Wallace (Irving) papers, 1934-1968

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Summary

Title:
Irving Wallace papers
Dates:
1934-1968
Creators:
Wallace, Irving, 1916-1990
Abstract:
This collection contains the papers of the screenwriter and novelist Irving Wallace (1916-1990). His papers include correspondence, research notes, proofs, and typescripts for some of his stories, screenplays, and novels.
Extent:
3.5 Linear feet 3 boxes
Language:
English and The papers in this collection are in English, with the exception of the draft and proofs of Los Disconformes , the Spanish edition of The Square Peg .
Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], Irving Wallace papers, Collection no. 0144, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Background

Scope and content:

Collection consists of correspondence, research notes, proofs, and corrected typescripts for various stories, screenplays, and novels by Irving Wallace. Books represented in this collection include The Plot, The Man, The Sunday Gentleman, The Twenty-Seventh Wife, The Fabulous Originals, and The Writing of One Novel. While the papers are mostly copies, most items contain autograph notations by Wallace. Also included in this collection are photographs, including original stills of Sarah Bernhardt, magazines in which interviews of Wallace and reviews or excerpts of his work can be found, drafts of Wallace's memoirs, and a small amount of personal correspondence.

Biographical / historical:

Irving Wallace was born in 1916 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He sold his first magazine story when he was 15. After dropping out of college to write for film, he met his wife Sylvia Kahn. In 1942, Wallace enlisted in the Air Force, where he was placed in the First Motion Picture Division. A year later, he was transferred to the Signal Corps Photographic Center, which stationed him first in Los Angeles and later in New York. Upon his discharge from the Air Force in 1946, he returned to free-lancing for periodicals but also started writing screenplays and treatments for movie studios. In 1953, he began writing book-length works. His first published work was The Fabulous Originals. Over the course of his career, he would go on to write sixteen novels and seventeen works of nonfiction, many of which became sensational best-sellers. Wallace died in 1990.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Finding aid prepared by Rebecca Hirsch
Sponsor:
The processing of this collection and the creation of this finding aid was funded by the generous support of the National Historic Publications and Records Commission.
Date Prepared:
July 2010
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using the Archivists' Toolkit 2011-06-07T03:17-0700

Access and use

Restrictions:

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.

Terms of access:

The collection contains published materials; researchers are reminded of the copyright restrictions imposed by publishers on reusing their articles and parts of books. It is the responsibility of researchers to acquire permission from publishers when reusing such materials. The copyright to unpublished materials belongs to the heirs of the writers. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Preferred citation:

[Box/folder# or item name], Irving Wallace papers, Collection no. 0144, Special Collections, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Location of this collection:
Special Collections
Doheny Memorial Library, Room 209
Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189, US
Contact:
(213) 740-5900
specol@usc.edu
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