The papers of Joe Lee Davis total 8 linear feet of correspondence, course materials, manuscripts of writings, and personal materials documenting his scholarly interests and skills as a teacher. Of added significance are collected family materials: journals and other papers of his father, Lexington, Kentucky journalist R. Lee Davis, his aunt Kate Davis, and his brother T. O. Davis, a motion picture theater manager and unpublished novelist.
Joe Lee Davis was a literary man who loved books and literary discussions. As a young man in Kentucky, he wrote poetry, articles for his father's newspapers, and essays on literary topics. The letters he wrote and received in the 1920s contain exchanges about books read and attempts at descriptive narrative. Davis and his correspondents in this period were honing their skills as writers through the medium of the letter. These letters are always interesting discussions of contemporary life, albeit somewhat pretentious in tone.
The largest portion of the collection are Davis' course materials consisting of files of notes and lectures on various authors, as well as other materials used in his specialized English classes. Of note, too, are manuscripts of Davis' writings, his master's and doctoral theses, and copies and manuscripts of his other writings (journal articles and newspaper book reviews).
The collected family materials are of interest for his father's journals covering family activities and his newspaper career in Lexington, and photographs of motion picture theaters in Kentucky and Ohio managed by his brother, Thomas O. Davis.
Joe Lee Davis was born February 22, 1906 in Lexington, Kentucky, the son of Robert Lee and Jo Greene Davis. He graduated from the University of Kentucky receiving his B.A. degree in 1926 and his master of arts degree in 1927. For three years, Davis worked as an instructor in English at the University of Kentucky, then in 1930, he came to the University of Michigan where he received his doctorate in English in 1934. While a student, Davis was also a member of the U-M English department faculty, serving as an instructor from 1930 to 1937. He was promoted to assistant professor in 1937, associate professor in 1944, and professor in 1948.
As a teacher in the English department, Davis' specialties were American literature and 17th-century English literature. Professor Davis was a widely recognized authority on Ben Jonson and his contemporaries (the so-called "Sons of Ben"), as well as 20th-century authors James Branch Cabell and George Santayana. He was a prolific author, writing scholarly and popular articles on his specialties and American fiction in general. At the university, Davis helped to found the Program in American Culture and served as its chairman from 1952 to 1969.
Professor Joe Lee Davis died February 19, 1974.
