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Title: David Battan Research Correspondence
Dates: ca.1938-1984 (bulk 1981-1984)
Collection Number: DBR000
Creator/Collector:
Battan, David, 1938-
Extent: 1 folder or 32 scanned digital items
Repository:
Forever Saroyan, LLC
San Jose, California 95112
Abstract: This collection contains research materials used by author David Battan as he compiled information for a biography of William
Saroyan that was never published. The materials include postmarked envelopes, letters to Battan, and miscellaneous documents
Battan collected that were written by or related to Saroyan. This is not an exhaustive collection of Battan’s materials, which
were dispersed among private collectors and various university special collections.
Language of Material: English
This collection is open and available for use. Digital scans of all records are available on request.
Some material may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other
case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections.
David Battan Research Correspondence. Forever Saroyan, LLC
Donated by Charles Nelson, 2016
Biography/Administrative History
David Battan (1938-1987) was a Fresno handwriting expert and a collector and dealer of original manuscripts and autographs.
In 1984, he published the book Handwriting Analysis, and at his death was writing a biography about William Saroyan that was
never completed or published. He was a member of the board of trustees of the International Manuscript Society and was a prominent
collector on the West Coast. He also served as the personnel director of the Fresno County Welfare Department. In the 1980s,
while the UC Berkeley Bancroft Library processed Saroyan’s papers on behalf of the William Saroyan Foundation, all items within
the collection were blocked from access. More than five years of this embargo kept Battan from performing research on the
many unpublished manuscripts, journals, and correspondences within the Saroyan collection, and he died before access opened.
Battan collected individual records relating to Saroyan and befriended Saroyan while they both lived in Fresno.
Scope and Content of Collection
The bulk of this collection includes correspondences from the 1980s between researcher David Battan and various people associated
with author William Saroyan, including Aram Saroyan, Al Hirschfeld, Manuel Tolegian, Herbert Gold, and others. There are also
other correspondences, notes, drawings, postmarked envelopes, manuscripts, and galleys collected by Battan. Related letters
are available in outside collections, including the Williams College William Saroyan Collection, not affiliated with Forever
Saroyan, LLC.
Battan, David, 1938-
Saroyan, William, 1908-1981