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Heinlein (Robert A. and Virginia G.) papers
MS.095
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Santa Cruz
Title: Robert A. and Virginia G. Heinlein papers
Creator:
Heinlein, Robert A. (Robert Anson),
1907-1988
Creator:
Heinlein, Virginia
Identifier/Call Number: MS.095
Physical Description:
175 Linear Feet
366 boxes, 2 oversize folders, 3 oversize items
Physical Description:
.016 GB
795 digital files
Date (inclusive): 1907-2004
Abstract: The collection documents the
professional and personal lives of science fiction author Robert Heinlein and his wife,
Virginia Heinlein. Materials in the collection include manuscripts, short stories, articles,
book reviews, screen plays, television and radio programs, personal and professional
correspondence, legal and financial papers, illustrations, photographs, slides, scrapbooks,
yearbooks, memorabilia, and realia.
Physical Location: Stored offsite: Advance notice is
required for access to the papers.
Language of Material:
English
Collection open for research.
Copyright for the items in this collection is owned by the creators and their heirs.
Reproduction or distribution of any work protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair
use requires permission from the copyright owner. It is the responsibility of the user to
determine whether a use is fair use, and to obtain any necessary permissions. For more
information see UCSC Special Collections and Archives policy on Reproduction and Use.
Robert A. and Virginia G. Heinlein papers. MS 95. Special Collections and Archives,
University Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Gift of Robert and Virginia Heinlein in 1967, 1972, 1985, 2004.
Alternative Form of Material Available
The digitized archive of this collection can be found at the following website.
Robert Anson Heinlein was born July 7, 1907, in Butler, Missouri and died May 8, 1988, in
Carmel, California. Son of Rex Ivar, an accountant and Bam Lyle Heinlein, he was the third
of seven children. He married Elinor Curry in 1929 but they divorced in 1931. His second
marriage to Leslyn McDonald lasted from 1932 until their divorce in 1947. He married his
third wife, Virginia Doris Gerstenfeld, on October 21, 1948 and stayed with her until his
death in 1988. None of the marriages produced any children.
Robert attended University of Missouri in 1925 and the United States Naval Academy at
Annapolis, graduating in 1929. He completed his graduate studies in physics and mathematics
at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1934.
In 1929, Heinlein was commissioned as an ensign by the U. S. Navy, became lieutenant,
junior grade serving aboard the aircraft carrier Lexington before becoming gunnery officer
on the destroyer Roper. He suffered from seasickness and eventually contracted tuberculosis,
which caused him to be retired from active duty in 1934 on a small pension. After the Navy,
Heinlein worked at a variety of jobs besides writing. He was owner of Shively & Sophie
Lodes silver mine, Silver Plume, Colorado from 1934-35, ran as a candidate for California
State Assembly in 1938, and worked as a real estate agent during the 1930s. He also worked
as an aviation engineer at Naval Air Experimental Station, Philadelphia, 1942-45, was a
guest commentator during Apollo 11 lunar landing for Columbia Broadcasting System in 1969,
and delivered the James V. Forrestal Lecture at the U.S. Naval Academy, in 1973.
His writing career spanned almost five decades, from 1939-1988. After working as an
engineer during World War II, Heinlein returned to writing short stories and juvenile
fiction in the late 1940s. It was during this time that he moved from the genre magazines in
which he had made his reputation to more mainstream periodicals, particularly the
Saturday Evening Post. About his career with the pulp magazines, Heinlein
noted, "They didn't want it good. They wanted it Wednesday." (Pace, 1980).
As Joseph Patrouch wrote, "Heinlein was the first major science-fiction writer to break out
of category and reach the larger general-fiction market, and therefore he was the first to
start breaking down the walls that had isolated science fiction for so long." In a poll
taken by
Astounding Science Fiction magazine in 1953, eighteen top science
fiction writers of the time cited Heinlein as the major influence on their work. His
fictional writings repeatedly anticipated scientific and technological advances (Pace,
1988), from atomic power plants to water-beds.
In 1959 Heinlein published the first of what became a string of controversial novels.
Starship Troopers, 1959, speculated on future societal changes, postulating
a world run by military veterans. It spawned a deluge of controversy among his fans, and yet
Starship Troopers is still one of Heinlein's most popular novels. It won a
Hugo Award and has remained in print for more than three decades.
