Jonathan Yardley (1939- ), Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic, columnist, and author, was born in Pittsburgh, Pa.; spent his childhood in Chatham, Va., where his father was headmaster of Chatham Hall, a girls' boarding school; and graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., in 1961. After graduation, he interned at the as assistant to James Reston. From 1964 to 1974, Yardley worked as an editorial writer and book reviewer at the Greensboro, N.C., ; he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, 1968-1969. From 1974 to 1978, he was the book editor of the , then book critic at the , 1978-1981, winning a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism in 1981. In 1981, Yardley became book critic and columnist at the . New York Times News and Record Miami Herald Washington Star Washington Post The collection consists of subject files, clippings, book production materials, family materials, and other items. Subject files relate to Yardley's career as a book critic, columnist, and author. Included is personal and professional correspondence with authors and others, among them Roger Angell, William Bennett, Doris Betts, Laurie Colwin, Robert Creamer, his agent Liz Darhansoff, Robb Dew, Fred Exley, Lynn Freed, Ellen Gilchrist, Gail Godwin, Don Graham, Paul Hemphill, Alfred Knopf, George McGovern, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, James Reston, Anne Tyler, Peter Taylor, Paul Theroux, and Ed Yoder. There is also correspondence regarding the publication of his books, articles, and his appointment on Pulitzer Prize and American Book Award committees and with members of his family. Subject files also include materials relating to books and projects that Yardley never completed, such as biographies of Stephen Crane and H. L. Mencken; materials relating to articles, reviews, and columns published in magazines and newspapers; materials relating to his childhood and school years through college; and materials relating to Yardley's family and heritage, including his father's work at Chatham Hall. Clippings include columns and reviews written by Yardley during his tenure at the and other newspapers. Book production materials relate to , , , and . Family materials include items relating to Yardley's parents, William Woolsey Yardley and Helen Ingersoll Gregory Yardley; family letters; memoirs; genealogical materials relating to the Yardley, Woolsey, Hart, Thorne, Gregory, and Ingersoll families; financial and legal documents; a diary; and carte de visite albums, photograph albums, and other images. Washington Post Ring Our Kind of People Out of Step: Notes from a Purple Decade States of Mind: A Personal Journey Through the Mid-Atlantic
