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Guide to the Bruce Bliven Papers, 1906-1985
Special Collections m0294  
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Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Administrative Information
  • Biographical Note
  • Scope and Content
  • Additional Information

    • Descriptive Summary

    Title: Bruce Bliven Papers,
    Date (inclusive): 1906-1985
    Collection number: Special Collections m0294
    Creator: Bliven, Bruce, 1889-1977.
    Extent: 8 linear ft.
    Repository: Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
    Language: English.

    Administrative Information

    Access Restrictions

    None.

    Publication Rights

    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.

    Provenance

    Gift of Mrs. Rose Bliven and Bruce Bliven, Jr., 1977; and others, 1977-1983.

    Preferred Citation:

    [Identification of item] Bruce Bliven Papers, m0294, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.

    Biographical Note

    Born July 27, 1889 in Emmetsburg, Iowa, Bruce Ormsby Bliven was the son of Charles and Lilla Ormsby Bliven. Having won prizes for his writing ability as early as age fourteen, Bruce went on to work his way through Stanford University as a cub reporter for the S.F. Bulletin. He received a B.A. in English in 1911.
    Freelance magazine writing and advertising copywriting occupied the years immediately following graduation until he accepted a position as head of the University of Southern California School of Journalism from 1914 to 1916. After two years on the staff of Printer's Ink and four as an editorial writer and managing editor for the New York Globe, Bliven joined the New Republic in 1923.
    Bliven, a determined critic of the Harding, Coolidge and Hoover Administrations, helped expose the Teapot Dome ore scandals of the twenties. Upon Herbert Croly's demise, Bliven succeeded as editor of New Republic. His principal colleagues on the magazine included George Soule, economist; Robert Morss Lovett, professor and reformer; Malcolm Cowley, literary critic; and Stark Young, drama critic.
    Bliven moved the magazine's editorial policy noticeably to the left in the thirties, but by 1933 it supported Franklin Roosevelt's policies, both foreign and domestic. Bliven's insights into the 1930's and 1940's are reflected in his work, The World Changers. During these years (1927-1947), Bliven also served as New York correspondent for The Manchester Guardian.
    In 1953, after suffering a heart attack, Bliven returned to Stanford University where he served as a lecturer in communications and journalism.
    Continuing his freelance literary career, Bliven completed several works, including Five Million Words Later, his autobiography, and A Mirror for Greatness a biography of six famous Americans.
    Bliven died May 6, 1977, and was survived by his wife of 64 years, Rose Frances Emery and a son, Bruce Bliven, Jr.

    Scope and Content

    This collection represents those files which were kept at Mr. Bliven's last place of residence, Kingscote Gardens (on the Stanford campus). The majority of the files date from the 1950s to the present, and are divided into alphabetically-arranged correspondence files and a number of subject-oriented files which include drafts of various literary manuscripts. The most notable exception to the collection is, of course, the files relating to Bliven's New Republic years, which remain with the publisher.