Heinlein followed
Starship Troopers with
Stranger in a Strange
Land
, which tells the story of Valentine Michael Smith, a Martian with paranormal
cognition, who establishes a religious movement on Earth. Members of his 'Church of All
Worlds' practice group sex and live in small communes.
Stranger in a Strange
Land
is perhaps Heinlein's best-known work. It has sold over three million copies,
won a Hugo Award, created an intense cult following, and even inspired a real-life Church of
All Worlds, founded by some devoted readers of the book.
In subsequent novels Heinlein continued to speculate on social changes of the future,
dealing with such controversial subjects as group marriage and incest. In
The Moon Is
a Harsh Mistress
, lunar colonists practice a variety of marriage forms because of
the shortage of women on the moon. In,
I Will Fear No Evil, an elderly, dying
businessman has his brain transplanted into the body of a young woman. He then impregnates
himself with his own sperm, previously stored in a sperm bank.
Time Enough for Love:
The Lives of Lazarus Long
explores varieties of future incest through the immortal
character Lazarus Long.
In the novel
Friday, published in 1982, and later in Job:
A Comedy of
Justice
and
The Cat Who Walks through Walls: A Comedy of Manners,
Heinlein tempered his social speculations by combining serious subject matter with
rollicking interplanetary adventure.
In the 1950s, Heinlein entered the field of television and motion pictures. His novel
Space Cadet was adapted as the television program,
Tom Corbett:
Space Cadet
. He wrote the screenplay and served as technical advisor for the film
Destination Moon, described by Peter R. Weston of
Speculation magazine as "the first serious and commercially successful
space flight film" which "helped to pave the way" for the Apollo space program of the 1960s.
Heinlein also wrote an original television pilot, "Ring around the Moon," which was expanded
without his approval by Jack Seaman into the screenplay for the film
Project
Moonbase
. The 1956 movie
The Brain Eaters, was based on Heinlein's
The Puppet Masters, also without his knowledge or approval, and in an
out-of-court settlement, Heinlein received compensation and the right to demand that certain
material be removed from the film.
In 1994,
Red Planet was made into a mini TV series, and
The Puppet
Masters
was released starring Donald Sutherland.
Starship Troopers,
released in 1997, became his most notable film adaptation.
Memberships:
- American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
- Authors Guild of America
- U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association
- Retired Officers Association
- Navy League
- Association of the U.S. Army
- Air Force Association
- World Future Society
- U.S. Naval Institute
- Minutemen of U.S.S. Lexington
- California Arts Society
- National Rare Blood (donors) Club
- American Association of Blood Banks
Awards:
- Guest of Honor, World Science Fiction Convention, 1941, 1961, and 1976
- Hugo Award, World Science Fiction Convention, 1956, for Double Star
- Hugo Award, World Science Fiction Convention, 1960, for Starship Troopers
- Hugo Award, World Science Fiction Convention, 1962, for Stranger in a Strange Land
- Hugo Award, World Science Fiction Convention, 1967, for The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
- Boys' Clubs of America Book Award, 1959
- Sequoyah Children's Book Award of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Library Association, 1961, for Have Space Suit--Will Travel
- Locus, magazine readers' poll, Best All-time Author, 1973 and 1975
- National Rare Blood Club Humanitarian Award, 1974
- Nebula Award, Grand Master, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, 1975
- Council of Community Blood Centers Award, 1977
- American Association of Blood Banks Award, 1977
- Inkpot Award, 1977
- Doctor of Human Letters (L.H.D.), Eastern Michigan University, 1977
- Distinguished Public Service Medal, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), 1988 (posthumously awarded), "in recognition of his meritorious service to the nation and mankind in advocating and promoting the exploration of space"
- The Rhysling Award of the Science Fiction Poetry Association is named after the character in Heinlein's story, The Green Hills of Earth
- Tomorrow Starts Here Award, Delta Vee Society
References
- Olander, Joseph D., and Martin Harry Greenberg, eds. "Robert A. Heinlein." New York: Taplinger, 1978.
- Pace, Eric. "Robert A. Heinlein is Dead at 80; Renowned Science Fiction Writer." New York Times. May 10, 1988 p.D26.
- "Robert A. Heinlein." Contemporary Authors Online. Literature Resource Center. Gale, 2004.
- Robert A. Heinlein. Internet Movie Database. 2007.
- Samuelson, David N. "Stranger in the Sixties: Model or Mirror?" Critical Encounters: Writers and Themes in Science Fiction, edited by Dick Riley. New York: Ungar, 1978.
- Slusser, George Edgar. "The Classic Years of Robert A. Heinlein." San Bernadino, CA.: Borgo Press, 1977.
Virginia G. Heinlein, 1916-2003
Virginia G. Heinlein was born on April 22, 1916 in Brooklyn, New York, to George (a
dentist) and Jeanne Gerstenfeld and had one younger brother, Leon. She died in Florida on
January 18, 2003. Virginia attended New York University, majoring in chemistry where she
lettered in swimming, diving, basketball, and field hockey. She also reached national
competitive levels in figure skating, the sport that became her lifelong passion. In time,
she came to speak over seven languages, including French, Latin, Italian, and Russian.
After graduating in 1937, Ginny worked for Quality Bakers as a chemist until 1943 when she
enlisted in the Navy during World War II. She advanced to lieutenant in the Women Accepted
for Volunteer Emergency Services (WAVES). She served first at the Bureau of Aeronautics,
where she met Robert Heinlein in 1944 while both were working at the Naval Air Experimental
Station in Philadelphia. She then served as his assistant on several classified development
projects as chemist and aviation test engineer. After World War II, she came to Los Angeles
to study for an unfinished doctorate in biochemistry at UCLA.
Virginia married Robert Heinlein in Raton, New Mexico in October 1948. Ginny, as she
preferred to be called, became his closest companion, critic, editor, and staunch supporter.
She was also his muse and model for many of the savvy, brainy, redheaded female protagonists
in Heinlein's oeuvre.
Robert and Ginny were a formidable team. She fielded and co-coordinated much of his
correspondence, and graciously received guests and fans in public appearances and in their
home. She worked tirelessly with him on blood drives held at science fiction conventions
around the country. Ginny was strong-willed and generous, and totally devoted to Robert. She
nursed Robert through two life-threatening illnesses, spending years involved in every facet
of his business and social life. Robert credited Ginny for the conception of
Stranger
in a Strange Land
. When their health was robust, the Heinleins traveled
extensively; their adventures around the world resulted in the travel memoir,
Tramp
Royale
which Ginny published after his death. There is also evidence to suggest
that Ginny also functioned as a political catalyst for the socially liberal Heinlein. Very
shortly after their marriage, Robert's change in ideology from liberal to libertarian
becomes apparent in his correspondence and his stories.
After Robert Heinlein's death in 1988 Ginny moved to Florida where she continued her
interests in gardening, cooking, reading, and politics. She gathered a selection of her
husband's letters in
Grumbles from the Grave, printed for the first time his
travel memoir
Tramp Royale and political handbook
Take Back Your
Government
(originally titled
How to Be a Politician), and oversaw
the restoration of several texts she felt had been badly edited, including
Red
Planet
,
Puppet Masters, and
Stranger in a Strange
Land
. In her later years she was active in an online listserv where she
communicated with fans about her husband's work.
To futher her husband's legacy, she endowed the Robert Anson Heinlein Chair in Aerospace
Engineering, at Annapolis, with a gift of over $2.6 million and helped found 'The Heinlein
Society', an educational charity dedicated to the Heinlein legacy. She also endowed the
public library in Robert Heinlein's birthplace of Butler, Missouri.
Elaine Woo wrote in her 2003
Los Angeles Times obituary that Greg Bear, a
science fiction writer who knew the Heinleins, said he had met women who were inspired to
become scientists by Robert's stories. "And Robert," Bear said, "was inspired by Ginny.
Ginny was their original."
References
- Drum, Kevin. "Virginia Heinlein." Washington Monthly v.35:1 Jan/Feb 2003
- James, Robert. "Virginia Heinlein, a Biography." The Heinlein Society (1999)
- Woo, Elaine. "Virginia Heinlein, 86; Wife, Muse and Literary Guardian of Celebrated Science Fiction Writer" Los Angeles Times Jan. 26, 2003. p. B14
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection documents the professional and personal lives of science fiction author
Robert A. Heinlein and his wife, Virginia G. Heinlein. Series I-II in the collection include
Heinlein's manuscripts, short stories, articles, book reviews, screen plays, television and
radio programs, personal and professional correspondence, publishers' papers, illustrations,
photographs, slides, scrapbooks, memorabilia, and realia.
