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Tompkins (Walker A.) collection
SBHC Mss 19
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Title: Walker A. Tompkins collection
Identifier/Call Number: SBHC Mss 19
Language of Material:
English.
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
Physical Description:
33 Linear Feet
(11 cartons, 17 document boxes, 4 flat oversize boxes, 1 map cabinet drawer, 110 open reel audiotapes, and 7 audiocassettes)
Creator:
Tompkins, Walker A.
Date (inclusive): 1849-2002
Date (bulk): 1931-2002
Abstract: Manuscripts, monographs, serials, newspapers, clippings, black-and-white photographs and albums, black-and-white negatives,
audiotapes, scrapbooks, maps, and artifacts, generated and collected in the course of research by Walker A. Tompkins, author
of histories of Goleta and Santa Barbara, California.
Physical Location: A portion of the collection is located at the Southern Regional Library Facility (SRLF).
The collection is open for research. Financial records restricted. A portion of the collection is stored offsite. Advance
notice is required for retrieval.
Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through
the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to
the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator
and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.
All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department
of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University
of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and
is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright
owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the
copyright owner or their assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
[Identification of Item], Walker A. Tompkins collection. SBHC Mss 19. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa
Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
The bulk of the collection was donated by Barbara H. Tompkins, widow of Walker A. Tompkins, 1990-1991, and 2002, with additional
material donated by Eric Hvolboll, 1991, and the Santa Barbara Public Library, 2019.
Walker A. Tompkins was born on July 10, 1909 in Prosser, Yakima County, Washington. He was the son of Charle E. and Bertha
Tompkins who had moved to Washington from Missouri. Tompkins grew up on a wheat farm in Walla Walla County before moving with
his family to Turlock, California in 1920. He began his writing career in Turlock, at the age of fourteen, as a reporter for
the
Daily Journal. At the age of 21, he sold his first western novel to Street and Smith of New York, just before beginning college at Washington
State. He also attended Modesto (California) Junior College.
In 1931, Tompkins went to work at the (Portland)
Sunday Oregonian. He also wrote fiction on the side for magazines, books, radio, and later, television. During the 1930s, he worked his way
around the world, travelling to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Dutch East Indies. He wrote western pulp stories during these
journeys and collected his fees for them on the fly. At the beginning of World War II, Tompkins was drafted into the Army
where he served as a correspondent in Europe for three years. Following the war, he settled in Santa Barbara, California where
he began concentrating on local history.
Dubbed "Two-Gun Tompkins" early in his career for his prodigious output of pulp westerns, he wrote western fiction for 30
years before switching to history and biography. He was best known for his work in the latter field, especially his regional
histories which focused on the Santa Barbara area. His many works include:
Goleta:
The Good Land (1966
), Santa Barbara Past and Present(1975
),
It Happened in Old Santa Barbara (1976),
Stagecoach Days in Santa Barbara County (1982
),and
Santa Barbara History Makers (1983). He referred to the last work as his "magnum opus." While working on his many projects, he also held a job as a reporter
for the
Santa Barbara News-Press from 1957 to 1973, where he was the author of the column "Santa Barbara Yesterdays." He also did a radio show that aired
for 20 years on a local station and was in constant demand as a speaker. Tompkins was greatly interested in the history of
Santa Barbara's neighborhoods and sought to encourage his readers and listeners to appreciate the unique attributes of each.
To this end, he published his twelve-pamphlet series,
Santa Barbara's
Neighborhoods (originally published between 1977 and 1980, later collected in one volume, 1989).
Tompkins continued to write throughout his life, publishing a number of works, ranging from an institutional history to a
series of boys' adventure novels, after his official retirement. Tompkins served on the board of directors for the Santa Barbara
Historical Society and the Santa Barbara County Landmarks Advisory Committee. In 1975, he was honored by the California State
Legislature for his contributions in the area of regional history. Walker A. Tompkins died in Santa Barbara, California on
November 24, 1988.
The information in this biography was drawn largely mainly from accounts of Walker A. Tompkins' life published in
The Santa Barbara News-Press,
The Santa Barbara Independent, and
The Chinook Observer (Long Beach, Washington) in November and December 1988. For further biographical information, see Box 1 of the collection.
The collection consists mainly of Tompkins writings (local/regional history and historical fiction) and related research files,
but also some historical manuscripts donated by others to Tompkins. Much of the subject matter relates to the Santa Barbara
and Goleta areas. Included in the collection are manuscripts, monographs, serials, newspapers, clippings, b/w photographs
and albums, b/w negatives, audiotapes, scrapbook, maps, and artifacts.
The following materials from the Tompkins Collection have been moved to the UCSB Library Special Research Collections newspaper
area:
Santa Barbara area [some partial issues]
- El Barbareno (Santa Barbara), May 1897
- Carpinteria Herald, Oct. 13, 1960
- Daily Independent (Santa Barbara), Sept. 17, 1897
- Daily News and Independent (Santa Barbara), July 5, 1919
- Goleta Gazette, Nov. 20, 1958; Apr. 2, 1959
- Goleta Sun, Feb. 17, 1988; Mar. 23, 1988
- The Independent (Santa Barbara), Jan. 28, 1908
- Lompoc Record, Apr. 10, 1975
- Montecito Ledger, June 11, 1958
- Morning Press (Santa Barbara), July 10, 1899; July 7, 1907
- Santa Barbara Daily News, May 8, 1922; May 20, 1922
- Santa Barbara Herald, Dec. 29, 1893
- Santa Barbara News Press, Jan. 2, 1952; Aug. 4, 1957; Dec. 7, 1964
- Santa Barbara News Press (Old Spanish Days/Fiesta issues), Aug-. 8-12, 1973; Aug. 6-10, 1975; Aug. 4-8, 1976
- Santa Barbara Post, Feb. 1964
- Santa Barbara Press, Oct. 12, 1872
- Santa Barbara Star, Aug. 5, 1954
- Santa Barbara Weekly Press, Aug. 16, 1873
- Weekly Herald (Santa Barbara), June 4, 1897
- Sunday Chronicle (San Francisco), Feb. 27, 1887
A number of books, some by Tompkins and others about local, California, and western history were donated with the manuscript
collection. These and other publications of local history interest may be searched on Pegasus, the UCSB Libraries online catalog.
In addition, UCSB Special Collections has a number of other manuscript collections with a local history emphasis. Among these
are:
- Community Development and Conservation Collection (SBHC Mss 1).
- Isla Vista Archives (SBHC Mss 41).
- Lobero Theatre Collection (PA Mss 4).
- Menzies (Jean Storke) Collection (SBHC Mss 34).
- Ruhge (Justin) Collection (SBHC Mss 27).
- Sollen (Robert ) Collection (SBHC Mss 33).
- Storke (Charles II) Collection (SBHC Mss 38).
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Historians -- California -- Santa Barbara -- Biography
Goleta (Calif.) -- History
Montecito (Calif.) -- History
Santa Barbara (Calif.) -- History
Summerland (Calif.) -- History
Clippings (information artifacts)
Personal correspondence
Black-and-white photographs
Publications (documents)
Personal recordings
Tompkins, Walker A. -- Archives
Tompkins, Walker A. -- Correspondence
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital -- History