A Guide to the Jimmy Buffett Papers

Finding aid created by Frank Orser

University of Florida Smathers Libraries - Special and Area Studies Collections

September 2011

Biographical/Historical Note

Musician, author. The grandson of a sea captain and son of a Navy shipbuilder, singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett's music and writings are full of references to sea life also by way of his drunken-sailor persona. Raised in Mobile, Alabama, Buffett moved to New Orleans after his high school graduation to attend college where he worked as a guitarist and vocalist performing folk music and composing his own music. In the late 1960s he moved to Nashville, to enter the music business. While writing for Billboard magazine Buffett performed locally and signed a recording contract with Barnaby Records. He settled near Key West, Florida, living for a time aboard his ketch, island-hopping and smuggling marijuana.

In 1977 his gold record Margaritaville was released. Tales from Margaritaville, a collection of humorous short stories and personal anecdotes, was published in 1990. He had previously written a children's book, The Jolly Mon (1988), with his daughter Savannah Jane, but Tales from Margaritaville was his first full-length book. He followed it in 1992 with the novel Where is Joe Merchant? establishing his storytelling talents not only in music, but in literature. Although he still maintains his drunken-sailor persona in his work, he devotes a great deal of time and his work's proceeds to philanthropic activities.

Source: Contemporary Authors Online. The Gale Group, 2001. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: The Gale Group. 2002.

Scope and Content

The Jimmy Buffett Papers, dated 1975-2005, are primarily drafts, notes, correspondence, and galleys of Jimmy Buffett's books and movies.

Books include Tales from Margaritaville (a collection of short stories published in 1989), Where is Joe Merchant? (a novel published in 1992), A Pirate Looks at Fifty (autobiography released in 1998), and A Salty Piece of Land (novel published in 2004).

Also included are notes, story summaries, and drafts for the unreleased movie adaptation of Buffett's novel Where is Joe Merchant?, which was also known as "Daybreak on the Equator." Drafts and the shooting script for the movie Hoot with Jimmy Buffett serving as Executive Producer, actor, and provided music for the movie which was an adaptation of Carl Hiaasen's novel, with a screenplay written and directed by Wil Shriner. Finally, there are drafts for the short-lived Miami based Stage Play/Musical Don't Stop the Carnival produced by Herman Wouk (author of the novel) in conjunction with Jimmy Buffett who released an album of the same name.

The papers also include five non-professional videotapes of performances, a contract for a concert at the Euphoria Tavern in Portland, Oregon, a list of fiction and non-fiction books with Buffett's favorites indicated, thank you letters for philanthropic activities, and a list of scholarship recipients at the Cincinnati Public Schools.

Access or Use Restrictions

Access

The collection is open for research.

Usage Restrictions

Literary rights are retained by Jimmy Buffett.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Jimmy Buffett Papers, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Jimmy Buffett, June 1, 1993.

Processing Notes

Additional accession processed and added to the collection in April 2019.

Selected Subjects and Access Terms

Buffett, Jimmy
correspondence
Florida.
Motion pictures.
Musicians.
Novelists, American.
Philanthropists.

For further information, please contact: Special Collections Access Services.

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