Title: Frank Pierce Donovan bibliography

Dates: 1970-1974

Collection Number: MS 707

Creator/Collector: Donovan, Frank Pierce

Extent: 1 half-box

Repository: California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Abstract: Revision of Frank Pierce Donovan's bibliography, THE RAILROAD IN LITERATURE.

Language of Material: English

Restrictions apply. Contact Library Staff for details.

Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head Librarian. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM 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.

Frank Pierce Donovan bibliography. California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

From the collection of David D. Graeber

Frank Pierce Donovan was born on October 4, 1909 in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the American University in Washington, D.C. in 1938. He worked in the freight department at Pacific Electric Railway, then for the Assocation of American Railroads as a research assistant handling domestic travel for the American Friends Service Committee. From 1946 to 1948 he was an editor of TRAINS magazine. Mr. Donovan wrote or edited several railroad books, including HEADLIGHTS AND MARKERS : AN ANTHOLOGY OF RAILROAD STORIES, with Robert Selph Henry (1946), MILEPOSTS ON THE PRAIRIE (1950), HARRY BEDWELL : LAST OF THE GREAT RAILROAD STORYTELLERS (1959), WHEELS FOR A NATION (1965), a history of the First National Bank of Saint Paul, and several periodical articles. Just before his death (September 7, 1970), Mr. Donovan completed a manuscript updating his book, THE RAILROAD IN LITERATURE : A BRIEF SURVEY OF RAILROAD FICTION, POETRY, SONGS, BIOGRAPHY, ESSAYS, TRAVEL AND DRAMA IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, PARTICULARLY EMPHASIZING ITS PLACE IN AMERICAN LITERATURE, originally published in 1940 by the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society. Upon his death, Mr. Donovan's papers were donated to the James Jerome Hill Reference Library in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In June of 1973, a publications committee was formed to edit and publish Mr. Donovan's revised bibliography; however, the project was never completed.

One folder contains a photocopy of Frank Pierce Donovan’s revisions to THE RAILROAD IN LITERATURE. The original document is held by the James Jerome Hill Reference Library in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The CSRM copy is for reference use only and cannot be photocopied. Another folder contains copies of correspondence between member of the publications committee and others interested in updating Mr. Donovan's bibliography. Correspondents include Marilyn Mauritz, Research and Public Relations Librarian, James Jerome Hill Reference Library, David D. Graeber, Merrill O. Skidmore, Mrs. Frank P. (Janice G.) Donovan, James R. Fair, Jr., Wes Stead, and Edward A. Shaw, Director of the University of Oklahoma Press.