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Arts, Architecture & Literature in Special Collections

This guide offers brief descriptions of relevant art, architecture, and literature collections. Links are provided whenever online inventories exist.

Literature Related Guides

Teaching with Primary Source Materials

Our collections exist to be used. When students work directly with primary source materials, historic photographs, and documents that are old or unique, they discover an excitement and passion not generated by textbooks.

Primary source documents can inspire, but they also teach about learning to verify sources, tracking down connections, finding evidence from content and from physical clues.

Papers of Major Literary Figures in SCUA Collections

Special Collections and University Archives collects in the topical area Oregon Authors, including personal and professional correspondence, literary manuscripts, publicity, reviews, and published works of Oregon authors.

Bishop, Elizabeth, 1911-­1979 
Letters to Carley Dawson, 1948-1949. 24 letters.
Elizabeth Bishop was born in Worcester, Mass., and graduated from Vassar College. In1949-1950 she was consultant in poetry at the Library of Congress. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1956 for Poems: North and South (Boston, 1955). The letters refer to poets, poetry, and personal problems. Typed transcript filed with originals.
A 214

Blassingame, Lurton 
Correspondence files, 1965-1975. 22 boxes; 33 linear ft.
Literary agent. The correspondence files are with authors, publishers, and agents, and include royalty reports. Major correspondents are: Russell Annabel, Joe Archibald, Joe Brooks, Charles Einstein, Robert Heinlein, A.A. Hoehling, Ted Janes, James Joseph, David Lavender, Keith Monroe, John Reese, Andy Russell, Margaret Self, Don Stanford, and George Sullivan.
Authors of books for young people and children include: Wyatt Blassingame, Merle Constiner, Maureen Daly McGivern, Charles Einstein, Leonard Falkner, Gertrude Elva Bridgman Finney, Robert Fontaine, Neta L. Frazier, Robert Heinlein, Edwin Hoag, A.A. Hoehling, Anne Roller Issler, James Joseph, James Kjelgaard, Robert G. Krauss, Sidney Lens, Mike McGrady, Arthur Orrmont, Alonzo Pond, Margaret Scherf, Don Stanford, G. Harry Stine, Marcella Thum and Robert W. and Janet R. Young.
Ax 43

Branch, Houston, 1905-1968 
Papers, 1919-1958. 11 ft.
Author was born in St. Paul, Minn. From 1926 he was a film writer in Hollywood. He also formed a public relations firm, Houston Branch Associates. In 1937 he and William Allen founded the American Library Foundation.
The papers consist almost entirely of manuscripts of novels, plays, screen stories, screen treatments, and television plays. There are minor files relating to the work of Houston Branch Associates and the American One folder contains manuscript and printed music by Charles Wakefield Cadman.
Coll. 249

Cantwell, Robert Emmett, 1908-1978 
Papers, 1926-1961. 8 ft., incl. 218 letters.
Robert Cantwell, novelist, biographer, essayist, and editor, was born in Little Falls, Wash., and attended the University of Washington. He worked in a plywood factory at Hoquiam, Wash., 1925-1929, and did free-lance work, 1929-1935. He was on the editorial staff of Time, 1935-1936, and Fortune, 1937, associate editor of Time, 1938-1945, literary editor of Newsweek, 1949-1954, editorial consultant of Sports Illustrated, 1956-1960, and senior editor from 1961.
The papers consist of manuscripts of novels, biographies, etc., including: (1) Alexander Wilson (N.Y., 1961). Final copy, unused material, early versions of various parts, notes, illustrations, correspondence with publisher and informants. (2) "Encyclopedia of American Industry." Unpublished. Outline for project, reports, and working notes. (3) Laugh and Lie Down (N.Y., 1931). Typescript, carbon, of early version of novel. (4) "The Merchant of Boston." Unpublished. A projected biography of E. A. Filene done in 1933-1934, intended as a collaboration with Lincoln Steffens. Includes manuscript of Filene's early recollections and one chapter of the biography. With it is a 242-page untitled manuscript, part biography, mostly Cantwell's account of his experiences while writing the book. (5) Nathaniel Hawthorne: The American Years (N.Y., 1948). Working notes and correspondence, 1945-1950. (6) Permanent Peace (N.Y., 1958). Manuscript, source notes, revisions, and correspondence concerning a book by Tom Slick, assisted by Cantwell. The manuscript is entitled "Blueprint for Permanent Peace," and differs from the published version. (7) "The Powers of Darkness." Unpublished. Typescript of a novelette written about 1934-1935. (8) The White Rose of Memphis (N.Y.,1953). Cantwell wrote the introduction to this edition of the 1881 novel by W. C. Falkner. Includes typed draft of introduction, an essay on the career of Col. Falkner, and correspondence.
The collection also includes the manuscripts of 34 articles by Cantwell, 1935-1962. There is an outline for a study of four novelists, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, James T. Farrell, and Erskine Caldwell. With the outline is source material, including a Faulkner manuscript, 1 leaf, a letter, Hemingway to Cantwell, Aug. 25, 1950, 4 letters of Farrell to Cantwell, 1934, and 2 Caldwell letters, 1950. Miscellaneous manuscripts include an autobiography of James B. McNamara, convicted dynamiter. Major correspondents are: Calvin Fixx (68 letters from Greenwich Village, 1926-1936), Carl List, John Dos Passos, and Maxwell Perkins.
Coll. 020

