Burt Chernow papers, 1930-2002

Notes and writings consist mainly of drafts and revisions of Christo and Jeanne-Claude: A Biography, written by Burt Chernow. Also found are later drafts made by editors after Chernow's death in 1997 and in the process of preparing the book for publication, and a proof and galley of Wolfgang Volz's epilogue, both in German.

In a recording found in series 1.6, Business Records, Ann Chernow describes Burt Chernow's writing process in detail, providing an explanation for the unusual arrangement of documents in the early drafts. She explains this directly, saying he would type a small section and then re-type it multiple times, as a method of re-writing and editing. The arrangement of early drafts reflects this process, with multiple versions of brief sections of the text filed together with many annotations. These writings are filed in this series under the heading "Revisions." She also explains that he wrote and revised each section completely before beginning another section, and the arrangement of this series reflects that process. She also explains how Chernow created lists of words for each section to enhance his writing, and some of these lists are filed under the heading "Notes" along with writing fragments on Christo.

Significant edits made after Burt Chernow's death are documented in the files named Posthumous Drafts. In her recorded notes on the book's history found in series 1.6, Ann Chernow recounts how during this stage of the editing, Jeanne-Claude removed all mention of her mother's Jewish ancestry before the manuscript was sent to the agent's editor, Tim Mennel. Tim Mennel made significant edits, primarily for repetition and length, before the manuscript was submitted to publishers. Correspondence between Tim Mennel to Ann Chernow is found with the edited typescript, and sometimes notes made by Ann Chernow regarding her response to his edits are also found. The first publisher, Kiepenheuer & Witsch in Germany, removed most of the material from the early chapters that dealt with other artists in Christo's circle in Paris and New York. Later the United States publisher, St. Martin's Press, added much of that material back in, cutting portions of Wolfgang Volz's epilogue to make room for it. Posthumous drafts document each stage of these changes to Burt Chernow's manuscript, as well as a proof of the German epilogue by Wolfgang Volz and its translation in the English edition's galleys.

In general, writings for the biography are filed in the order of the production process, with Burt Chernow's writings broken down by his initial book sections, which were later changed. Chernow's working titles for each section are in quotation marks in the folder listing.

See series 1.6, Business Records, for drafts of additional text generated during the publishing process, such as Jeanne-Claude's foreword, jacket text, various translations, and Ann Chernow's dedication. Business records also contain additional correspondence and contracts with the literary agent, editors, and publishers, as well as copies of all the Christos' approvals of portions of Chernow's manuscript. Series 1.7, Printed Materials, contains published versions of the biography. See series 2, Other Writings, for additional writings by Chernow about the Christos including multiple lectures on Christo and Jeanne-Claude's later projects. Note that Chernow's writing in the current series does not contain writings on the later projects due to his death before completion of the biography.