Finding Aid to the Albert M. Bender collection of George Sterling papers circa 1880-1998 BASC 16

Series 1 Correspondence circa 1900-1926

Scope and Contents

This series contains a small amount of correspondence both to and from George Sterling.

Arrangement

This series is arranged by outgoing and then incoming correspondence in alphabetical order.

box 1, folder 1

Outgoing: Bland,Henry Meade 1918

box 1, folder 2

Outgoing: Coryell, Mabel Lloyd Jessup 1923

box 1, folder 3

Outgoing: Pratt, Harry Noyes 1924-1925

box 1, folder 4

Incoming: Hopper, James circa 1914

Material Specific Details: Letter to George Sterling from France.

box 1, folder 5

Incoming: Jones, Graham circa 1919

Material Specific Details: Letter from Graham Jones acknowledging reading and approving of Lilith.

box 1, folder 6

Incoming: Miller, Joaquin 1902

Material Specific Details: Envelope addressed to George Sterling in Joaquin Miller's handwriting.

box 1, folder 7

Incoming: Unknown circa 1900

Material Specific Details: Page from a letter to Sterling by an unknown person quoting a 6-line poem by Ambrose Bierce, published under one of Bierce's pseudonyms, Bashi-Bazouk.

Series 2 Writings 1870-1926

Scope and Contents

This series contains manuscripts, typescripts, and printed materials by George Sterling and others. Of note is Subseries 2.3: In memoriam which contains original material printed in the Overland Monthly in honor of George Sterling after his death. Albert M. Bender was the editor of these two issues.

Arrangement

This series is further divided into three subseries: 2.1: Writings by George Sterling; 2.2: Writings by others; 2.3: In memoriam.

Subseries 2.1 Writings by George Sterling

Scope and Contents

Manuscripts and typescripts by George Sterling. Almost all are signed by George Sterling and many of the items contain handwritten notes by George Sterling. Some contain notes written by Ambrose Bierce. Of note are a collection of 251 published and unpublished poems by George Sterling found in [Poems by George Sterling] and George Sterling's own scrapbook of his poems that contain a record of their publication in magazines.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by title.

box 1, folder 8

Adullam

box 1, folder 9

After vacation

box 1, folder 10

The altar-flame

box 1, folder 11

The altruist

box 1, folder 13

Babes in the wood

box 1, folder 13

The binding of the beast

box 1, folder 14

The bluff

box 1, folder 15

The buzzard's nest

box 1, folder 16

The California condor

Material Specific Details: This was originally published as "The Condor" and was later published as "The Black Vulture". This copy has notes by Bierce.

box 1, folder 17

California missions

Material Specific Details: A description of five California missions: Soledad, Santa Ines, San Miguel, San Antonio, San Juan Bautista.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Nuestra Señora de la Soledad (Mission : Calif.)

Santa Inés Mission (Solvang, Calif.)

Mission San Miguel Arcangel (San Miguel, Calif.)

San Antonio de Pádua (Mission)

San Juan Bautista (Mission : San Juan Bautista, Calif.)

box 1, folder 18

Captain Kidd's treasure

box 1, folder 19

Captain Shadrach, prophet

box 1, folder 20

The city and the night

box 1, folder 21

The city and silence

box 1, folder 22

The city of music

box 1, folder 23

Conspiracy

box 1, folder 24

Darkness

box 1, folder 25

Dedication to Ambrose Bierce 1901

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Bierce, Ambrose, 1842-1914?

box 1, folder 26

The deserted nest

box 1, folder 27

The dog / The far feet

Material Specific Details: Two poems written on either side of the same sheet.

box 1, folder 28

A dream of fear

box 1, folder 29

The dust hopes

box 1, folder 30

Egon's song from Truth

box 1, folder 31

[Elder, we do not like their songs]

box 2, folder 1

Faith

box 2, folder 2

The flight: A Grove Play for The Family

Material Specific Details: Copy of Cass Downing, composer of the music.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Family (San Francisco, Calif.)

box 2, folder 3

The folding bed

Material Specific Details: A one act play.

box 2, folder 4

Germany

box 2, folder 5

The glory of the globe

Material Specific Details: Written on back: "Bologna" May 15, 1920 from George Sterling.

box 2, folder 6

The golden apples

box 2, folder 7

Good and evil

box 2, folder 8

Gran'ma Harrelson and the grizzly

box 2, folder 9

The house of orchids

box 2, folder 10

[I guard the chamber in her breast]

box 2, folder 11

I know that our ways are twain

box 2, folder 12

In exile

box 2, folder 13

In the shadow

box 2, folder 14

The Killdee

box 2, folder 15

The last of the prophets

box 2, folder 16

The lovely lady

box 2, folder 17

The man who came to Hereville

box 2, folder 18

Married for money

Material Specific Details: 65 sheets of ruled paper, 3.75 x 5.5 inches, written in pencil. "Refused by Century Metropolitan" written on back of the last sheet.

box 2, folder 19

Memory of the dead

box 2, folder 20

The men and the dryads

box 2, folder 21

The midway peace

box 2, folder 22

Mirage

box 2, folder 23

The modern muse

box 2, folder 24

Morning in the pines

box 2, folder 25

The morning star

Material Specific Details: This copy of Sterling's poem "The Morning Star" is missing the first page. First line starts with "Azures of twilight robe the southern mountain".

box 2, folder 26

Music

Material Specific Details: Typescript with annotations; criticism in handwriting of Ambrose Bierce.

box 2, folder 27

Mystery

box 2, folder 28

Ocean sunsets

box 2, folder 29

October

box 2, folder 30

Of yesterday

box 2, folder 31

The old devil

box 3, folder 1

The old wreck

box 3, folder 2

The palace of the moon II, III

box 3, folder 3

The parting

box 3, folder 4

The pathway

box 3, folder 5

Pavement

box 3, folder 6

[A play, first page missing. Characters: Dryad and man]

box 3, folder 7

Pleasure and pain

box 3, folder 8-10

[Poems by George Sterling]

Physical Description: 3 folders

Material Specific Details: 251 typewritten manuscripts of poems, published and unpublished, with corrections in ink by George Sterling.

Arrangement

Arranged in original order with a list of poem titles located in the first folder.

box 8

[Poems by George Sterling] Scrapbook of George Sterling poems

Material Specific Details: Scrapbook containing copies (all signed) of Sterling's poems with a record of their publication in magazines. Fly-page is inscribed: "Property of George Sterling, Bohemian Club, San Francisco."

box 3, folder 11

The poetry of Robinson Jeffers

box 3, folder 12

Preface written for Clark Ashton Smith's poems

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Smith, Clark Ashton, 1893-1961

box 3, folder 13

The princess on the headlands

Material Specific Details: Gift of Felicia Blaettler.

box 3, folder 14

Pumas

box 3, folder 15

The queen forgets

box 3, folder 16

Rainbow's end

box 3, folder 17

Ransom

box 3, folder 18

Recompense

box 3, folder 19

The restoration

box 4, folder 1

Revenge

Material Specific Details: Sterling's pseudonym, Gerald Scott, is signed to this.

box 4, folder 2

Rosa Mystica

box 4, folder 3

Saul

Material Specific Details: Printed sheet, signed.

box 4, folder 4

A short cut

box 4, folder 5

Song

box 4, folder 6

Sonnets of realization, I, II, and III

box 4, folder 7

Sonnets to Craig

Material Specific Details: Carbon copies of the typescript, apparently made by the publishers and not by Sterling.

box 4, folder 8

The sport (Attorney for the jewel)

Material Specific Details: Corrected on title page to The attorney for the jewel in Sterling's handwriting.

box 4, folder 9

Spring

box 4, folder 10

Spring in Carmel

box 4, folder 11

The stranger

box 4, folder 12

The swoon

box 4, folder 13

Telepathy (The tiger)

oversize-box 10, oversize-folder 1

The testimony of the suns

Material Specific Details: 3 Versions. Original manuscript with questions by Sterling and annotations by Ambrose Bierce.

box 4, folder 14

The thief of Bagdad

Material Specific Details: Complete set of titles for the The thief of Bagdad silent film.

box 4, folder 15

Three sonnets on sleep

box 4, folder 16

Tidal, king of nations

box 4, folder 17

To a girl dancing

Material Specific Details: Inscribed: "For Albert, from George".

box 4, folder 18

To a lily

box 4, folder 19

To a sculptor [To Robert I. Aitken]

Material Specific Details: This was published as "To Robert I. Aitken". Written on an envelope addressed to Sterling by Ambrose Bierce and postmarked Feb. 20, 1904.

box 4, folder 20

To critics asking lighter songs

box 4, folder 21

To Ruth Chatterton

box 4, folder 22

To the hun

Material Specific Details: The printing of this manuscript occurs on page 48 of The binding of the beast by George Sterling, 1917, published by A.M. Robertson.

box 4, folder 23

The tracker

box 4, folder 24

Two met

box 4, folder 25

[unpublished sonnets]

Material Specific Details: 1. On the lateness of rent; 2. On the blindness to the time he wastes writing letters.

box 4, folder 26

The voice of the dove

box 4, folder 27

The walled garden

box 4, folder 28

Western twilight

box 4, folder 29

The wild swan

box 4, folder 30

A wine of wizardry

Material Specific Details: 3 versions. Original manuscripts with questions by Sterling and annotations by Ambrose Bierce.