    Note

    See list of correspondents at end of guide

    Additional Note

    Box 15 green scrapbook of clippings

    Additional Information

    List of Correspondents

    • Alsop, Stewart
    • Anderson, Dewey (deceased)
    • Annunziata, Frank (Dr.)
    • Armstrong, Hamilton Fish
    • Asimov, Isaac
    • Bailey, Thomas
    • Baillie, Hugh
    • Bakeless, John
    • Baker, Carlos
    • Barnes, Harry Elmer
    • Basso, Hamilton
    • Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborn, Inc.
    • Bean, Donald
    • Bear, James A. (Jr.)
    • Behrman, S. N.
    • Bennion, Sherilyn C.
    • Berlin, Ira R. (Mrs.)
    • Bernays, Edward
    • Billman, Carl
    • Bissell, Richard
    • Black, Susan M.
    • Blake, Peter
    • Blakeslee, Howard W. (Mrs.)
    • Blamchard, Paul
    • Blessing, George
    • Boorstin, Daniel J.
    • Bowen, Catherine Drinker
    • Bowles, Chester
    • Boydston, Jo Ann
    • Boyers, Jim
    • Braden, Thomas W.
    • Bradlee, Benjamin C.
    • Braley, Berton
    • Brasso, Hamilton (Mrs.)
    • Brinton, Jim
    • Bronowski, Jacob (Dr.
    • Brooks, Dell
    • Brooks, Van Wyck (Mrs.)
    • Brown, Francis
    • Brown, Harrison
    • Bruce, John
    • Burke, Kenneth
    • Burns, Angelina (Miss)
    • Burns, Jim
    • Busch, Noel F.
    • Bush, Chilton
    • Bush, Robert
    • Calledge, Turner
    • Calmer, Ned
    • Canfield, Cass
    • Caples, John
    • Capra, Frank
    • Carter, Don, Managing Editor
    • Cater, Douglas
    • Cerf, Bennett
    • Chamberlain, Dorothy
    • Chandler, Otis, Publisher
    • Chapman, William
    • Chase, Stuart
    • Chenery, William L.
    • Ciardi, John
    • Cogswell, Elinor V.
    • Collingwood, Charles
    • Cooke, Alistair
    • Coppel, Alfred
    • Cousins, Norman
    • Cowley, Malcolm
    • Cranston, Alan (Senator)
    • Crawford, Nelson Antrim
    • Crouse, Russell (Mrs.)
    • Cushway, Phil
    • Daley, Kay
    • Daniels, Jonathan
    • Danziger C. R.
    • Davidson, Ralph
    • Davis, Nuel (Dr.)
    • Day, James President
    • de Roos, Robert
    • De Witt, Wallave
    • deFord, Miriam Alan
    • Deirup, Anne (Mrs.)
    • Dervel, Helmut L. (DR.)
    • Dickson, Candy
    • Dietz, Howard
    • Diggins, John P.
    • Dizikes, John
    • Dodds, John W.
    • Dodge, John V.
    • Douglas, Paul (Senator)
    • Dr. and Mrs. R.W. Gerard
    • Drury, Allen
    • Duffus, Robert L. (Mrs.)
    • Edel, Leon
    • Eichelberger, Clark M., Executive Director
    • Elmhirst, Leonard
    • Ernst, Morris L.
    • Fadiman, Clifton
    • Falconer, Edith
    • Fanning, Odom
    • Fehrenbacher, Don (Prof.)
    • Feinman, Ronald
    • Felsteiner, Prof.
    • Ferguson, Charles W.
    • Fessler, Floyd
    • Finch, Nathan
    • Fingerson, Ronald L.
    • Finley, Murray H.
    • Fischer, John
    • Fontaine, Clarice (Miss)
    • Forcey, Charles B.
    • Ford, Corey
    • Frankfurter, Felix (Justice)
    • Frey, Richard C.
    • Friedrich, Otto
    • Fuller, Helen
    • Fuoss, Robert (Editor)
    • Galbraith, John Kenneth,
    • Gallaghar, J.A.
    • Gard, Wayne
    • Garnnett, Lewis
    • Gentry, Richard H.
    • Gerard, Ralph
    • Gilliam, Harold
    • Gilmore, Kenneth O.
    • Gingrich, Arnold
    • Glover, Frederic O.
    • Goldman, Eric
    • Gordon, Ruth
    • Gould, Karolyn R.
    • Gould, Mr. & Mrs.
    • Graham, Katherine
    • Gray, Henry David (proof.)
    • Green, Adolph
    • Greenbaum, Wolff & Ernst
    • Greene, Felix
    • Greene, Laurence D. (Mrs.)
    • Guening, Ernest
    • Guerard, Albert
    • Gumbach, Doris
    • Gunther, John
    • Hale, William Harlan
    • Hall, Alvin M.
    • Hall, William James
    • Hansen, Vern
    • Hanswirth, Frieda
    • Harriman, W. Averell
    • Harrison, Gilbert A.
    • Hartman, Joyce
    • Heckscher, August (Director)
    • Herrnstein, R. J.
    • Highet, Gilbert (Mrs.)
    • Hill, Robert(Dr.
    • Hills, Frederic W.
    • Hogan, William
    • Hollahan, Jack
    • Holmes, Charles
    • Hopkins, Jean
    • Hoppe, Arthur
    • Horn, Stephen
    • Houghteling, Joseph
    • Houghton, Mifflin Co. Publishers
    • Howe, Quincy
    • Huntley, Chet (deceased)
    • Irvine, William (Mrs.)
    • Janeway, Eliot
    • Jensen, Olive (Mr.)
    • Johnson, William W. (Professor)
