Guide to the Idwal Jones Collection, 1920-1964
processed by David C. Tambo and Edward C. Fields;
machine-readable finding aid created by Xiuzhi Zhou
Department of Special Collections
Davidson Library
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone: (805) 893-3062
Fax: (805) 893-5749
Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html
© 2000
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Idwal Jones Collection, 1920-1964
Collection number: Mss 55
Department of Special Collections
Davidson Library
University of California, Santa Barbara
Contact Information:
- Department of Special Collections
- Davidson Library
- University of California, Santa Barbara
- Santa Barbara, CA 93106
- Phone: (805) 893-3062
- Fax: (805) 893-5749
- Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
- URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html
- Processors:
- Arrangement and description by David C. Tambo and Edward C. Fields
- Date Completed:
- 11/2/99 (revised)
- Encoded by:
- Xiuzhi Zhou
© 2000 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Idwal Jones Collection,
Date (inclusive): 1920-1964
Collection number: Mss 55
Creator: Jones, Idwal
Extent: 1 linear foot (2 boxes)
Repository:
University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these
materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
Purchase, 1965
Restrictions
None.
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
[Identification of item], Idwal Jones Collection, Mss 55, Department of Special Collections, University Libraries, University
of California, Santa Barbara.
Biography
Idwal Jones was born on December 8, 1890 in Festiniog in northern Wales. His father was an engineer and geologist who in 1902
brought the family to the slate-quarrying region of Pennsylvania. He later became the Inspector of Mines for the State of
New York. The younger Jones was not sent to school in Pennsylvania due to health concerns, but continued his education at
home with tutors. He later studied mechanical engineering in New York and for a time worked as a mechanician for Charles Proteus
Steinmetz, the famed electrical engineer whose theories regarding electrical current revolutionized the field. At other times
in his life, Jones worked in slate quarries and factories and as a rancher and prospector in California.
In 1915 Jones began his career in journalism, writing book reviews for the
San Francisco Chronicle. His first full-time job as a writer was with the
San Francisco Daily News where he served as a drama critic. His preparation for this assignment had been his work with a small theater company where,
among other things, he constructed background scenery. He also worked for the
San Francisco Examiner where he wrote feature stories and editorials and covered the 1926 gold rush in Weepah, Nevada. Jones traveled extensively
in Europe and Central America and lived in Rome and Paris where he worked as a foreign correspondent. In 1930 he returned
to New York where he worked as an editor and columnist for the
New York American while serving at the same time as a book critic for
Life magazine.
In 1926 Jones published his first novel,
The Splendid Shilling. Set in the days of the California Gold Rush, its central character's adventures take him from Wales to America. Like many
of Jones' fictional works, its settings, locales and themes followed the varied experiences of the author's own life.
China Boy and Other Stories (1936) first appeared in the
American Mercury, edited by H. L. Mencken, who commented enthusiastically on Jones' work. A number of Jones' short stories have been reprinted
in anthologies.
Black Bayou (1941), set in the swamps of Louisiana, has an undercurrent rooted in the mysticism of Saint Teresa of Ávila and the struggle
of the spirit in a world of turmoil.
The Vineyard (1942 and reissued in 1997), is centered on the grape industry in northern California, and
High Bonnet (1945) which humorously describes the world of a Parisian chef, demonstrate other areas of Jones' interest and expertise.
An accomplished chef renowned for his
cordon bleu cuisine and Epicurean knowledge, Jones was active in various food and wine societies. He maintained a lively correspondence
with M. F. K. Fisher who first learned of Jones via one of his many magazine articles. She incorporated some of his suggestions
regarding cookbooks and others things gastronomic into her own work. Jones' later works include
Vermilion (1947), dealing with a California mercury mine, and
Ark of Empire: San Francisco's Montgomery Block (1951), which portrayed post gold rush California through the microcosm of the famous edifice and the denizens whose lives
intersected with it. These included Robert Louis Stevenson, Ambrose Bierce, and Jack London.
Jones continued to write numerous articles on California geology, folklore and viticulture and maintained an active interest
in these areas throughout his life. He also was active in societies devoted to Gypsy lore and Welsh culture and maintained
his life-long interest in wine and gastronomy both as a connoisseur and a writer. Jones died at his home in Laguna Beach,
California on November 14, 1964.
Scope and Content
The collection contains the following series:
- I. Writings
- II. Correspondence
- III. Ephemera
- IV. Oversize
Related Collections
At UCSB
At other repositories
Box 1, Folder 1
Bridges of Yesterday (typescript for
Westways magazine article), 1964
Box 1, Folder 2
Man with Camera (typescript for
Westways?), 1964
Box 1, Folder 3
Mr. Sheriff Hays (typescript for
Westways? Subject is related to Jones'
Ark of Empire), n.d.
Box 1, Folder 4
Published Articles, 1938-1953
Box 1, Folder 5
Research Material (letters/notes pertaining to research projects including several related to a planned work on trade with
Polynesia), 1949-1962, n.d.
II. Correspondence (all incoming except as noted)
Box 1, Folder 6
Beston, Henry-1 ALS, 7 June 1938
Box 1, Folder 7
Cleland, Robert G.-1 TLS, 28 Aug. 1947
Box 1, Folder 8
Crahan, Marc-2 TLS, 22 Apr. 1958 and 3 Mar. 1960
Box 1, Folder 9
Douglas, Norman-2 ALS, 19 Jan. 1928 and 28 July 1959; 1 AL, (partial), n.d., and miscellaneous clippings
Box 1, Folder 10
Field, Isobel-1 ANS, n.d.; also photograph of RLS and assorted items related to RLS
Box 1, Folder 11
Fisher, Mary Francis Kennedy (MFK)-1 ALS, 11 Jan. 1940; 10 TLS, 1940-1963; 1 TL, to MFK from Roy Alciatore, 23 Sept. 1941
Box 1, Folder 12
Huxley, Aldous-1 ALS, 19 Oct. 1937
Box 1, Folder 13
Jones, Dilys-1 TL to DJ from Patrice Manahan, 23 May 1950; 1 TLS, 31 Jan. 1956
Box 1, Folder 14
Lewis, Wyndham-1 ALS, n.d.
Box 1, Folder 15
Morley, S. Griswald-1 TLS, 3 July 1946; 1 ANS, (card postmarked 1 Aug. 1946)
Box 1, Folder 16
Rottleb, Ilse-1 ALS (in German), 23 Dec. 1956
Box 1, Folder 17
Sterling, George-1 ALS, 21 June 1920; 1 ADS (poem), n.d.
Box 1, Folder 18
Stewart, George R.-2 TLS, 2 July 1946 and 7 Sept. 1946
Box 1, Folder 19
Warde, Frederick (to Grace Frye)-1 ALS, 17 Jan. 1924 and 1ANS (card to all Fryes), 22 [Dec. ?] 1926
Box 1, Folder 20
Clippings (includes several reviews and articles by Jones, and other items relating to subjects of food and wine, California
history, and Gypsies)
Box 1, Folder 21
"The Welsh Concert" - program from Carnegie Hall, 19 Nov. 1937
Box 2, Folder 1
Literary manuscripts [unidentified fragments]
Box 2, Folder 2
Daily Post Friday Supplement [In and About Wales], 1961
Box 2, Folder 3-4
Y Drych [newspaper, "The American organ of the Welsh people], 1951-1960
Box 2, Folder 5
Photograph of George Sterling and Gustav Franign, taken by Jones, 1922
