Correspondence, Jan. 1978, 1980-1981

The Charles Ferry papers contain materials related to the writing, editing, and publication processes for Ferry’s body of work, and his outreach efforts related to his previous struggles with alcoholism and eventual successful sobriety. Although much of the collection consists of paper-based documents (e.g., correspondence, typed drafts, news articles, and so on), other mixed media materials provide additional context into Ferry’s work and relationship with his community in Rochester Hills (e.g., AV materials containing interviews, speaking engagement at Oakland University, etc.).

Ferry donated his papers to the archives on April 16, 1987, meticulously documenting the contents of the collection according to his own inventory list and filing system. Although the following series have been created based on archival best practices, the majority of Ferry’s original notations and arrangement were respected during the collection’s processing.

Items within the records are arranged according to function and have been arranged in five series: Correspondence, Promotional, Publication, Workshop, and Audiovisual.

The Correspondence series contains items related to Ferry’s personal life and published works at various stages of their conception. Due to its volume and diversity of scope, this series has been further arranged into three subseries. Jane M. Bingham: Dr. Jane Bingham served as a professor of education in the department of reading and language arts within Oakland University’s School of Education and Human services. Her long-term correspondence with Ferry inspired a great amount of letters, several speaking engagements to undergraduate classes, and ultimately the donation of Ferry’s papers to the special collections. Publishing: Ferry worked with multiple editors and publishers during the course of his writing career. The documents within this subseries pertain to each of his published works, and are arranged chronologically and in accordance with Ferry’s original arrangement of each folder. Young Readers: Ferry’s novels were written for adolescent and teenage readers, many of whom reached out to him in response to his works. As is the case with all of his letters, Ferry kept careful arrangement of these materials and responded to many of them (although these responses are not contained in this collection). The Promotional series contains materials related to Ferry’s news and outreach activities. In addition to his novels, Ferry contributed to local newspapers in the Rochester Hills area, and was a frequent speaker in libraries, bookstores, and schools across the state. The Publications series contains materials related to each of Ferry’s published works, documenting each one from their conception and first drafts to their editing and eventual publication. The series is further arranged into subseries for each one of Ferry’s novels, which are ordered chronologically by publication date. The majority of these folders have been given the original nominal identification as written by Ferry during the time of its creation. The Events series contains materials related to his work on Writing for a Better You, a workshop for young writers Ferry developed and presented in 1987 and 1988. The Audiovisual series contains items related to Ferry’s various speaking engagements given in Rochester Hills and the surrounding areas during the 1980s and early 1990s.