Sherwood Anderson, Julia Collier Harris, and
J. LaRose Harris in Columbus, Ga., February 1929

Julia Florida Collier was born to Charles Augustus and Susie Rawson Collier in Atlanta, Georgia in 1875. After finishing Miss Chamberlayne's School in Boston, Harris graduated from Washington Seminary in Atlanta, Georgia where she studied illustration with Henry Sandham. She went on to attend Cowles Art School and the University of Chicago. In 1897 she married Julian LaRose Harris, managing editor of the Atlanta Constitution, and business manager of Uncle Remus's Magazine. In 1913, the Harrises moved to New York, where Julian began work as the Sunday editor of the New York Herald, then as editor and general manager of the Paris Herald. Julia contributed articles and columns to both of these papers. Following Julian's service in World War I, the Harrises became owners of the Columbus Enquirer-Sun in Georgia (1922-29). Julia was associate editor and vice president; wrote articles, editorials and reviewed books; and was a music critic. She also wrote a number of travel and art essays for leading periodicals. Additionally, she was a strong voice in local and national social and civic issues. In 1926, Julia and Julian Harris received the Pulitzer Prize. She also published two biographies of her father-in-law: Life and Letters of Joel Chandler Harris (1918) and Joel Chandler Harris: Editor and Essayist (1931). Julia Collier Harris died in 1967.

[For more biographical information see "Julian and Julia Collier Harris (1874-1963; 1875-1967)" in the New Georgia Encyclopedia: http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2459 ]

The Julia Collier Harris Papers consist primarily of received correspondence related to the journalistic work of Julia Harris and her husband in support of social and civic improvement, and their work for the Columbus Enquirer- Sun. Among the more than 300 letters are those of Sherwood Anderson, Gamaliel Bradford and George Washington Carver, as well as 137 letters from Geraldine Farrar (after her retirement from Metropolitan Opera to civic and war service). Sixty-seven letters from H.L. Menken and letters from Louis Bromfield, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, Cora Wilson Stewart and numerous other persons of importance are also included. Other materials such as clippings, manuscripts, and photographs are interfiled among some of the correspondence.

This collection also includes typescripts of unpublished papers by Julia Harris for the Atlanta "History Club," Harris' published articles for the Columbus Enquirer-Sun and the Chattanooga Sunday Times, manuscripts of her review of the George Washington Carver biography and impressions of Europe written for the New York Herald Magazine Supplement as well as a memorabilia and a photograph of the Harrises with Sherwood Anderson (1929).