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Guide to the William Nauns Ricks Papers, 1899-1963
BANC MSS C-H 137
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Table of contents
Collection Title: William Nauns Ricks Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1899-1963
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-H 137
Creator: Ricks, William Nauns
Extent:
Number of containers: 23 boxes
Linear feet: 9.6
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Languages Represented:
English
Collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts
must be submitted in writing to the appropriate curator or the Head of Public Services for forwarding. Permission for publication
is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library 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 by the reader.
[Identification of item], William Nauns Ricks Papers, BANC MSS C-H 137, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
The William Nauns Ricks Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by Mrs. Elizabeth Ricks on November 10, 1961, with additions
in March 1963.
The William Nauns Ricks Papers contain more than 450 individual poems and nearly 100 short stories and other works of prose,
written or collected by Ricks between 1899 and 1963. The collection also includes a small amount of correspondence and other
personal and biographical material, along with a few papers of Elizabeth Ricks, chiefly correspondence and Papers relating
to the Book Lovers Club.
Many of Ricks' poems are scribbles on tiny scraps of paper, often revised several times prior to their publication, chiefly
in newspapers or as greeting card verse. These have been arranged alphabetically by title or first line, and may include several
drafts as well as clippings of published versions. Also included are several notebooks of poems, which appear to have been
gathered together by Ricks for public readings. While these may include poems which also appear as individual poems, the notebooks
do contain some unique titles and these have been listed by title or first line.
Ricks was born in Wytheville, Virginia, on September 6, 1876, and came to California in 1889. An African-American veteran
of the Spanish Civil War, Ricks worked at the information desk in the lobby of California Packing Corporation, but his chief
occupation and interest was writing. Little is known about him, other than his activities as documented in his personal papers.
Ricks was a member of several local writing organizations, active in his church, and frequently attended art, lecture, theater,
and musical programs and events in the Bay Area.
The Bibliography of California Fiction, Poetry, Drama... (Alameda County Library: Oakland, Calif., 1938) records that Ricks had resided in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Pasadena
before coming to Berkeley. Ricks' own papers indicate that on March 19, 1922, he married Elizabeth Brown, who survived him
and assembled the
Glory Books contained in his personal papers.