Guide to the Bessie F. Collins collection USDSC.017
Shavonne Munnlyn
University of San Diego Special Collections
2022
Copley Library
5998 Alcalá Park
San Diego, CA 92110-2492
spcoll@sandiego.edu
Contributing Institution:
University of San Diego Special Collections
Title: Guide to the Bessie F. Collins collection
Creator:
Collins, Bessie Friedman
Identifier/Call Number: USDSC.017
Physical Description:
2 Linear Feet
2 records center boxes
Date (inclusive): 1938-1983
Date (bulk): undated
Language of Material:
English .
Abstract: Bessie F. Collins was a freelance
writer, poet, and essayist who lived in the San Diego area from the 1970s through the
early-1980s. The collection consists of her published and unpublished poems, essays, and
plays as well as newspaper clippings and awards associated with those works.
Biographical / Historical
Bessie F. Collins was born Elizabeth "Bessie" Friedman on December 24, 1905, in Russia. She
immigrated with her family to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1907. Collins began writing at
the age of nine and had her first work published by age fifteen. In 1932, she married Samuel
A. Collins, a mechanical engineer, and had a son named David in 1937. The family lived in
Pennsylvania, Delaware and Santa Monica, California before moving to San Diego in the
early-1970s. In Delaware, Collins was a member of the Wilmington Drama League where she
acted in small roles and submitted her own plays for performance. In the early 1960s,
Collins entered a poem into a radio contest titled, "Second Honeymoon," that won she and her
husband a second honeymoon to Bermuda.
Collins submitted her writings to several national and international contests from the
1940s through the 1970s earning multiple awards and honorable mentions. Her works were
published in magazines, newspapers, and literary compilations. She was an active member of
the National League of American Pen Women and the California Federation of Chapparal Poets.
In the 1970s, she began to give lectures on freelance writing and compose travel articles
which she continued to do into the early-1980s. Collins died on October 26, 1988, in
Ventura, California.
Source: Ancestry.com and Bessie F. Collins collection
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of published and unpublished poems, essays, and articles as well
as manuscripts of plays for children, adolescents, and adults. Newspaper clippings, awards,
and letter, related to events, publishing, and successful contest submissions are included
with handwritten notes or acknowledgements from Collins. The contest submission records are
separated by first prize and honorable mentions or non-first prizes. The collection also
includes original copies of magazines her essays or poems were published in the 1970s, such
as Modern Maternity, and correspondence to and from admirers and friends.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Bessie F. Collins collection is the physical property of the University of San Diego,
Archives and Special Collections. Copyright, except in cases where material has passed into
the public domain, belongs to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns.
Preferred Citation
[Folder Title], Box # Folder #, Bessie F. Collins collection, Copley Library, University of
San Diego, Archives and Special Collections.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
There is currently no acquisition information for this collection.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Shavonne Munnlyn in 2022.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Women authors
Women poets
San
Diego (Calif.)
Manuscripts
box 1, folder 1
First prize documents (1 of 2)
1938-1981
box 1, folder 2
First prize documents (2 of 2)
1938-1981
box 1, folder 3
Miscellaneous prize documents (1 of 2)
1950-1980
box 1, folder 4
Miscellaneous prize documents (2 of 2)
1950-1980
box 1, folder 5
Miscellaneous articles and awards
1942-1978
box 1, folder 7
"The Atavist" play manuscript
undated
box 1, folder 8
Play manuscripts
1977-1981
box 1, folder 9
"The Stoned of God" play manuscript
1972
box 1, folder 10
Play manuscripts
1961-1977
box 1, folder 11
Think Orchids book manuscript (1 of 2)
undated
box 1, folder 12
Think Orchids book manuscript (2 of 2)
undated
box 1, folder 13
Play and short story manuscripts
undated
box 1, folder 15
Adult play manuscripts (1 of 2)
circa 1950-1965
box 1, folder 16
Adult play manuscripts (2 of 2)
circa 1950-1965
box 1, folder 20
Articles and essays
1950-1971
box 1, folder 22
Sold articles and poems
1975-1977
box 2, folder 1
Sold articles and poems
1974
box 2, folder 2
Sold essays and poems (1 of 2)
1962-1973
box 2, folder 3
Sold essays and poems (2 of 2)
1962-1973
box 2, folder 4
Children's plays
1940-1975
box 2, folder 5
Sold articles and essays (1 of 2)
1979-1980
box 2, folder 6
Sold articles and essays (2 of 2)
1979-1980
box 2, folder 7
Planet of the Young and Other Celebrations materials
1977-1978
box 2, folder 8
Sold articles and essays
1980-1982
box 2, folder 9
Newspaper columns
1978-1979
box 2, folder 10
Unpublished submissions (1 of 3)
1976-1981
box 2, folder 11
Unpublished submissions (2 of 3)
1976-1981
box 2, folder 12
Unpublished submissions (3 of 3)
1976-1981
box 2, folder 13
Poems (1 of 3)
circa 1940-1982
box 2, folder 14
Poems (2 of 3)
circa 1940-1982
box 2, folder 15
Poems (3 of 3)
circa 1940-1982
box 2, folder 16
Essays (1 of 2)
circa 1962-1981
box 2, folder 17
Essays (2 of 2)
circa 1962-1981
box 2, folder 18
With All My Voices manuscript
circa 1960s
box 2, folder 19
Accepted works materials
1976-1977
box 2, folder 20
Magazines featuring "The Flowering Rod"
1974-1975
box 2, folder 21
Man Expressed: The Realm of Writing
1971
box 2, folder 22
"Another Dimension of Love" - Modern Maternity
1981
April-May
box 2, folder 23
Westways magazines
1976 March
1981 January
box 2, folder 24
"Planet of the Young" articles
1977-1978
box 2, folder 25
Published articles
1966
1973-1979
