Guide to the Wallace Irwin papers, ca. 1917-1959

Processed by The Bancroft Library staff

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

Note

Arts and Humanities --Literature --American Literature

Guide to the Wallace Irwin Papers, ca. 1917-1959

Collection number: BANC MSS C-H 109

The Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, California

Contact Information:

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

Processed by:: The Bancroft Library staff
Date Completed:: ca. 1960
Encoded by:: Xiuzhi Zhou

Collection Summary

Collection Title: Wallace Irwin Papers,

Date (inclusive): ca. 1917-1959

Collection Number: BANC MSS C-H 109

Origination: Irwin, Wallace, 1875-1959

Extent: Number of containers: 3 boxes, 8 cartons

Repository: The Bancroft Library.

Berkeley, California 94720-6000

Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Abstract: Some letters from family, friends, agents and publishers; manuscripts of short stories, novels, plays, poems, etc.; manuscript of his unpublished autobiography; clippings; scrapbooks; publishing agreements; photographs and snapshots; drawings; personalia. Manuscripts of writings of his wife, Laetitia M. Irwin, also included.

Languages Represented: English

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Wallace Irwin papers, BANC MSS C-H 109, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Material Cataloged Separately

Photoprints and drawings transferred to the pictorial collections of The Bancroft Library (BANC PIC 1960.006--B and BANC PIC 1960.007--PIC)

Biography

Wallace Irwin -humorist, author and journalist -was born in Oneida, New York, March 15, 1875. When he was five the family moved to Leadville, Colorado. Both he and his brother Will (who also became a noted author and journalist) attended Stanford University and there earned reputations that, according to Wallace, "savored of brimstone." Editing two of the campus publications, Wallace brought down on his head the ire of certain faculty members whom he lampooned in verse. He was expelled, as was Will previously.

Wallace then went to San Francisco in pursuit of a newspaper career. He worked for a time as a reporter on The Report, the News Letter and the Examiner, and then as editor of the Overland Monthly. Acting on a suggestion from Gelett Burgess, Irwin amplified some verse he had composed for the Overland into a series of sonnets written in tough American slang. The Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum, begun as a literary prank, was published by Morgan Shepard and Paul Elder in pamphlet form. It enjoyed great popularity and went through several editions. Moreover, reviewers all over the country praised it.

Like most western authors, Irwin went to New York, and eventually joined the staff of Collier's. The magazine serialized his famous Letters of a Japanese Schoolboy, in which the character Hashimura Togo appeared, and so popular did it become that Irwin resigned from the staff in 1909 to syndicate his series and freelance. From then on he wrote independently, contributing articles and stories to several periodicals and producing several novels, including Seed of the Sun (1921), Lew Tyler's Wives (1923) and The Julius Caesar Murder Case (1935).

Irwin died in 1959 at his home in Southern Pines, North Carolina.

Scope and Content

Mrs. Irwin, the former Laetitia McDonald, and a novelist in her own right, presented a collection of their papers to the Bancroft Library in 1959, with a few additions in 1960. They include letters from friends, family, agents and publishers, ca. 1917-1959; manuscripts of their writings (novels, short stories, plays, etc.); the manuscript of Irwin's unpublished autobiography; clippings; scrapbooks; publishing contracts and agreements; photographs; and drawings. The papers are described in greater detail in the Key to Arrangement which follows.

Boxes 1 - 3

Correspondence, ca. 1917-1959

Scope and Content Note

Letters addressed to the Irwins, arranged alphabetically according to name of correspondent, with miscellanies for single letters preceding each letter of the alphabet (a list of the major correspondents is appended); miscellaneous letters concerning Seed of the Sun, Lew Tyler's Wives,and the Hashimura Togo series; a few letters written by Mr. and Mrs. Irwin.

carton Ctns. 1-2

Manuscripts of short stories written by Irwin

Scope and Content Note

Arranged alphabetically by title; manuscripts of the Togo stories; and scenarios

carton Ctns. 3-4

Manuscripts of novels and plays

Scope and Content Note

Synopses and outlines of stories and novels

Ctn. 5

Manuscripts of poems, articles and essays

Scope and Content Note

Manuscript of his unpublished autobiography, "I Look at Me"; fragments of manuscripts

Ctn. 6

Clippings

Stories, poems and articles clipped from magazines and newspapers; articles about the Irwins; book reviews, etc.

