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Finding aid for the Stephen Longstreet papers
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Title: Stephen Longstreet papers
Collection number: 0175
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
121.08 Linear feet
117 boxes
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1970-1990
Date (inclusive): 1922-1995
Abstract: Typescripts, manuscripts, galleys, artwork, letters, financial records, and personal material created and collected by writer
and artist Stephen Longstreet (1907-2002) over the course of his long career.
creator:
Bruccoli, Matthew J., (Matthew Joseph), 1931-2008
creator:
Longstreet, Ethel
creator:
Longstreet, Stephen, 1907-2002
creator:
Melchior, Lauritz
creator:
Schildkraut, Joseph, 1895-1964
Stephen Longstreet Papers (Collection 380). Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University
of California, Los Angeles
Stephen Longstreet Collection, Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Stephen Longstreet paintings and drawings, Hoover Institution Archives
Gift of Ben and Lou Weinstein, Heritage Book Shop, 2007.
[Box/folder# or item name], Stephen Longstreet papers, Collection no. 0175, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University
of Southern California
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
The Stephen Longstreet papers consists of typescripts, manuscripts, galleys, correspondence, artwork, scrapbooks, financial
records, ephemera, and clippings, 1922-1995, created and collected by Stephen Longstreet. The collection documents Longstreet's
long and prolific career as a writer of fiction, non-fiction, plays, screenplays, and poetry, and as an artist. Typescripts
and manuscripts of most of Longstreet's written work can be found in the papers, as can either originals or reproductions
of a large percentage of Longstreet's artwork. Also included is some material created and collected by Longstreet's wife,
Ethel.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended
to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Stephen Longstreet (1907-2002) was a prolific author and artist. Born Chauncey Weiner in New York in 1907, his family moved
to New Brunswick, New Jersey when he was a child. As a schoolboy, Longstreet changed his name from Chauncey to Henry, and
then again to Henri when he began his professional career as an artist in the early 1930s. The family name was originally
Wiener-Longstrasse, and Longstreet's first submitted manuscript (to Random House in 1940) was as Stephen Wiener-Longstrasse.
It was Bennett Cerf at Random House who suggested Longstreet drop the Wiener and anglicize the Longstrasse. Longstreet also
adopted and used the pen names Paul Haggard (circa 1938), Thomas Burton, David Ormsbee, Monte Redmond, W.W. Windstaff, and
Lucas Webb.
As Henri Wiener, Longstreet studied in Paris and at Rutgers and Harvard Universities; he graduated from the New York School
of Fine and Applied Art (Parsons) in 1929. On his return to the United States from Paris, his artistic style was considered
"too modern" to sell (he identified as a surrealist), and he thus pursued a career as a commercial and magazine artist and
cartoonist. His work was published in the
New Yorker,
Life,
Colliers, and the
Saturday Evening Post. Longstreet continued to produce art after turning to writing; in addition to creating illustrations for a number of his
own books, in particular his publications on jazz, Longstreet was also a prolific producer of collages and drawings.
In 1933 Longstreet began writing radio shows for John Barrymore, Bob Hope, and Rudy Vallee, thus launching his career as a
writer. He published over a hundred books, including the novels
Decade 1929-1939 (1940),
The Pedlocks (1951), and
The Flesh Peddlers (1962).
In addition to novels, Longstreet also wrote a number of scripts and plays. He was under contract at Warner Bros. in the 1940s
and penned "The Jolson Story" and "Stallion Road", based on his novel of the same name and starring Ronald Reagan. He also
wrote a screen adaptation of his novel
The Gay Sisters (1941) and the book for the musical "High Button Shoes", adapted from his semi-autobiographical novel,
The Sisters Liked Them Handsome.
Longstreet also wrote a number of non fiction books, many of them on one of his favorite topics, jazz. He was introduced to
jazz by Paul Robeson, whom he met in 1918 while Robeson was an undergraduate at Rutgers University.
Longstreet died in 2002.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Bruccoli, Matthew J., (Matthew Joseph), 1931-2008 -- Correspondence
Longstreet, Ethel -- Archives
Longstreet, Stephen, 1907-2002 -- Archives
Melchior, Lauritz -- Correspondence
Schildkraut, Joseph, 1895-1964 -- Correspondence
Actors--Pictorial works
Artists--California--Los Angeles--20th century--Archival resources
Authors, American--California--20th century--Archival resources
Autobiography--Jewish authors--20th century--Archival resources
Clippings
Collages (visual works)
Drawings
Ephemera
Galley proofs
Jazz musicians--United States--Archival resources
Jazz musicians--United States--Pictorial works
Jazz--Pictorial works
Jazz--United States--Archival resources
Letters
Manuscripts
Notes
Nude in art--Pictorial works
Scrapbooks
Screenwriters--California--Los Angeles--Archival resources
Typescripts
Watercolors (paintings)
World War, 1939-1945--Pictorial works