    • Josephson, Matthew
    • Kalpan, Oscar (Dr.)
    • Kapp, Joellyn
    • Kaunitz, Julius (M.D.)
    • Kelley, Ryland
    • Kelly, John
    • Kennan, George
    • Kenny, James (Dr.)
    • Kilpatrick, James Jackson
    • Kone, Eugene H.
    • Krech, David (Professor)
    • Krononenberger
    • Kuehel, Thomas (Sen.)
    • Lafore, Lawrence
    • Lane, Rose Wilder
    • Lawrence, David (Editor)
    • Lazar, Lucille (Miss)
    • Lee, Russell Van Arsdale (Dr.)
    • Leighton, George
    • Leonard, John (Editor)
    • Levine, Isaac Don
    • Levy, Janet
    • Liebes, B. H. (Mr.)
    • Lillienthal, David E.
    • Littell, Anita D.
    • Littell, Robert (Mrs)
    • Little, Bill
    • Loeb, James I.
    • Luce, Henry R.
    • Lundberg, Louis
    • Lyman, Richard W.
    • Lynes, Russell
    • MacKenzie, Norman (Prof.)
    • MacLeish, Archibald
    • Maness, David
    • Mangione, Jerre
    • Marshall, Helen (Miss)
    • Matthews, Tom
    • Mayer, Arthur
    • Mayes, Herbert R.
    • Mazour, Anatole (Dr.)
    • Mc Carty, Dwight G. (deceased)
    • Mc Carty, Gaylord
    • McCabe, Britton C.
    • McGrory, Mary
    • McLaughlin, John J.
    • Mee, Charles L. Jr. (Editor)
    • Michaels, R. A. (Mrs.)
    • Miller, James G. (President)
    • Minucci, Corrado
    • Moise, Nina (Miss)
    • Morris, Willie
    • Mullaney, J.B. (Mr.)
    • Muller, Julian P.
    • Mumford, Lewis
    • Nelson, Frederick
    • Nelson, Frederick
    • Nelson, Lyle M.
    • Neuberger, Maurice (Hon.)
    • Neuberger, Richard L.
    • Nevins, Ellan
    • Newman, Edwin
    • Neylan, John Francis
    • Niebuhr, Reinhold (Mrs.)
    • Norman, Charles
    • Ochsner, Alton, M.D.
    • Oden, Melita H. (Mrs.)
    • O'Keefe, Dan
    • Older, Mrs. (Fremont)
    • Olding, Dorothy (Miss)
    • Olson, Reuel L.
    • Opler, Morris E.
    • Oravetz, Nancy (Mrs.)
    • Ormerod, Berkeley (Sir)
    • Packard, Hyland
    • Paluka, Frank
    • Paulsen, Viola (Mrs.)
    • Payne, Alarnin
    • Peretz, Martin
    • Peterson, Theodore
    • Peterson, William J.
    • Pilate, Oliver
    • Pilkington, John
    • Raditsa, Bogdan (Prof.)
    • Rank, Jane (Miss)
    • Reynolds, Paul
    • Richman, Robert
    • Rischin, Moses
    • Roberts, Steven
    • Rockmore, Irving
    • Rodman, Selden
    • Rollins, David
    • Roosevelt, Nicholas
    • Rose, Milton
    • Ross, Nancy Wilson
    • Rossant, M. J. Director
    • Roth, William
    • Rush, Chilton R.
    • Salisbury, Harrison E.
    • Sanders, Theodore M. (Mrs.)
    • Schlesinger, Arthur, Jr.
    • Schorer, Mark
    • Schwarz, Daniel
    • Scowcroft, Richard
    • Sears, Jesse (Dr.)
    • Sears, Robert R. (Dean)
    • Sevareid, Eric
    • Shapiro, Edward
    • Shapiro, Harvey
    • Shipley, Maynard (Mrs.)
    • Shirer, William
    • Shulman, Marshall (Dr.)
    • Siefert, Mary Harris
    • Simpson, Mary Jane (Miss)
    • smith, Howard K.
    • Smith, Kenneth Owler (Prof.)
    • Smith, Stephanie (Daughter of Judy Smith
    • Stanley, Don
    • Stearnes, Myton
    • Steiner, Ralph
    • Sterling, J.E. Wallace
    • Stern, Carl
    • Stern, Philip
    • Stettner, Edward A.
    • Sullivan, Frank
    • Svilajnac, Yugoslavia
    • Swing, Raymond
    • Taft, Charlie
    • Talese, Gay (Mr.)
    • Talley, Truman
    • Taylor, Rosmary
    • Thalken, Thomas
    • Thomas, Lowell
    • Thompson, Anna Fintana (Mrs.)
    • Trout, Robert
    • Truitt, Lucy Boogs (Mrs.)
    • Tuchman, Barbara W.
    • Turnbaugh, Roy
    • Tyrmand, Leopold
    • Upson, Mike
    • Villard, Oswald G. Jr.
    • Volkerts, Arthur
    • Vuckovic, Jovica
    • Vuncinich, Wayne (Dr.)
    • Walker, Gerald
    • Wallace, De Wit
    • Wallace, Lila Asheson
    • Walsh, Richard J. Jr.
    • Ward, John W. (President)
    • Warner, Eugene (Mrs.)
    • Webber, G. W. (Mrs. Edith)
    • Wells, Evelyn
    • Wendt, Gerald
    • Westberg, Phyllis
    • Weybright, Victor
    • Whaley, Barton
    • White, Katherine
    • White, Lynn, Jr,
    • White, Paul Dudley (Dr.)
    • White, Theodore
    • White, William Allen
    • Whitman, Alden
    • Whitmore, Gene
    • Wicker, Tom
    • Wilson, Carol
    • Winchester, Alice
    • Witonski, Peter
    • Wolfe, Bertram D.
    • Wormer, Grace
    • Wouk, Alan
    • Wouk, Herman
    • Wouk, Ursula