Coffield, Glen, 1917-1981
Papers, 1939-1979. 43 boxes; 48 lin. ft.
Coffield was born in Prescott, Arizona, and received a B.S. degree in education from Central Missouri State Teachers College in 1940. During World War II, he first served in C.P.S. Camp #7 in Magnolia, Arkansas, then was transferred to Camp Waldport in 1942. He became part of the "Fine Arts Group" at Waldport; The Horned Moon, a book of Coffield's poems, was the second publication of the Untide Press. After the war, Coffield continued to write, and for a time (1947-1954) ran the Grundtvig Folk School, a "humanist school in the woods" on the Columbia Gorge near Eagle Creek in the Cascade Mountains. Coffield died in 1981.
The papers consist of publications, mainly poetry works, published by Coffield and others, materials for poetry contests and poetry workshops sponsored by Coffield, checklists of ideas kept by Coffield, and miscellaneous items. The publications include copies of The Grundtvig Review and Almanac, The Creativity Newsletter, The Creative Review, and The Bridge.
Coll. 217

Josephy, Alvin M., Jr., 1915- 2005 
Papers, 1940-2002. 163.25 linear feet, (242 boxes, 1 folio, 1 folder, 1 package)
Alvin Josephy, Jr (May 18, 1915-October 16, 2005) was a historian and author on the American West, especially American Indian life, culture, and the development of American Indian Policy, a journalist and editor, and was the founding chairman of the board of trustees of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. The collection contains Josephy's literary manuscripts, professional correspondence, personal papers and correspondence, material related to Josephy's work with American Heritage Publishing Company, and also publications, correspondence, minutes and other material pertaining to Indigenous peoples and organizations, and the development of American Indian policy. 
Coll. 014

Haycox, Ernest James, 1899-1950 
55 boxes; 27.5 lin. Ft
Correspondence of Ernest Haycox and W. F. G. Thacher, 1930-1947. 42 letters.
Ernest Haycox was born in Portland, Ore., and educated at Reed College and the University of Oregon. He was a writer of adventure stories and novels, most of them with western settings. The correspondence includes 27 letters, Haycox to Thacher, and 15, Thacher to Haycox, in carbon. They concern problems of writing. With the letters is a file of correspondence, 1950-1952, concerning a proposed biography of Haycox by Thacher. The letters are from Robert Ormond Case, Jill Haycox, and Binfords & Mort, Portland, Ore., publisher. A selection of the Haycox-Thacher correspondence was published under the title Dear W. F. G. (Boston, 1951).
The professional library of Ernest Haycox is maintained as a unit in the University of Oregon Library. It includes copies of all his books in various editions and translations.
Coll. 164

Kesey, Ken Elton, 1935-2001
Papers, 1959-1965. 3 ft.
Ken Kesey, novelist, was born in La Junta, Colo., and educated at the University of Oregon. The papers include manuscripts in various stages and final forms of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (N.Y., 1962), Sometimes a Great Notion (N.Y., 1964), and an unpublished novel, "Zoo" (1959). There are also manuscripts of poems and short sketches, notebooks and sketch pads, and tape recordings of Kesey dictations and taped letters from friends. Major correspondent is Ken J. Babbs, 1961-1965.
Ax 279

