Correspondence, manuscript drafts, and research files of Santa Barbara mystery writer Dennis Lynds.

Dennis Lynds was born on January 15, 1924 in St. Louis, Missouri, where his parents, two English actors, happened to be working. Soon after the birth, the family returned to London, where Dennis would spend his early childhood. When he was six years old, they returned to the United States and eventually settled in New York City, where his father found work on Broadway. Dennis grew up in Brooklyn, where he felt that his British accent and bohemian parents isolated him from his working-class peers. He retreated into his imagination and began to invent exciting stories of action and adventure which were inspired by the novels and plays to which his mother exposed him. However, his parents wanted Dennis to have a more stable life than they had known, and so they encouraged him to pursue a career in science. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School and, after graduation, took classes at the Cooper Union in Manhattan.

96 Linear Feet (76 cartons and document boxes, 1 flat box, 11 audiocassettes, 4 videocassettes)

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

The collection is open for research. The collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval.