Collection Guide
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Wade (Bob) papers
6149
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
USC Libraries Special Collections
Title: Bob Wade papers
Identifier/Call Number: 6149
Physical Description:
41.4 Linear Feet
66 boxes
Date (inclusive): 1938-2010
Robert (Bob) Wade, together with his longtime partner H. Bill Miller, wrote more than forty mystery novels, several of which
were adapted for film. The most famous of these was "Badge of Evil" which was adapted into the Orsen Welles film "Touch of
Evil."
Wade and Miller first met at violin lessons when they were both 12 and they began writing together a few months later. They
attended San Diego State University together, and when Wade was drafted in 1942, Miller enlisted with him.
After WWII, they began their writing career in earnest and published their books under several pseudonyms including Whit Masterson,
Wade Miller, Will Daemer, and Dale Wilmer. The partnership came to an end when Miller died of a heart attack in 1961. Wade
continued to publish, but gradually transitioned to writing under his own name and began to focus on writing screenplays and
encouraging film adaptations of his previous works. Wade died in 2012.
The Robert A. Wade papers document Wade's career writing noir mysteries with his partner H. BIll Miller (who died in 1961)
until Wade's death in 2012. THe collection inculdes personal and business correspondence, diaries, first editions of their
books, ledgers, typescripts, draft manuscripts, hand-corrected galley proofs, dust jackets, scrapbooks, magazines, newspaper
clippings, notecards, and rejection and fan letters.
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manuscripts Librarian.
Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections 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.
[Box/folder no. or item name], Bob Wade papers, Collection no. 6149, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern
California
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Johnson Rare Books & Archives, November 27, 2017.
Arranged in 14 series: Correspondence, Diaries, Contracts, Writing Process Files, Manuscripts, Plays, Personal Files, Photographs,
Scrapbooks, Ephemera, Audiovisual Materials, Publications, Artifacts, and Books.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American literature -- California -- Los Angeles -- Archival resources
Detective and mystery stories, American -- Archival resources
Books
Correspondence
Diaries
Ephemera
Realia
Scrapbooks
Typescripts
Miller, Bill, 1920-1961 -- Archives
Wade, Bob, 1920- -- Archives
Masterson, Whit -- Archives