In the published manuscripts, short stories and reviews, Robert Heinlein's work centers on
space adventure and future human endeavor, especially the challenge of the individual
against the institution.
Galvanized by war and United States political policy, Heinlein drew on World War II, the
Cold War, the Vietnam War, science and technology, and the social revolutions of the 1960's
and 1970's. His passions are documented in his professional and personal correspondence:
research into rare blood groups, bomb shelter construction, human freedom, the right to bear
arms, libertarian politics, and the exploration of space.
Of special interest in the manuscript series, besides the manuscripts themselves, are the
research notes and articles, mathematical calculations, formulas, diagrams, and drawings
that Heinlein used to shape his stories. This material reveals Heinlein's skill as a
researcher and scholar, and provides a fascinating insight to his creative process.
Robert and Virginia's letters to publishers and agents document the challenges of
copyright, contracts, and editorial review. In Heinlein's personal correspondence with his
family, and friends: authors, film directors, military comrades, scientists, and scholars,
he discusses the changing ideals and morals of his time.
Of special interest in the correspondence series are the letters from the following
individuals who represent the progenitors of early science fiction in print, television and
film.
- Isaac Asimov, science fiction author
- Marion Zimmerman Bradley, fantasy author
- John Campbell, editor of Astounding Magazine, science fiction author, scientology aficionado
- E.J (Ted) Carnell, British science fiction editor. Ted Carnell's letters from 1942-1945 describe life in London, England during the war. Political and cultural references about the war effort, labor shortages, strikes, and military action may be interesting to the researcher of WWII history
- Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author
- L. Sprague de Camp, science fiction author
- L. Ron Hubbard, pulp and science fiction author, founder of scientology
- Fritz Lang, German film director and writer
- Captain Caleb Laning, Annapolis classmate, submarine and communications expert
- Willy Ley, author, science editor, public lecturer, technical advisor, professor
- Irving Pichel, actor, film director
- Spider Robinson, science fiction author
- Rip Von Ronkel, film writer and producer
- William Parker White (A.P. Boucher), author, critic, editor
Manuscripts and related material, correspondence, and publisher material, represent the
largest portion of the collection. Additional descriptive details are included within each
series.
Memorabilia, ephemera and photographs in the collection span Heinlein's earliest years with
his family, enlisted naval life, his marriages and travels with Virginia, and Virginia's
life until her death in 2003.
Series II: Virginia G. Heinlein. For more than 40 years, Virginia served as Heinlein's
muse, secretary, and companion, and her unflagging dedication to Heinlein's oeuvre was
paramount. The Virginia G. Heinlein series includes biographical material, correspondence,
and memoirs. The correspondence includes letters exchanged with Robert before their
marriage, correspondence with personal friends, and communications with agents and
publishers.
The digitized archive of this collection can be found at the following website.
The collection is organized into two series:
Series I. Robert A. Heinlein
- Subseries 1. Biographical
- Subseries 2. Correspondence
- Subseries 3. Manuscripts
- Subseries 4. Business
- Subseries 5. Printed Materials
- Subseries 6. Artwork
- Subseries 7. Scrapbooks
- Subseries 8. Photographs
- Subseries 9. Media
- Subseries 10. Realia
Series II. Virgina G. Heinlein
- Subseries 1. Biographical
- Subseries 2. Correspondence
- Subseries 3. Manuscripts
- Subseries 4. Business
- Subseries 5. Artwork
- Subseries 6. Photographs
- Subseries 7. Media
- Subseries 8. Realia
The books from the collection have been cataloged separately.
Processed by Debra Roussopoulos, UCSC OAC Unit. Processing completed June 2007. EAD finding
aid encoded by Maureen Carey, UCSC OAC Unit.
MS58 Eric Temple Bell Papers
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Utopias -- Fiction
Time travel -- Fiction
Imaginary wars and battles --
Fiction
Science fiction, American
Interplanetary voyages --
Fiction
- Collection Overview
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Collection Details
- Access
- Use Restrictions
- Preferred Citation
- Acquisition Information
- Alternative Form of Material Available
- Robert A. Heinlein, 1907-1988
- Virginia G. Heinlein, 1916-2003
- Scope and Content of Collection
- Arrangement
- Separated Material
- Processing Information
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