Manuscripts - MSS 47 - Jones, John Timmins (Jack), 1923-1983

MSS 47 – Jones, John Timmins (Jack), 1923-1983

Papers of John T. Jones, 1914-1982

Gallaudet University Archives

Descriptive Summary

Repository: Gallaudet University Archives

Call No.: MSS 47

Creator:

Title: Papers of John T. Jones, 1914-1982

Quantity: 26.5 Linear Feet (53 document boxes)

Abstract:

Note: This document last updated 2006 January 3.

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information: Unknown.

Processed by: Unknown.

Processing Note:

Conditions on Use and Access: This collection is open to the public with no restrictions. Photocopies may be made for scholarly research.

Related Material in the Archives: See ALADIN.

Biographical Sketch

Jack Jones was a cultural historian, social critic, fiction writer, and poet. Born on September 28, 1923 in Dallas, Texas, he grew up and lived most of his life in New York. He graduated from the Dwight School in New York City in 1942.

From the years 1942-1955, he attended Swarthmore College, the New York University, the New School for Social Research, and Vassar Summer Institute, as well as working a number of factory jobs and publishing poetry and short fiction.

In the early 1950s, he worked as a reader of published and unpublished fiction and nonfiction for the Curtis Brown Company and Twentieth Century Fox.

Ideologically a Marxist, he analyzed the enigma of Marxism and wrote an article entitled To The End of Thought in 1953 which was later published in 1955 under the pseudonym “John Hurkan.”

Jones expanded To the End of Thought into a book in which he set forth a more general theory of history and religious consciousness and elaborated the psychology and ideology of man. This book was never published; however many of the articles published over the next twenty-five years were essentially chapters from it.

Jones’ activities in the areas of cultural history and social criticism led to his being requested to write an article on Otto Rank for The International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, published in 1968. In 1970, he published Herbert Marcus and the Cunning of Revolution. This was followed by The Idea of Socialism: The Ninety Degree Turn in 1971, and Que est ce que Humanism?” and Five Versions of Psychological Man in1972.

During the early 1970s, Jones suffered severe eye problems and was diagnosed as having a detached retina and cataracts. Despite being declared legally blind in 1974, he continued researching and writing, using magnification and a large print typewriter. From 1978 to 1982, he continued writing and published five manuscripts.

Jones died of cancer on January 10, 1983, shortly after the publication of The Deepening World Ecological Crisis, Commentary, and the Reaganauts and How Marx Went Fatally Wrong.

Scope and Content

The John Timmins (Jack) Jones collection consists of 53 boxes.

There are four parts of this collection and they are of the following: Correspondence from 1929 to 1982, Personal Papers from 1923 to 1982, Jones Family Correspondence and Papers, and Manuscripts, Reviews and Correspondence from 1914 to 1983 and 1950 to 1982. In the first series, which includes 23 boxes, the correspondences are mostly personal and business. The personal papers include the birth certificate and basic information of Jones along with his diary entries. The Jones Family Correspondence and Papers are just placed in one box. The rest of the 27 boxes are of manuscripts, reviews and correspondence. Jones believed in Marxism and that was exposed in most of his published works. His thoughts were put into poetry and short fiction stories that would be in many journals; the notes are included in this collection.

Series Descriptions and Folder Lists

Series 1: Correspondence 1929-1982

Series 2: Personal Papers 1923-1982

Series 3: Jones Family Correspondence and Papers

Series 4: Manuscripts, Reviews, and Correspondence 1914-1983 and 1950-1982.