Knight, Damon, 1922-2002
Papers, letters, notebooks 25 boxes; 25 lin. ft.
Knight was an author of many talents and lending his skills to the genres of Science fiction; Short Stories; Translations; Biography; Literary criticism and history; Essays; Novels was born in Baker, OR. He was given many awards during his career; Hugo Award, World Science Fiction Convention, 1956, for best science-fiction criticism; Pilgrim Award, 1975, for contributions to science fiction; Jupiter Award, 1976, for "I See You"; Charles Erskine Scott Award, 1995; honorary doctorate, Michigan State University, 1996. His career was solidly grounded in writing- Writer. Assistant editor, Popular Publications, 1943-44 and 1949-50; Milford Science Fiction Writers' Conference, co-founder, 1956, director, 1956-76; visiting lecturer, Clarion Workshop, beginning 1968; adjunct professor, Michigan State University, 1979. Damon Knight was also the editor on 30 volumes
Coll 340

Le Guin, Ursula, 1929-
Collection on deposit. Closed to researchers.
Papers, 12 boxes; 17.5 lin. ft.
The author was born in Berkely, CA. She received a Fulbright Fellowship in 1953. Critics have often found it difficult to classify Ursula K. Le Guin: while some consider her writing science fiction or fantasy, Le Guin herself discounts any narrow genre categorizations. She told CA that "some of my fiction is `science fiction,' some of it is `fantasy,' some of it is `realist,' and some of it is `magical realism.'" Le Guin has also written several volumes of poetry and essays. "A significant amount of science fiction has been profoundly thoughtful about the situation of contemporary humanity in the light of its possible futures and its imaginable alternatives," writes Derek de Solla Price in the New Republic. "In recent years, no [writer] inside the field of science fiction or outside of it [has] done more to create a modern conscience than . . . Ursula K. Le Guin." Le Guin, however, "is not competing with [George] Orwell or [Ernest] Hemingway," according to George Edgar Slusser in his book The Farthest Shores of Ursula Le Guin. "Her social analysis is acute, but its purpose is not indignation or reform. She has no social program, offers no panaceas." And a Cambridge Review: Fantasy in Literature contributor finds Le Guin "an elegant, but not a light writer: not to be trifled with. Superficially, her work charms because it has all the glitter of high intelligence and efficiency." She is one of the great authors being both prolific and skillful. Her work lives up to the acclaim she receives and has been honored with an amazing number of awards including Nebula Award and Hugo Award, International Science Fiction Association, both for best novel, 1970, for The Left Hand of Darkness; Hugo Award, Nebula Award, and Jupiter Award, all for best novel, 1975, and Jules Verne Award, 1975, all for The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia; Hugo Award for Best Novelette, World Sicenc Fiction Society, 1988, and World Fantasy Award for Best Novella, World Fantasy Convention, 1988, both for Buffalo Gals, Won't You Come Out Tonight; Life Achievement award, World Fantasy Convention, 1995; James Tiptree, Jr. Award, 1997, for "Mountain Ways;" She received these awards and many others for her writings in several genres; Science fiction; Children's fiction; Poetry; Literary criticism and history; Fantasy fiction; Novels; Short Stories
Coll 270

Lenniger Literary Agency
Papers, 1926-1975.
50 boxes; 70.5 linear ft.
The agency was founded by August Lenniger in 1923. The papers include company ledgers, 1928-1969, ad books, 1932-1944, and correspondence of August Lenniger and Edith Margolis with agency clients and publishers, 1961-1978. Letters concern the editing and sales of manuscripts, requirements and house rules of publishers, the state of the literary market, and personal problems of writers. Over 500 published volumes are included in the collection.
Major writers of books for young readers include Irving and Ruth Adler, Jules Archer, Peggy O'More Blocklinger, Helen Bratton, Anne Emery, Pearl Gishler, Edward A. Herron, Walt Morey, Denise Royal, Eva Rutland, William Irvin Severn, and Emma Gelders Sterne.
Ax 73

Miller, Casey, 1919-1997
Papers, 18 boxes; 12.7 lin. ft.
The author of nonfiction in Sociology and Women's studies was born in Toledo, OH. She is the daughter of Walter Siegrist and Laura Casey (Geddes) Miller. Feminist, author. Miller gained prominence as the feminist whose influence changed many terms in the English language that were deemed degrading to women. Miller began working in the publishing field as an editorial assistant for the D. Appleton-Century Co., Inc., in 1941. After serving in the U.S. Naval Reserve and working a six-year stint at Colonial Williamsburg, Inc., Miller accepted a post at Seabury Press, Inc., in Greenwich, Connecticut, in 1954. She wrote numerous articles with Kate Swift on the effects of language and gender which appeared in periodicals such as Ms. and Washington Post. Miller and Swift wrote two books, Words and Women and Handbook of Nonsexist Writing. Much of her work was done in collaboration with Kate Swift. Education: Smith College, A.B., 1940; Yale University, graduate study, 1953-54. Politics: Democrat. Military/Wartime Service: U.S. Naval Reserve, active duty, 1943-46; became lieutenant junior grade. Memberships: Authors Guild of Authors League of America, Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press.
Coll 291

