Speech draft, undated

The Fred Pfeil papers is as diverse as it is large, comprised of drafts, finished works, correspondence, photographs, research material, and a few personal effects. At almost 3,000 items, it is one of the largest and most complete collections of a Trinity College professor held in the Trinity College Archives.

From this varied collection of documents and other assorted material emerges a story that Pfeil helped to write not only with his own creative works, but also in the autobiographies/biographies that reside in this collection (folder 257) and the material he and his family chose to retain from his earliest school days. Impressive in particular is the amount of material related to Pfeil’s writings—including preliminary notes to drafts and finished works. The entire creative process is clearly shown for almost every piece he wrote, notably poems, short stories, several novels (one published) and a libretto, all of which are well-represented in this collection.