Marian McCamy Sims papers

Marian McCamy Sims was born in Dalton, Georgia on October 16, 1898, to Julian and Grace Gardner McCamy. She had one sister (Mary), and two brothers (Frank and Warren). As a young adult, she matriculated through Agnes Scott College, where she was president of her class during her senior year. After completing her formal education in 1920 she returned to Dalton, where she taught French and history at the local public school. In addition, she also wrote for the Dalton newspaper, and the Atlanta Journal. Marian married Frank Sims in 1927 (Frank’s sister married Marian’s brother, Robert). Later, in 1930, Frank and Marian moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where she began writing fiction. It was because of her connection with the Atlanta Journal, that she was sent a book manuscript to read as a literary consultant. The manuscript, by Margaret Mitchell, would later be published under the title Gone with the Wind, a story that Sims found compelling. Following her examination of Mitchell’s manuscript, Sims and Mitchell developed a long-time friendship as literary colleagues.

As Sims matured as a fiction writer in the 1930s, the hallmark of her writing became the Southern culture of ordinary people, rather than stereotypes of land-owning gentry or the poor inhabitants of Southern “tobacco roads.” Sims’ writing of “normal” people concentrated on business men, lawyers or others who spent their free time playing bridge or golf. Sims was one of the developers of the image of the “New South.” Literary critic Christine Govan, of the Chatanooga Times, wrote of Sims writing:

Where Marian Sims does her finest writing…is in the brief, revealing glimpses of social life in the south. As a depicter of small gossip—bitter, sly, and often penetrating—heard around the bridge table; of the vapid and ennuled chaff of drunks at a dance or on the beach; of the hot fervor and dramatic intensity of a religious tent meeting; the intricate petty red tape and backbiting at school board meetings…in this sort of thing, she is unsurpassed.

By the end of her career Sims wrote seven novels, and dozens of short stories, most of which appeared in prominent magazines, such as Ladies’ Home Journal, Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, McCalls and more. Aside from her literary occupation, Sims was active in tennis, golf, horseback riding, gardening, drama, theatre, and especially bridge.

Marion Sims died of cancer in 1961 in Charlotte at the age of 62.