Parton, Margaret, 1915-1981 
Papers, 83 boxes; 53.75 lin. ft.
The author, a journalist by trade was born in San Francisco, CA. She maintained an interest in playing the piano, gardening, country life, cross-country skiing while being given the following accolades; New York Newspaper Women's Club awards, 1949, 1952, for foreign correspondence, and 1955, for New York Herald Tribune column; English-speaking Union award, 1950, for contribution to better understanding between peoples of the United States and peoples of the Commonwealth of Nations; New York Newspaper Guild award, 1955, for New York Herald Tribune column; Women's Press Club of New York City award, 1955, for "Our Lawless Youth" series in New York Herald Tribune; University of Illinois Benjamin Franklin citation, 1957, for "How America Lives" series in Ladies' Home Journal; Sidney Hillman Foundation award, 1962, for article "Sometimes Life Just Happens" in Ladies' Home Journal
Coll. 036

Pennell, Joseph Stanley, 1908-1963
Papers, 1924-1961. 5 ft., incl. 607 letters, 43 manuscripts.
Joseph S. Pennell, novelist and short story writer, was born in junction City, Kan., and educated at the University of Kansas and Oxford. He was a newspaper reporter and teacher. His major works were The History of Rome Hanks (N.Y., 1944), The History of Norah Beckham (N.Y., 1948), and The History of Thomas Wagnal (N.Y., 1951).
The papers consist of a diary, letters, and manuscripts. The diary is from 1932-1937 and has three later entries, 1946, 1948, and 1951. The letters include 65 letters of Pennell to Elizabeth Reese (Pennell), 1945, and 304 letters received. Major correspondents are: Jean Benedict (1941-1942, 18 letters) Luada Boswell (1941-1943, 40 letters) Martha Gellhorn (1931, 1936, 23 letters); Marian Ives (1945-1951, 20 letters); Maxwell Perkins (1943-1946, 61 letters). Book manuscripts include unpublished chapters of The History of Rome Hanks, the originals of his two other published novels, a holograph science fiction novel titled "Atmen,\" and an autobiography, not completed. There are also poetry manuscripts and a notebook of ideas. With the J. S. Pennell papers are the papers of Elizabeth Pennell, nee Horton. They include her diary, 1927-1928, when she was enjoying la vie boheme in Paris and North Africa, letters to Claude Kent (1927-1928) and George Reese (1933-1934), and letters from Ramsay Brown (1933-1938).
Ax 194

Swift, Kate, 1923-
Papers, 18 boxes; 12.7 lin. ft.
Kate Swift, with her co-author Casey Miller, wrote: "We have an editorial partnership known as Miller/Swift, and it was out of our work as free-lance editors that we became interested in the effect of language on women. After writing two articles on the subject (`Desexing the English Language' and `One Small Step for Genkind') we found we had barely scratched the surface of this topic, which until recently was ignored. Words and Women is an expansion of the evidence presented in the articles and is primarily drawn from contemporary sources with historical material as backup. We document many changes occurring in English today as a result of women's changing perceptions of themselves." Education: Connecticut College, student, 1941-43; University of North Carolina, A.B., 1944; New York University, graduate study. Politics: Democrat. Military/Wartime Service: U.S. Army, Women's Army Corps, 1945-46. Memberships: National Association of Science Writers, Womens Institute for Freedom of the Press. National Broadcasting Co. (NBC), New York, NY, newsroom copy runner, 1944; Port of New Orleans Authority, New Orleans, LA, editorial assistant, 1946-47; Time, New York, NY, editorial assistant, 1947-48; Girl Scouts of the U.S.A., New York City, public relations news writer, 1948-53; American Museum of Natural History, New York City, science writer, 1954-65; Yale University, New Haven, CT, director of news bureau at School of Medicine, 1965-70; free-lance writer and editor, beginning 1970. Member of East Haddam Democratic Town Committee and East Haddam Charter Commission.

