSB(1898–1985): BWP’s college teacher; editor of collections of Catholic fiction; critic. Introduced JFP to BWP.

Father George G. Garrelts(1918–2003): JFP’s classmate at Quincy College Academy; close friend; ordained, 1942. Was a Detacher in early years; later president of the Newman Clubs of America. Left the priesthood in 1970 and got married.

John Haskins(ca. 1918–1977): Called Hask. Classmate at Quincy College Academy; best man at JFP’s wedding; became music critic for the Washington Evening Star and The Kansas City Star .

John Howe(1913–1997): Called Jack. Draftsman for Frank Lloyd Wright; JFP met him at Sandstone Federal Penitentiary.

Richard Keefe(ca. 1917–1980): Called Dick. Close friend; JFP’s classmate at Quincy College Academy; expelled from the seminary for “worldliness”; became dean of St. Louis University and host of a TV show.

Ted LeBerthon(ca. 1893–1960): Journalist and columnist; reported on racial inequality, migrant workers, from 1930s on; associated with The Catholic Worker ; JFP’s roommate in St. Paul in 1945.

Robert Lowell(1917–1977): Called Cal. Poet; JFP met him at Yaddo, 1947; took road trip together in 1947.

John Marshall: Called Marsh by JFP. JFP met him at Sandstone Federal Penitentiary; became a physician.

Michael Millgate(1929–): British biographer, editor, critic, teacher; teaching fellow at Ann Arbor, 1956, when Jim met him.

Seán Ó Faoláin(1900–1991): Irish short-story writer; extremely helpful in practical ways and as a friend in Ireland from 1952 on.

Katherine Anne Porter(1890–1980): Short-story writer and novelist; championed JFP’s work.

J. Kerker Quinn(1911–1969): Editor at Accent magazine; accepted JFP’s first short story and a number of subsequent ones.

Theodore Roethke(1908–1963): Called Beast; Champ by JFP. Poet; JFP met him at Yaddo in 1947.

Charles Shattuck(1910–1992): Called Chuck. Married to Suzie; editor at Accent magazine and professor of English at the University of Illinois at Urbana; Shakespearean scholar; was extremely influential in editing Jim’s work.

Harry Sylvester(1908–1993): Short-story writer and novelist; attended JFP’s wedding; an informal rivalry existed between him and JFP for position of top American Catholic writer; later rejected the Church.

Evelyn Waugh(1903–1966): English writer and novelist; championed JFP’s work.

Harvey C. Webster(1906–1988): Called Clocker by JFP. Professor of English at the University of Louisville; JFP met him at Yaddo; a frequent companion at the Saratoga Springs racetrack.

Gordon Zahn(1918–2007): Sociologist and writer; conscientious objector during the war; critic of the Catholic Church’s position on war; best known for In Solitary Witness: The Life and Death of Franz Jägerstätter (1964).

Letters

To Jack Conroy: Jack Conroy Papers, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections, Newberry Library, Chicago

To Father Harvey Egan: Powers family collection

To Sister Mariella Gable: Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict Archives, St. Joseph, Minnesota

To George Garrelts: Powers family collection

To Charlotte and Bill Kraft: Powers family collection

To Robert Lowell: Robert Lowell Papers, MS Am 1905, Houghton Library, Harvard University

To John Marshall: Mrs. John Marshall collection

To Ken McCormick: Powers family collection

To Michael Millgate: Michael Millgate collection

To “the Movement” (Doyle, Humphrey, O’Connell, Palmquist, Petters): Collections of the families

To Katherine Anne Porter: Special Collections, University of Maryland

To Betty Wahl Powers: Powers family collection

To Kerker Quinn and Charles Shattuck: University of Illinois Archives: Charles H. Shattuck Papers, 15/7/39; J. Kerker Quinn Papers, 15/7/30; George Scouffas Papers, 15/7/38

To Wahl and Strobel: Powers family collection

To Evelyn Waugh: Alexander Waugh collection

Other

J. F. Powers’s and Betty Wahl Powers’s journals: Powers family collection

Milwaukee Journal questionnaire typescript: Powers family collection

Illustrations

Frontispiece: Drawing by Joseph O’Connell for Morte D’Urban : Powers family collection

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page 27: Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis Archives

Photograph by J. F. Powers: Powers family collection

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Photograph by J. F. Powers: Powers family collection

Drawing by Jody O’Connell: Powers family collection

Photograph by Russell Roe: Powers family collection

Photograph by Lee Hanley: Powers family collection

Humphrey family collection

Photograph by Lee Hanley: Powers family collection

J. F. Powers’s montage for writing Morte D’Urban : Powers family collection

Photograph by Donald Black: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Photograph by Herb Snitzer: Powers family collection

O’Connell family collection

Doyle family collection

Petters family collection

Saint John’s University Archives, Collegeville, Minnesota

Palmquist family collection

The greatest thanks for this book belong to the late Fr. Harvey Egan, who not only preserved over a half century’s worth of Jim’s letters, but also provided him with an exceptionally congenial correspondent. Great thanks, too, belong to those members of the Movement, Jim’s good friends, living and dead, who did the same: Leonard and Betty Doyle, Don and Mary Humphrey, Joe and Jody O’Connell, Dick and Mary Pluth Palmquist, Fred and Romy Petters. Beyond their number, I thank Jim’s other friends and correspondents, whose letters gave him such pleasure and who, in return, didn’t throw his letters away.