Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Payne Harrison Collection
Date(s)
Extent
10 boxes
Name of creator
Biographical history
Payne Harrison, Jr., is a writer of several noted technothrillers. He was born in 1949, the son of Payne Harrison, Sr., who graduated from Texas A&M in 1924 at the age of 19 and as the youngest graduate in the history of the university. Harrison, Jr. attended Texas A&M from 1967-1971, during which time he served as a member of the Corps of Cadets. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism and subsequently served for two years in the U.S. Army as a public relations officer.
After completing his Army service, Harrison returned to A&M, where he obtained a master's degree in political science. He also earned an M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University, and worked as a reporter and a financial consultant before beginning his literary career.
Harrison's first technothriller was Storming Intrepid, released in 1989. The book tells the story of a attempt by Soviet agents to hijack the (fictional) American space shuttle _Intrepid._A sequel, Thunder of Erebus, set in Antarctica, followed in 1991. Harrison wrote two additional novels, Black Cipher(1994) and Forbidden Summit(1997), before taking a hiatus from writing. He returned to the technothriller genre in 2010 with Eurostorm.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Payne Harrison Collection consists primarily of manuscripts, notes, and related material for Harrison's novels and other written works (including an unproduced screenplay, Arrow Storm). There is also a considerably large subject file consisting of news articles, government documents, and other materials that Harrison used in research for his works.
Also in the collection are a number of photographs and slides depicting trips Harrison made (to England and to Japan, among other places), as well as various aircraft and other military subjects. (Some photographs are held in the Subject File.)
System of arrangement
Arranged by series: Manuscripts, Correspondence, Subject File, Additional Materials, Photographs, Publications.
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Physical access
These materials are stored offsite and require additional time for retrieval.
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift.
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
- Processing information: Newspaper clippings in the Subject File have been photocopied, and the originals have been tossed.
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Sources used
Archivist's note
Finding Aid Authors: Jeremy Brett.