Wilhelm, Kate, 1928
Papers, 11 boxes; 11.5 lin. ft.
Born in Toledo, OH Kate Wilhelm had an interesting life with her many career moves. Employed as a model, telephone operator, sales clerk, switchboard operator, and insurance company underwriter; full-time write. A versatile author, praised for the psychological focus in her fiction, Kate Wilhelm has been called a "serene and powerful talent" by Michael Bishop in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Wilhelm feels strongly about the political and social forces shaping the modern world and examines them in her novels, writing about such issues as women's roles in society and the threat of environmental collapse. Commenting on the combination of her writing goals and social concerns in a letter to CA, Wilhelm once said: "If I could sum up my philosophies and compulsions in a few paragraphs, there would be no need to write books, and there is a need. I believe we are living in an age of cataclysmic changes; we are living in an age that is the end of an era. My work is my attempt to understand how we got here, why we stay, and what lies ahead if anything does." The result, Pamela Sargent remarked in Twentieth-Century Science Fiction Writers, is writing that "skillfully uses genre elements--suspenseful plots, scientific or technological notions, and slick prose--to produce fiction as satisfying and as well-rounded as any being written today." Co-director, Milford Science Fiction Writers Conference, 1963-76; lecturer at Clarion Fantasy Workshop, Michigan State University, 1968-96 she received many awards through the years including Nebula Awards, Science Fiction Writers of America, 1968, for best short story, "The Planners," 1988, for best novelette, The Girl Who Fell into the Sky, 1989, for best short story, "Forever Yours, Anna," and 1993 nomination for novelette, Naming the Flowers; Hugo Award, World Science Fiction Convention, Jupiter Award, and second place for the John W. Campbell Memorial Award, all 1977, all for Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang; American Book Award nomination, 1980, for Juniper Time: A Novel.

Woodman, Ruth, 1895-1970 
Papers, 8 boxes; 12 lin. ft.
Ruth Cornwall Woodman was the author of scripts for the television show, "Death Valley Days." The collection includes correspondence, manuscripts, radio and television scripts of "Death Valley Days," and research material for a history of the Pacific Coast Borax Company.
Ax690/Up416

Worthington, Marjorie, 1898-1976 
Papers, 21 boxes; 12.75 lin ft.
The author was born 1898(?), in New York, NY and died February 17, 1976. The daughter of Oscar and Rose (Samuels) Muir; married Lyman Worthington, March 10, 1923 (divorced, 1932); married William Seabrook, February 2, 1935 (divorced, 1941). Marjorie Worthington traveled extensively and once made a trip across the Sahara Desert to Timbuktu with William Seabrook. She lived in France, 1926-34. Two of Worthington's short stories were adapted for television and many have been adapted for radio. Education: Studied journalism at New York University. Avocational Interests: Painting. Memberships: Women's National Book Association, League of Women Voters, Authors Guild, Soroptomists Club. Conducted writers workshops for Adult Education Program, New Rochelle, NY, 1959-64. Lecturer.
Coll. 152/Up 345/Up346/

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Preferred Citation Format for SCUA Materials

[Identification of item], Date (if known), Collection Title, Collection Number, Box and Folder number [or photo ID number], Special Collections & University Archives, University of Oregon Libraries, Eugene, Oregon.

Mission | Special Collections & University Archives

Special Collections and University Archives is the primary repository for the University of Oregon’s archives, rare books, historic photographs, and one of the largest historical manuscripts collections in the Pacific Northwest. Our mission is to acquire, preserve, and make available a clearly defined set of primary sources and rare books, reflecting the written, visual, and audio history and culture of Oregon, the Pacific Northwest, and selected aspects of American and world history. Our diverse collections support all types of research, from K–12 education to international scholarship. We strive to play an active and creative role in the teaching, research, and service missions of the University.

Historical Collection Strengths

  • Oregon history, politics, culture
  • Authors and illustrators of children’s books
  • The conservative and libertarian movement in the last half of the twentieth century
  • Popular literature, with an emphasis on Western fiction
  • Missionaries to foreign countries, especially in the Far East
  • Labor History
  • Journalism and Communications
  • Photographs of the Northwest, including the Major Lee Moorhouse and Angelus Studio collections
  • Environmental history
  • Northwest literature, including fiction by Ken Kesey, Damon Knight, Kate Wilhelm, Ursula K. Le Guin, Molly Gloss, and William Stafford
  • Doris Ulmann photograph archives of Appalachia
  • Utopian and intentional communities
  • Northwest architecture
  • Northwest economic history