box 4, folder 31

A winter dawn

box 4, folder 32

The wiser prophet

box 4, folder 33

With the strength of dreams

box 4, folder 34

A yellow rose

Subseries 2.2 Writings by others

Scope and Contents

Manuscripts and typescripts from other writers.

box 5, folder 1-21

Poems sent to George Sterling for criticism

Creator: Akins, Zoë, 1886-1958

Creator: Bennett, Raine Edward

Creator: Cooksley, S. Bert (Sidney Bert )

Creator: Dewing, Andrew

Creator: Dowd, Harrison, 1897-1964

Creator: Huber, Emil Andrew

Creator: Macomb, Catherine Sisk

Creator: Middleton, Scudder , 1888 - 1959

Creator: Noel, Joseph

Creator: Phlegar, Thelma

Creator: Putnam, Nina Wilcox, 1888-1962

Creator: Shepherd, Morgan

Creator: Taylor, Edward De Witt, 1871-1962

Creator: Wallace, Grace

Creator: Wandrei, Donald, 1908-1987

Creator: Wolf, Robert L. (Robert Leopold), 1895-

Creator: Wright, Greta

Physical Description: 21 folders

Material Specific Details: Papers found in George Sterling's effects. Copies of others' poems apparently sent to George Sterling for criticism or marketing. Some contain handwritten notes and corrections. Typewritten and handwritten. Also contains two poems with no attribution.

box 5, folder 22

Sheffauer, Herman - Satire and the satirist

box 5, folder 23

Strickland, Dwight - Fruhlingslied in winter

box 5, folder 24

Taylor, Edward Robeson - George Sterling 1909

Creator: Taylor, Edward Robeson, , 1838-1923

box 9

George Sterling's scrapbook of poems

Material Specific Details: George Sterling's scrapbook of pictures and poems by various authors. Some are printed and some written in long hand by Sterling. Titles and authors' names of most are written in Sterling's hand.

Subseries 2.3 In memoriam

Scope and Contents

Original papers and manuscripts appearing in the Overland Monthly, Nov-Dec 1927, edited by Albert M. Bender.

box 5, folder 25

Overland Monthly, In memoriam: George Sterling; Editor: Albert M. Bender November-December, 1927

Creator: Bender, Albert M. (Albert Maurice), 1866-1941

Material Specific Details: Overland Monthly Vol. LXXXV, November, 1927; Overland Monthly Vol.LXXXV December, 1927

box 5, folder 26-44, box 6, folder 1-14

Original papers and manuscripts appearing in the Overland Monthly November-December 1927

Creator: Bender, Albert M. (Albert Maurice), 1866-1941

Creator: Arnstein, Flora J.

Creator: Atherton, Gertrude Franklin Horn, 1857-1948

Creator: Austin, Mary, 1868-1934

Creator: Bynner, Witter, 1881-1968

Creator: Coleman, Louise Lord

Creator: Coolbrith, Ina D.

Creator: Clark, Donald B.

Creator: De Ford, Miriam Allen, 1888-1975

Creator: Dobie, Charles Caldwell, 1881-1943

Creator: Douglas, George

Creator: Dreiser, Theodore, 1871-1945

Creator: Field, Charles K. (Charles Kellogg), 1873-1948

Creator: Hopper, James, 1876-1956

Creator: Irwin, Will, 1907-

Creator: Jeffers, Robinson, 1887-1962

Creator: Kellogg, Vernon L. (Vernon Lyman), 1867-1937

Creator: London, Charmian

Creator: Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940

Creator: Masters, Edgar Lee, 1868-1950

Creator: Mayhew, Joyce

Creator: McWilliams, Carey, 1905-1980

Creator: Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956

Creator: Phelan, James D. (James Duval)

Creator: Rorty, James, 1890-1973

Creator: Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968

Creator: Smith, Clark Ashton, 1893-1961

Creator: Smith, Rex

Creator: Turner, Ethel

Creator: Welch, Marie de L. (Marie de Laveaga), 1905-1974

Creator: Wood, Charles Erskine Scott, 1852-1944

Physical Description: 32 folders

Series 3 Printed Material 1912-1998 1916-1940

Scope and Contents

Printed material by George Sterling and others.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by title.

box 7, folder 1

The abalone song, printed for the friends of George Sterling, Albert Bender 1937

box 7, folder 2

The abalone song, a keepsake for the Joint Meeting of the Roxburge and Zamarano Clubs in the City of Angels October 1998

box 7, folder 3

The cool grey city of love 1921

box 7, folder 4

The immortal, Greenwood Press 1948

box 7, folder 5

Lilies of stone 1916

box 7, folder 6

Remembrance, George Sterling 1869-1926 1940

Material Specific Details: Contains the Song of friendship and a mounted image of the death mask of Sterling by Haig Patigan. Printed by Rudolph Blaettler.