Ctn. 7

Scrapbooks of clippings

Contracts and agreements

Photographs and snapshots (including a Rollin Kirby illustration for a Togo story)

Drawings: removed to Pitorial collection. drawings

Ctn. 8

Printed material, including

The Teddysee (Removed for separate cataloging) by Wallace Irwin (1910)

The Hamadryads by Will Irwin and W.J. McCoy, written for the 1904 Bohemian Club High Jinks inscribed by Inez Irwin

A Treasury of Golf Humor(194?) containing the story, "Murder at the Thirteenth Hole" by Wallace Irwin;

Advance proofs for Africa, written for the Theodore Roosevelt luncheon, 1909

Copy of Welcome Homeprinted for the Theodore Roosevelt dinner, June 22, 1910.

Personalia

Scope and Content Note

Includes passport, documents relating to appointment in the naval reserve, biographical data, etc.

Manuscripts of short stories, plays, novels, and articles and essays written by Laetitia Irwin

Miscellany

portfolio Portfolio

Oversize drawings

Scope and Content Note

Includes a drawing of Irwin by George Palmer Putnam and a Rollin Kirby illustration for a Togo story.

A Miscellany (single letters)

Adams, Franklin Pierce, 1881-

Letter, Dec. 17,1941

Adams, Samuel Hopkins, 1871-1958

Letter, June 23, 1933

Albright, Horace Marden, 1890-

Letter, May 4, 1923

Allardyce, Sir William Lamond, 1861-1930

Letter, Jan. 24, 1927

Atherton, Gertrude Franklin (Horn), 1857-1948

2 letters, 1920-1921

B Miscellany

Baker, Newton Diehl, 1871-1937

Letter, July 19, 1917

Beebe, Charles William, 1877-

Letter, July 20, 1927

Bordeaux, Delmar B.

Letter, Dec. 10, 1943

Broughton, Joseph Melville, 1888-

Letter, Mar. 3, 1949

Brown, Harry Joe

Letter, Oct. 23, 1939

Burman Ben Lucien, 1895-

Letter, n. d.

Burt, [Maxwell] Struthers, 1882-

Telegram, Nay 2, 1941

Bailey, Thomas Andrew, 1902-

3 letters, 1955-1957

Bigelow, Poultney, 1855-1954

2 letters, 1945

Brandt and Brandt

38 letters, 1929-1953. Mainly from Carl Brandt. Some are addressed to Mrs. Irwin.

C Miscellany

Calder, William Musgrave, 1869-1945

Letter, Mar. 29, 1919

[Clemens, Samuel Langhore], 1835-1910

Note, Mar. 8, 1909

Clemens, Cyril, 1902-

5 letters, 1935-1957

Coblentz, Stanton Arthur, 1896-

2 letters, 1944

Costain, Thomas Bertram, 1885-

2 letters, 1927 & 1937

Croy, Homer, 1883-

2 letters, n.d.

D Miscellany

Doyle, Helen (MacKnight), 1872-

Letter, Jan. 25, 1933

Dyer, Frank Lewis, 1870-

Letter, Apr. 3, 1934

Durstine, Roy Sarles, 1886 -

2 letters, 1928 & 1937

Egan, Martin, 1872-1938

5 letters, 1925-1934

F Miscellany

Farrand, Max, 1869-

Letter, Sept. 3, 1930

Fadiman, Clifton, 1904-

See Writers' War Board

Field, Charles Kellogg, 1873-

6 letters, 1928-1940

Friedman, Phil Allan

3 letters, 1953

Greenslet, Ferris, 1875-1953

See Houghton Mifflin Company

Gulick, Sidney Lewis, 1860-1945

2 letters, 1921

H Miscellany

Hart, Albert Bushnell, 1854-1943

Letter, Jan. 8, 1921

Herrick, Robert, 1868-1938

Letter, n.d.

Hagedorn, Hermann, 1882-

10 letters, 1938-1954. Some written on behalf of the Roosevelt Memorial Association.

Hays, Will H., 1879-1959

2 letters, 1921-1932

Hoover, Herbert Clark, Pres. U. S., 1874-1964

3 letters, 1921-1930. One written for him by his secretary.

Houghton Mifflin Company

2 letters, 1919 & 1939. From Ferris Greenslet.

Howland, Harry S., 1877-

2 letters, 1917

Hurst, Fannie, 1889-

4 letters, 1921-1953

I Miscellany

Ives, Irving McNeil, 1896-

Letter, Mar. 4, 1949

Irwin, Donald (son)

10 letters, 1932-1949

Irwin, Wallace, Jr.

5 letters, 1950-1955

Irwin, William Henry, 1873-1948

3 letters, 1919-1946 & n.d.

K Miscellany

Kahler, Hugh MacNair, 1883-

Letter, