Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Finding Aid to the George Rippey Stewart Papers, 1914-1984
BANC MSS C-H 13
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Collection Title: George Rippey Stewart papers
Date (inclusive): 1914-1984
Collection Number: BANC MSS C-H 13
Creators :
Stewart, George Rippey, 1895-1980
Extent:
Number of containers: 7 boxes, 12 cartons, 1 oversize folder and 2 oversize items
Linear feet: approx. 19
Repository: The Bancroft Library
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, California, 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: Contains correspondence with publishers, editors, agents, writers, teachers, research associates, family, friends and fans;
research notes and documents; manuscripts of writings including: Ordeal by Hunger, Storm, Fire, Names on the Land, U.S. 40,
Earth Abides, The California Trail, Pickett's Charge, Year of the Oath, American Place Names, Names on the Globe; proofs,
publicity, reviews; notes for speeches. Also includes bibliographies of his writings and bibliographies compiled by Stewart.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English and German
Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
Collection is open for research.
All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Head
of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94270-6000. Consent is given on behalf of The
Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .
Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.
[Identification of item], George Rippey Stewart Papers, BANC MSS C-H 13, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
A copy of his Autobiography from Carton 9, folders 80-91 is also available on microfilm, (BANC FILM 2556).
George Rippey Stewart papers: additions, 1750-1984 (BANC MSS 70/88)
Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library. (BANC PIC 1981.057-ALB; BANC PIC 1981.059-PIC;
BANC PIC 1970.036-PIC)
Audiotapes and Soundscriber recordings have been transferred to the Microforms Collection of The Bancroft Library. (Phonodisc
189)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Stewart, George Rippey, 1895--Archives
Authors, American--20th century
Manuscripts for publication
Notes
Autobiographies
Reviews
The George Rippey Stewart Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by George Rippey Stewart and his wife Theodosia Stewart
from the years 1938-1986. Additions were made by Mr. and Mrs. Hobart M. Lovett of the bound typescript of "I Wish I Might"
in 1970; by Richard P. Hafner of the manuscript "The English Department Fire" in 1978.
No additions are expected.
Arranged to the folder level.
Processed by Jane Phillips in 1987.
George Rippey Stewart, writer and academician, was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, on May 31, 1895, the son of George Rippey
and Ella Wilson Stewart. The family moved to Pasadena, California, when Stewart was 12. After graduation from high school,
Stewart went to Princeton, receiving his A. B. in 1917. From 1917 to 1919 he served in the U. S. Army. In 1920 Stewart obtained
his M. A. in English literature from the University of California, Berkeley, and in 1922 he was awarded a Ph.D. in English
from Columbia University.
While teaching for a year at the University of Michigan, Stewart met and married Theodosia Burton, daughter of the president
of the University. Upon returning to Berkeley in 1923, he joined the faculty of the English Department of the University of
California, where he remained until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 1962. Stewart served as a visiting professor at
several universities, including a year as Fulbright Professor of American Literature and Civilization at the University of
Athens, 1952-1953.
Stewart's first important work was a biography of Bret Harte (1931). Other non-fiction works include: Ordeal by Hunger, a
study of the Donner Party (1936); Names on the Land (1945); Man, an Autobiography (1946); U.S. 40 (1953); American Ways of
Life (1954); N. A. 1 (1957); Pickett's Charge (1959); The California Trail (1963); American Place Names (1970); Names on the
Globe (1975); and American Place Names (1979). He also wrote several non-fiction books for juvenile readers.
Stewart's first novel was East of the Giants (1938). Other fiction works include: Doctor's Oral (1939); Storm (1941); Fire
(1948); Earth Abides (1949); Sheep Rock (1951); and Years of the City (1955).
That Stewart was a man of many interests is reflected in his prolific writings, which comprise both published and unpublished
fiction, non-fiction, poetry and drama, and include such diverse subjects as history, ecology, onomatology, meteorology, and
science fiction. His advocacy of academic freedom involved him in political controversy and provided material for a book,
Year of the Oath (1950). Both his fiction and non-fiction works have been awarded prizes, among them medals from the Commonwealth
Club of California for Ordeal by Hunger and East of the Giants, the International Fantasy Award for Earth Abides, and the
Hillman Award for Not so Rich as You Think.
Several of his works have appeared in foreign language editions. Stewart also published a children's book, To California by
Covered Wagon (1954), and wrote numerous articles and reviews for scholarly as well as general interest publications.
After his retirement from the University of California, Stewart continued to write and publish. Though in his last years he
suffered from Parkinson's disease, Stewart continued working on various literary projects until the time of his death on August
22, 1980.
Scope and Content of Collection
The George Rippey Stewart Papers contain correspondence with publishers, editors, agents, writers, teachers, research associates,
family, friends and fans; research notes and documents; manuscripts of writings including: Ordeal by Hunger, Storm, Fire,
Names on the Land, U.S. 40, Earth Abides, The California Trail, Pickett's Charge, Year of the Oath, American Place Names,
Names on the Globe; proofs, publicity, reviews; notes for speeches. Also includes bibliographies of his writings and bibliographies
compiled by Stewart.
These papers primarily document Stewart's life, and duel careers as a writer of fiction and non-fiction, and as a teacher
at the University of California, Berkeley; and they reflect his longstanding interest in the history of the American West.
Significant reorganization of the collection was required due to the fact that the papers were donated and transferred to
The Bancroft Library at various times dating from 1938-1986, and there was no overall organization ordering the collection
as a whole. However, wherever possible, internal groupings within a series reflect Stewart's own filing system. The papers
found in BANC MSS 70/88 c consist principally of personal papers, biographical information, financial records and family papers.
BANC MSS 70/88 also includes literary correspondence and royalty statements.