Collection Guide
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Guide to the B. Traven Collection, 1917-1989 M0570
M0570
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: B. Traven Collection
Creator:
Klein, H. Arthur
Identifier/Call Number: M0570
Identifier/Call Number: 1553
Physical Description:
6 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1917-1989
Although Herbert and Mina Klein worked together closely on many of the projects described in the collection, almost all of
the correspondence and notes are by Herbert Klein, who also seems to have assembled the original files. For simplicity's sake,
Herbert Klein is referred to as Klein throughout the collection's description, while his wife is referred to by her full name.
Some common abbreviations found throughout the material are BT for B. Traven, HAK for Herbert Arthur Klein, and MCK for Mina
Cooper Klein.
Many of Herbert Arthur Klein's original folder titles were kept in this collection. What Klein labeled as original, especially
in his correspondence with B. Traven, was often the carbon copy of his original letter. Moreover Klein often retyped the letters
he received from Traven. A few true originals are included here in the Traven-Klein correspondence; where the original is
in poor condition, a photocopy follows.
Prominent persons and institutions mentioned in this collection include:
- Ballio, Tino
- Baumann, Friedel
- Baumann, Michael L.
- Büchergilde Gutenberg
- Hagemann, E.R.
- Johnson, William
- Klein, Herbert Arthur
- Klein, Mina Cooper
- Lawrence Hill & Co.
- Kohner, Paul
- Küpfer, Peter
- López Mateos, Esperanza
- Luján, Rosa Elena
- Marut, Ret
- Mermet, Irene
- Olafson, Robert
- Raskin, Jonah
- Recknagel, Rolf
- Rosa Blanca (film)
- Spota, Luis
- Stevenson, Phil
- Stone, Judy
- Traven, B.
- Wieder, Josef
- Wyatt, Will
This collection includes over fifty years' worth of materials on the author B. Traven collected by Herbert and Mina Klein.
The holdings are divided into the following sections, which largely correspond to Herbert Klein's original ordering of the
material.
Herbert Arthur Klein, a journalist and author, and his wife, Mina Cooper Klein, had a life-long fascination with the works
of B. Traven. For over fifty years, the Kleins collected many different kinds of material on Traven. They also translated
and edited a collection of short stories by Traven,
The Kidnapped Saint (Lawrence Hill, 1974).
Herbert Klein was born around 1907 in New York City. He received his A.B. from Stanford University and his M.A. from Occidental
College. In addition, Klein pursued graduate studies at Columbia University, UCLA, Berkeley, and the Berlin Handelshochschule.
Klein began his career as a newspaperman, moving in 1930 to the Berlin office of the
Chicago Tribune. Shortly thereafter he married. A couple of years later, he taught English at the Marxistische Arbeiter Schule in Berlin. Here
one of his students first introduced him to the work of B. Traven, who was an especially popular author among German workers.
The Kleins left Germany in 1933.
After returning to the U.S., Klein corresponded with Traven from 1933 to 1935 (about a dozen letters altogether). Mina Klein
also wrote Traven a few times and was answered by a Señor Martinez, whom she strongly suspected was Traven. Although the Kleins
never met Traven, after his death they did visit his widow, Rosa Elena Luján.
The Kleins lived most of their lives in Malibu, California, where the air was better for Herbert Klein's health. Mina Klein
died in 1979, and Herbert Klein died about ten years later.
Klein's professional name was H. Arthur Klein. He and his wife wrote, edited, or translated over twenty books. Some of these
were popular science and art books, such as
The World of Measurements (1974),
Peter Bruegel the Elder, Artist of Abundance (1968), and
Käthe Kollwitz; Life in Art (1972). The Kleins also translated works by Wilhelm Busch from German into English. Although this collection contains several
plans for a study of Traven, only
The Kidnapped Saint was ever completed.
[Identification of item] B. Traven Collection, M0570, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
Gift of the estate of H. Arthur Klein, 1991.
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
None.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Photoprints.
Phonotapes.
American literature -- 20th century.
Johnson, William Weber
Hagemann, E.R.( Edward R.)
Huston, John.
Küpfer, Peter.
Lawrence Hill & Co.
Klein, Mina C.
Kohner, Paul.
Bang, Herman
Baumann, Friedel.
Ballio, Tino.
Cheuse, Alan.
Gray, Robert.
Baumann, Michael L.
Büchergilde Gutenberg.
Traven, B.
Stone, Judy.
Wyatt, Will.
Wieder, Josef
López Mateos, Esperanza.
Lujan, Rosa Elena.
Olafson, Robert.
Mermet, Irene.
Recknagel, Rolf.
Raskin, Jonah
Stevenson, Philip
Spota, Luis.