Parts of Margaret Mitchell's original manuscript for "Gone With the Wind," previously thought to have been burned by her husband after the author's death per her wishes, are not gone with the wind after all.
The Atlanta History Center will display the final four chapters of Mitchell's recently rediscovered manuscript from June 4 to Sept. 5 as part of a citywide observance of the 75th anniversary of the iconic novel's 1936 publication.
The Buckhead museum is one of only two venues that will show the neatly typed chapters, including some pages with handwritten edits by Mitchell and her husband, John Marsh, following their display at the Pequot Library in Southport, Conn., starting Saturday.
The Connecticut library is where the prized papers were rediscovered only recently as part of a collection donated in the 1950s by the late George P. Brett Jr., chairman of Macmillan Publishing's American division. It was unclear how Brett came to possess these chapters.
Though it had exhibited pages from the manuscript in a 1979 exhibit of Macmillan first editions and a 1991 show pegged to the release of Alexandra Ripley's "GWTW" sequel "Scarlett," the library had returned them to storage without realizing their importance.
"I think probably nobody there really understood the ramifications of what they had, the importance of it, the rarity," History Center executive vice president Michael Rose said Wednesday. "That’s kind of a cultural legend around here, and I’m sure nobody in Connecticut understands the impact of all that."
After she discovered that the Pequot Library had the rare pages as part of her research for the recently published "Margaret Mitchell’s ‘Gone With the Wind': A Bestseller’s Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood," co-author Ellen Brown informed library director Dan Snydacker.
Snydacker immediately began planning an exhibit in the Yankee seaport town and, aware of the Atlanta History Center as a repository of Mitchell materials and steward of the Margaret Mitchell House, approached the Atlanta institution. Rose said the History Center instantly agreed to the offer of a loan two weeks ago.
"Things have moved very quickly," he said of planning an exhibit on the fly that has quickly grown to include loaned artifacts and pieces from the History Center's permanent collection. "Throwing that together in a couple of weeks is a pretty startling procedure. But we’re thrilled to be able to do this."
"Atlanta’s Book: The Lost ‘Gone With the Wind' Manuscript" will, of course, be built around the lost chapters, with the 16 pages of final Chapter 63 mounted on the wall in sequence for visitors to view and read. The earlier three chapters will be fanned out in a display case.
The roughly 2,000-square-foot exhibit also will include the desk upon which Mitchell typed the manuscript and the even more epic first draft that Macmillan editor in chief Harold Latham secured on a 1935 scouting trip to Atlanta. Donated to the History Center by the author's late brother, Stephens Mitchell, the desk has never been publicly displayed, according to Rose.
The show also will include some 40 early "GWTW" volumes and foreign editions, period photographs of Mitchell and letters from the author related to her best-seller's publication.
While declining to project attendance, Rose believes there will be "a high interest level" in the lost chapters, especially since the show will coincide with other 75th anniversary activities and will run during the summer, when family visitation to the History Center typically grows. The museum drew 75,000 for an exhibit of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s papers during a four-month run in 2007.
Chris Coover, a senior specialist at Christie's books and manuscripts department in New York, termed Mitchell's four final chapters "a precious literary artifact."
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