    Note

    Sept. 6, 1961 Box 15 (red scrapbook of clippings)

    Index

    Will the World Starve... 1
    Conquering the Worst of All Diseases... I
    Medical Aid to Peace... 2
    Conspiracy Against Death... 5
    Why The Fall for Communism... 8
    When the Crash Comes... 13
    Blackout for White Plague... 16
    Can I Choose the Sex of my Child?... 18
    Nutrition and Pregnancy... 20
    Nutrition and Intelligence... 24
    How to save lives in traffic... 28
    Flying Saucers: Myth or Menace... 31
    Baseball a la Moscow... 35
    Your Personality Predicts your Disease... 36

    Index

    Note

    Book no 1
    Box 15 green scrapbook of clipings
    Do Not Disturb... 3
    The Case of the Radioactive Snail... 7
    A Few Words from B.B.... 11
    Politics and T.V.... 16
    Colston Leigh Circular... 23
    How Do the Communists Take Over One of France's Greatest Scientists... 25
    Space Ship Craze Provides Escape... 26
    Your Brain Is Like a Wet Cell Battery... 28
    It Just Ain't Practical... 33
    150,000 Science Jobs Waiting for Graduates... 34
    Why Let Red Lies Go Unchallenged?... 40
    Keeping the Value of Money Steady. Is a Big Administration Assignment... 41
    Hullabaloo on K-Day... 42
    The Facts About I.Q. Tests... 44
    Expressways are Wonderful... 46
    Games Disclose Secrets of Success... 48
    About Those I.Q. Tests... 51
    The Willoughbys' Christmas Carol... 53
    Wondrous Storage Battery-The Brain... 54
    Please, Where's Mr. Bliven's Pants... 55
    Retired People Should Be Encouraged to Earn... 56
    Will You Have Twins?... 57
    Senator Phelan's Legacy... 58
    Is There Life on Other Planets... 60
    Libels on America Printed Abroad Should be Authoritatively Refuted... 60
    California Here They Come... 62
    Will We Live on Air?... 65
    Why People Behave Like People... 68
    The First Forty Years (History of the N.R.)... 70
    Brain Waves Explain Family Fights... 77
    The California Culture... 78
    What We Know About Colds... 84
    Food After Forty... 87
    A Few Words from the Shelf... 88
    ERMA... 92
    Old School Type Grammarian... 96
    Letthe Old Folks Earn... 97
    Your Brain's Unrealized Powers... 97
    Why Are Intellectuals Distrusted... 3
    Soviet Abuse of Pasternak... 4
    First Ocean, First City, First Drink... 5
    Censorshipand the U.S.S.R.... 8
    Editors are Fallible, too... 9
    Little Oxford on West Coast... 10
    Knowland Knight and Nixon... 12
    San Francisco: New Serpents... 14
    You Can Cultivate the Mind's Eye... 20
    The Adventure of Being Human. (William James)... 22
    City Boy vs Country Boy... 26
    The Fairest of the Fairs... 28
    California: Pioneer's Paradise... 32
    Some People Don't Believe the Papers. (Con Games etc.)... 32
    Emerson's Vital Message... 34
    Emerson's Vital Message... 36
    Revolution of the Joneses... 38
    East Coast or West... 40
    My, How Well You Look... 42
    Why Not Let the Elderly Earn... 43
    The Boodling Boss and the Musical Mayor... 44
    Nixon goes for Broke 55
    Mr. Thoreau of Walden Pond 56
    After Obscenity, What? 59
    The Most Creative Years of Our Lives, 60-61
    How Did Southern California Get That Way, 62-63
    Two Newspapers In Search of A City 64-65
    California's Culture Boom, 66 67 68 69
    Oh, Come Now-Can Culture Be That Esoteric, 70-71

    Note

    Book no 2
    Container List
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