Elder, Donald B.

Donald Elder, editor and writer, was born on April 15, 1913, in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in Niles, Michigan. In 1935 he received his undergraduate degree from the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts at the University of Michigan. While a student at Michigan, Mr. Elder won the freshman literature contest of 1932; the Avery Hopwood Award for creative writing in 1933 for sketches entitled Railroad Men ; and a major fiction award in 1935. In 1935, he began his career as an editor at Doubleday, Doran and Co., Inc., Publishers, where he rose through the company's ranks to become Vice President in 1946. In 1947, he took a leave of absence from the company to write Ring Lardner: A Biography, which was published by Doubleday in 1956.

While Mr. Elder was an editor at Doubleday, he became acquainted with Katherine Anne Porter, and they became close friends. For Doubleday, he edited Eugene Pressly's translation of the Mexican novel The Itching Parrot that was published under Porter's name in 1942. Mr. Elder died May 5, 1965, at the age of 52.

From the guide to the Donald Elder papers, 1940-1963, 1940-1963, (Literature and Rare Books)