box 7, folder 7

The sailing of Keats 1942

box 7, folder 8

Songs by George Sterling and Lawrence Zenda 1928

box 7, folder 9

Strange waters [1926]

Material Specific Details: Two copies. One copy inscribed to Ina Cowdery Bichman by author.

box 7, folder 10

To Serra of Carmel, Grabhorn Press 1934

box 7, folder 11

Together, Keesling Press 1930

oversize-box 10, oversize-folder 3

We're a-going, words and music by George Sterling [1918]

box 7, folder 12

Austin, Mary; George Sterling at Carmel 1927

box 7, folder 13

Bender, Albert M.; An appreciation of George Sterling, The Fortnightly, September 11, 1931, Volume 1, Number 1 1931

box 7, folder 14

London, Charmian; George Sterling - As I knew him [approximately 1927?]

box 7, folder 15

McWilliams; George Sterling-1927, The San Franciscan, November 1930, Volume V, Number 1 1930

box 7, folder 16

Romanes, Alva; To George Sterling 1930

box 7, folder 17

San Francisco Water, July 1928, Vol. VII, Number 3 1928

Creator: Spring Valley Water Company (San Francisco, Calif.)

Material Specific Details: Entire issue devoted to George Sterling. Poems by Sterling and an appreciation of Sterling by authors Idwal Jones, Edward F. O'Day, and Willard Huntington Wright.

box 7, folder 18

Stevenson, Lionel; George Sterling's Place in modern poetry 1929

Creator: Stevenson, Lionel, 1902-1973

box 7, folder 19

Newspaper clippings 1912, 1921, 1926-1927, 1950

Series 4 Miscellanea and photographs

Scope and Contents

Ephemera and photographs related to George Sterling. Includes three books that belonged to Sterling, including a bible with Sterling family marriages, deaths, births, and other important dates.

box 7, folder 20

Miscellanea

Material Specific Details: One folder containing four items: 1. Sag-Harbor, Hampton, and Shelter Island Fair Ground Association claim check; 2. Quotation on the occasion of giving benediction of the Lord to the house of I.B.; 3. Memo re: confirmation and communion in Catholic Church. 4. Two envelopes from photo developers: Royal Pharmacy and Karnell's Pharmacy.

box 11

Sterling family bible 1855

Material Specific Details: The Holy Bible containing the Old and New Testaments, translated out of the original tongues; and with the former translations diligently compared and revised. New York, American Bible Society, 1855. Heavy marginalia including verses. Includes list of marriages, deaths, births, and other important dates of the Sterling family. In memoriam to Mollie Sterling including two hand-written poems and an elm leaf (laid in). Annotations dated: June 26, 1838 to February 23, 1920.

box 11

Dictionary and alphabetical index to the Bible [1823?]

Material Specific Details: A complete concordance to the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament, or, a dictionary and alphabetical index to the Bible . Octavo edition. Title page and other pages are missing. Present is a presentation inscription to George Sterling whose name is crossed out with "James Sterling" written above.

box 12

English law book circa 1680

Material Specific Details: The first part of the Reports of Sr George Croke Kt. late one of the justices of the Court of Kings-Bench, and formerly one of the justices of the Court of Common-Bench; of such select cases as were adjudged in the said courts, from the 24th to the 44th/45th of the late Queen Elizabeth. Missing title page.

Photographs circa 1900-1926

Creator: Moulin, Gabriel, 1872-1945

Physical Description: 4 folders

Material Specific Details: Collection of photographs and negatives including some of George Sterling, Jack London, Carrie Sterling, Austin Lewis, Mary Miles Minter, James Hopper, Harry Leon Wilson, and Robinson Jeffers and his family. Some scenes taken on location at a film shoot and at Bohemian Grove. Some photographs by Gabriel Moulin.

Conditions Governing Access

Photographs and negatives are available during Photo Desk hours.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Sterling, George, 1869-1926

Sterling, Carrie (Caroline Rand), 1872-1918

Minter, Mary Miles, 1902-1984

Miller, Joaquin

Jeffers, Robinson, 1887-1962

Hopper, James, 1876-1956

London, Jack

Wilson, Harry Leon, 1867-1939

Lewis, Austin, 1865?-1944

Phelan, James D. (James Duval)

Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940

box 1 BASC Photos, folder 1-2, oversize-box 1 BASC Photos (Oversized), folder 1

Photographs

box 2 BASC Photos (Negatives), folder 1

Negatives