Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Rowny (J. F.)
- Extent:
- 2 linear feet (5 document boxes)
- Language:
- English.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains records of the Santa Barbara-based J. F. Rowny Press, publishers of works on religion and metaphysics. It includes incoming/and some outgoing correspondence (arranged alphabetically), financial records, galleys and typescript drafts of submissions for publication, and some miscellaneous files, including pamphlets and flyers from other authors and publishers of similar kinds of material, many located in California.
Related Rowny publications have been cataloged separately and may be searched on Pegasus, the UCSB Libraries online catalog.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Joseph F. Rowny was born in Austria-Hungary in 1882. By 1916, he was living in Los Angeles, California, where he founded the J. F. Rowny Press, which sought to promote works on non-sectarian religion. His company masthead advertised "Philosophical, Metaphysical, Mystic, and the New Age Literature." In the mid-1920s, he began to buy property in Santa Barbara from real estate broker Harold S. Chase. Then, in 1932, he relocated the Press to his new address in Santa Barbara, and continued to operate it there until his death in 1976 at the age of 93. After his death, a Rowny Foundation was established, which eventually deeded his estate to the Religious Studies Department at the University of California Santa Barbara, which created two chairs in his honor.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchase, 1987.
- Physical location:
- Del Sur
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
UC Santa Barbara LibrarySanta Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
- Contact:
- (805) 893-3062