Allen, (Henry Wilson) Papers, 1950 - 2020

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Summary

Title:
Henry Wilson Allen Papers
Dates:
1950 - 2020
Creators:
Allen, Henry Wilson, 1912-1991 and Allen, Dorothy
Abstract:
Henry Wilson Allen was a Western writer who published over 50 novels using several pen names including Will Henry, Clay Fisher, and Henry Allen Wilson. His novels have sold over 15 million copies, many titles have been translated into several languages, and eight have been produced into movies. Allen's early writing career was for MGM Animation where he wrote screenplays under the name Henry Allen or using the pseudonym, Heck Allen. The Henry Wilson Allen Papers include business records and correspondence related to his writing career including publishing contracts, agreements, rights reversions, royalty statements, promotional materials, and receipts. The collection also includes biography drafts, news clippings, photographs of Allen, personal correspondence related to Allen's writing projects, and fan mail.
Extent:
2.2 Linear Feet 5 boxes
Language:
English .
Preferred citation:

Henry Wilson Allen Papers, 1951 - 2020, Autry Library, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MSA.52; [folder number] [folder title][date].

Background

Scope and content:

This collection contains publishing business papers related to Henry Wilson Allen's writing career, such as royalty statements and receipts, publishing and licensing contracts, copyright paperwork, option agreements, and rights reversion letters. It includes letters from publishers and literary agents, personal correspondence related to Allen's writing career, and fan mail. Business papers dated after 1991 are addressed to Dorothy Allen, Henry Allen's wife and executor of his estate after he died. Also included are book cover proofs, miscellaneous promotional materials related to publications, handwritten notes and partial drafts of writing projects, draft biographies of Allen, and several promotional portraits and photographs of Allen.

Biographical / historical:

Henry Wilson Allen (1912-1991) was born 1912 September 29 to Ella Jensen Allen and H. Wilson Allen in Kansas City, Missouri. Allen grew up in Kansas City and attended Kansas City Junior College for one year from 1929-1930. Allen worked a wide variety of jobs throughout the West before becoming a full time writer, including as a hard rock gold miner in Colorado, house mover, industrial shop swamper, mine blacksmith, used car caravanner, service station attendant, trading post clerk on an Indian Reservation, stable hand, sugar mill crushing operator, and veterinary hospital assistant.

In 1937, Allen began working as a contract writer for the Metro Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) short subjects/animation department. He worked for MGM for 12 years, was the main "story man" for Tex Avery cartoons from 1944-1955, and has over 50 screen credits writing as Heck Allen or Henry Allen. Allen published his first novel No Survivors, with Random House in 1952 while still working at MGM. He used the pseudonym Will Henry for this publication because he was concerned that MGM would disapprove of his work on other writing projects. Allen had to use another pen name – Clay Fisher – when he published his second novel titled Red Blizzard with a different publisher because he was still under contract with his first publisher. He published over 50 novels under the names Will Henry or Clay Fisher, which are estimated to have sold over 15 million copies, eight of which have been adapted into movies. He also published three non-Western novels as Henry Allen Wilson. Allen regretted the confusion that the multiple pen names caused and believed that it hurt his career. He was a five-time winner of the Spur Award from the Western Writers of America and a recipient of the Levi Strauss Award for lifetime achievement.

Allen married Dorothy Hope Smith (aka Amy Geneva Watson) in Los Angeles, California in 1937. They had 2 children, Valerie Hope Allen and Christopher Bruce Allen. Henry Allen died in California from pneumonia in 1991 at age 79. Dorothy Allen managed Henry Allen's estate after he died until she died in 2015.

References

"California, County Marriages, 1849-1957", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8VS-V3F : Sat Mar 09 21:10:21 UTC 2024), Entry for Henry Wilson Allen and Dorothy Hope Smith, 25 November 1937.

Sonnichsen, C.L., editor. Twentieth-Century Writers. Macmillan Press Ltd., 1982.

Stassel, Stephanie. 1991, October 31. "Will Henry; Author of Western Novels." Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-10-31-me-628-story.html

Walker, Dale L., editor. Will Henry's West. Texas Western Press. 1984.

Acquisition information:
Donated in Memory of Henry Wilson Allen (Will Henry), 2017.
Processing information:

Processing and finding aid by Molly Smith, 2025.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged into three series: 1. Correspondence 2. Publishing Records 3. Biographical Materials. Some of the material was organized by the creators of the collection. The papers that were unfiled have been organized by document type and then chronologically by the processing archivist.

About this collection guide

Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-08-18 17:11:35 +0000 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Appointments to view materials are required. To make an appointment please visit https://theautry.org/research-collections/library-and-archives and fill out the Researcher Application Form.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Autry Museum of the American West. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Library and Archives at the Autry. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Autry Museum of the American West as the custodian 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.

Preferred citation:

Henry Wilson Allen Papers, 1951 - 2020, Autry Library, Autry Museum of the American West, Los Angeles; MSA.52; [folder number] [folder title][date].

Location of this collection:
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027, US
Contact:
(747) 201-8448
rroom@theautry.org
Website