"St. Cecilia's and Me" <em>St. Anthony's Messenger</em> column 1177 Main St. USA
In this column, Cormier writes about the closing of his alma mater, St. Cecilia's. He talks of his memories of the school including the house fire he witnessed from his classroom, his crush on Sister Emile who taught music, the poem on spring he shared with Sister Catherine, and the corporal punishment and shame that was part of a Catholic school.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Cormier">Robert Cormier</a>
<em>St. Anthony's Messenger</em>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
May 1977
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/118" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"The Price of Truth" The Sign</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/117">"The Tenderness" The Sign</a>
JPG, 8.5 x 11 magazine page
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Magazine+column">Magazine column</a>
"The Price of Truth" <em>The Sign</em>
This story in <em>The Sign</em> tells how 11-year-old Jerome takes up painting in an effort to impress his teacher, the nun Marie-Thérèse, whose later departure from the convent serves as the story's subplot. The story takes place in Frenchtown, the setting for several of Cormier's stories.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Cormier">Robert Cormier</a>
<em>The Sign</em>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
July 1963
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/145" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"St. Cecilia's and Me" St. Anthony's Messenger column 1177 Main St. USA</a> <br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/117" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"The Tenderness" The Sign</a>
JPG, 8.5x11
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Magazine+article">Magazine article</a>
"The Tenderness" <em>The Sign</em>
This story recounts the efforts of thirteen-year-old Phillip as he tries to impress his piano teacher Sister Angela and win a spot in the orchestra for the Christmas recital.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Cormier">Robert Cormier</a>
<em>The Sign</em>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
December 1947
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/145" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"St. Cecilia's and Me" St. Anthony's Messenger column 1177 Main St. USA</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/118" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"The Price of Truth" The Sign</a>
JPG, 8.5x11
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Magazine+article+xerox+copy">Magazine article xerox copy</a>
<em>Heroes</em> marked typescript miscellaneous pages
Thirty pages of <em>Heroes</em> manuscript, most of which show hand-written revisions and markings. Pages show pasted strips of salvaged sections from earlier drafts. Repeated versions of war scenes sliced with scenes of playing soldiers as children in the street appear. Included is a moment of Cormier writing about his own childhood memory of his house on fire. Frequent mentions of insomnia, eyes, and Francis's crush on Nicole appear. Fragments of Francis's final meeting with Nicole also feature heavily.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Cormier">Robert Cormier</a>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
Annamary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/109" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heroes handwritten notes</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/110" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heroes marked typescript</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/112" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heroes cut and pasted typescript pieces</a>
JPG, 8.5x11, several cut and scotched taped together
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Marked+typescript">Marked typescript</a>
<em>Heroes</em> marked typescript
In these eight typewritten pages of a <em>Heroes</em> draft, Cormier has added handwritten notes for revision. Scenes of Francis crushing on Nicole (called Dominique Cavalier in this draft) feature heavily as do the nuns and Catholic school. Also included are brief mentions of boyhood, French Canadian migration to New England, and the Wreck Center.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Cormier">Robert Cormier</a>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
Annamary L. Consalvo Katharine Covino Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/109" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heroes handwritten notes</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/111" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heroes marked typescript miscellaneous pages</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/112" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heroes cut and pasted typescript pieces</a>
JPG, 8.5x11
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Marked+typescript">Marked typescript</a>
<em>Heroes</em> handwritten notes
<em>Heroes</em> thumbnail "sketches".
In these two handwritten pages of thumbnail sketches, Cormier lays out his conceptions of sections of<em> Heroes</em>. The outline is particularly concerned with when characters are introduced and when their backstories are revealed. The collaboration between Nicole and the nuns is repeated three times.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Cormier">Robert Cormier</a>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
Annamary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/110" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heroes marked typescript</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/111" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heroes marked typescript miscellaneous pages</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/112" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heroes cut and pasted typescript pieces</a>
JPG, 8.5x11, yellow lined notepad paper
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Handwritten+notes">Handwritten notes</a>
Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 29 March 1968
This is a two-page typed letter to Marilyn Marlow of Curtis Brown Ltd. Literary agency. Cormier discusses his difficulty in settling on an idea for his new novel. One novel on a woman looking to be a nun reads dated to him and another is overtly sexual and repellent, so it also does not feel like a match. He also shares his experiences as a part-time "free-lancer" and returning part-time at the <em>Fitchburg</em> <em>Sentinel </em>as a means to support his family while trying to carve out time for novel writing. He invites Marilyn to visit him since he is unable to come to New York with the new baby.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Robert+Cormier">Robert Cormier</a>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
29 March 1968
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/138" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow undated</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/120" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">"My Father's Gamble" The Sign</a><br /><a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/41" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Robert Cormier's letter to Miss Marilyn Marlow 4 October 1960</a>
JPG, 8.5x11 onion skin
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Letter">Letter</a>
"Writer's work travels far" <em>Telegram</em>
This 1997 article in the <em>Telegram</em> chronicles Cormier's early life growing up in Leominster, from his father's work in the plastic factory and his untimely death, to his beginnings as a writer, through his ultimate success of <em>The Chocolate War</em> and<em> I Am the Cheese</em>. The article also discusses how integral Leominster is to Cormier's work and life.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=George+Snell">George Snell</a>
<em>Telegram & Gazette</em>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
9 March 1997
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
JPG, 8.5x11
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Newspaper+article">Newspaper article</a>
"St. Cecilia's Parish 1999-2000 Portrait of a Parich"
This article praises Cormier's work compiling a history of his home parish St. Cecilia's. Notably, this article presents a more circumspect account of Cormier's house burning when he was in the eighth grade, his use of St. Cecilia's for Monument's St. Jude's, and his changing views on the word processor.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Craig+S.+Semon">Craig S. Semon</a>
Robert E. Cormier Collection at Fitchburg State University's Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library
AnnaMary L. Consalvo
Katharine Covino
Elise Takehana
<a href="https://robertcormiertwistedintimacy.omeka.net/items/show/82" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><span>"English students go right to top with their questions" The Advertiser</span></a>
JPG, 8.5x11
English
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=51&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Typescript+draft+feature">Typescript draft feature</a>