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Finding Aid of the Irving Wallace papers 0144
0144  
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Table of contents What's This?
  • Preferred Citation
  • Conditions Governing Use
  • Conditions Governing Access
  • Separated Materials
  • Related Archival Materials
  • Biographical Note
  • Scope and Content

  • Title: Irving Wallace papers
    Collection number: 0144
    Contributing Institution: USC Libraries Special Collections
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 3.5 Linear feet 3 boxes
    Date (inclusive): 1934-1968
    Language of Materials: The papers in this collection are in English, with the exception of the draft and proofs of Los Disconformes, the Spanish edition of The Square Peg.
    Abstract: This collection contains the papers of the screenwriter and novelist Irving Wallace (1916-1990). His papers include correspondence, research notes, proofs, and typescripts for some of his stories, screenplays, and novels.
    creator: Wallace, Irving, 1916-1990

    Preferred Citation

    [Box/folder# or item name], Irving Wallace papers, Collection no. 0144, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

    Conditions Governing Use

    The collection contains published materials; researchers are reminded of the copyright restrictions imposed by publishers on reusing their articles and parts of books. It is the responsibility of researchers to acquire permission from publishers when reusing such materials. The copyright to unpublished materials belongs to the heirs of the writers. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

    Conditions Governing Access

    COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.

    Separated Materials

    The books donated to USC with the Irving Wallace Papers have been cataloged as rare books in USC Libraries Special Collections.

    Related Archival Materials

    Special Collections at the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges has more of Wallace's papers in their Irving Wallace Archive.

    Biographical Note

    Irving Wallace was born in 1916 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He sold his first magazine story when he was 15. After dropping out of college to write for film, he met his wife Sylvia Kahn. In 1942, Wallace enlisted in the Air Force, where he was placed in the First Motion Picture Division. A year later, he was transferred to the Signal Corps Photographic Center, which stationed him first in Los Angeles and later in New York. Upon his discharge from the Air Force in 1946, he returned to free-lancing for periodicals but also started writing screenplays and treatments for movie studios. In 1953, he began writing book-length works. His first published work was The Fabulous Originals. Over the course of his career, he would go on to write sixteen novels and seventeen works of nonfiction, many of which became sensational best-sellers. Wallace died in 1990.

    Scope and Content

    Collection consists of correspondence, research notes, proofs, and corrected typescripts for various stories, screenplays, and novels by Irving Wallace. Books represented in this collection include The Plot, The Man, The Sunday Gentleman, The Twenty-Seventh Wife, The Fabulous Originals, and The Writing of One Novel. While the papers are mostly copies, most items contain autograph notations by Wallace. Also included in this collection are photographs, including original stills of Sarah Bernhardt, magazines in which interviews of Wallace and reviews or excerpts of his work can be found, drafts of Wallace's memoirs, and a small amount of personal correspondence.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Knopf, Alfred A., 1892-1984 -- Correspondence
    Wallace, Irving, 1916-1990 -- Archives
    Weidman, Jerome, 1913-1998 -- Correspondence
    Authors, American--20th century--Archival resources
    Correspondence
    Notes
    Page proofs
    Photographs
    Screenwriters--United States--Archival resources
    Typescripts