Descriptive Summary
Access Restrictions
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Related Material
Descriptive Summary
Title: Lawrence Willson Papers
Dates: ca. 1912-1995
Collection number: UArch FacP 21
Creator:
Willson, Lawrence
Collection Size:
10 linear feet
(9 records cartons, 1 document boxes, 2 map cabinet folders, 1 VHS videocassette, and 1 audiocassette).
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library.
Dept. of Special Collections
Abstract: The collection contains research files relating to Lawrence Willson's scholarly interests, including Henry D. Thoreau and
American literature, as well as copies of his articles and reviews, correspondence, photographs, and files relating to the
Thoreau Society, Phi Beta Kappa, early teaching assignments, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he taught
in the English Department for many years.
Physical location: Boxes 1-10 (SRLF); Map folder (Map Cabinet 19/11); Audiovisual (Annex 2).
Languages:
English
Access Restrictions
The majority of this collection is stored offsite. Advance notice is required for retrieval.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or
quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given
on behalf of the Department of Special 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.
Preferred Citation
Lawrence Willson Papers. UArch FacP 21. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa
Barbara.
Acquisition Information
Multiple donations from Lawrence Willson and family, ca. 1990-1996.
Biography
Lawrence Willson was born in Lancaster, New Hampshire, on May 6, 1911. He received a bachelor's degree in English from Wesleyan
University in Connecticut in 1934 and earned a doctorate in English from Yale University in 1944. He taught at Delaware, Tennessee,
Wesleyan, and Berkeley before coming to UCSB in 1947, where he was a professor of English, a Henry D. Thoreau scholar, and
a longtime active member in the UCSB Phi Beta Kappa chapter. He retired in 1978 and died in Santa Barbara on January 28, 1996.
A Lawrence Willson Memorial Lectureship was established later in 1996 and has been awarded to some of the most distinguished
faculty at UCSB.
More information about Lawrence Willson's life is available in the UCSB Public Information Office Biographic Files and the
Lawrence Willson oral history Down Country (OH 1), produced by David Russell for the UCSB Oral History Program.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains research files relating to Lawrence Willson's scholarly interests, including Henry D. Thoreau and
American literature, as well as copies of his articles and reviews, correspondence, photographs, and files relating to the
Thoreau Society, Phi Beta Kappa, early teaching assignments, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he taught
in the English Department for many years.
The collection is only partially processed, with descriptions at the series and box level. Arrangement of contents is largely
as found.
Arrangement
This collection contains the following series:
-
Series I: General – incl. Bio/Personal. Autobiographical and bibliographical materials. Undergraduate and graduate papers, notes from student
days at Yale.
-
Series II: Academic Files. Files from before and during working at UCSB. Files from UCSB include English Department files, including Shakespeare and
Animals in Art courses.
-
Series III: Professional Organizations. Including extensive Phi Beta Kappa files (undergraduate honors society), Thoreau Society, and UCSB Friends of the Library.
-
Series IV: Research. Files from other American writers including Faulkner and Hawthorne.
-
Series V: Thoreau Files. General files, including correspondence, lectures, writings about Thoreau.
-
Series VI: Writings. Copies of articles by Willson, as well as his dissertation, unpublished novel, and reviews of works by others. Boxes 9-10.
-
Series VII: Oversize. Birthday Posters. Map Folders 19/11.
-
Series VIII: A/V. Audiocassette and VHS videotape: "Lawrence Willson: Self Reliance" bicentennial lecture.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Willson, Lawrence
Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862.
University of California, Santa Barbara. Dept. of English
Related Material
Resources in UCSB Special Collections
- Thoreau [Henry D.] / Lawrence Willson Collection. Mss 187.
- UCSB Office of Public Information Biographical Files. UArch 11.
- Willson [Lawrence] Oral History. OH 1.
Resources in the Davidson Library
- Writings of Henry David Thoreau / Thoreau Edition
-
http://www.library.ucsb.edu/thoreau/index.html
Email the Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Witherell at
witherell@library.ucsb.edu
Other Resources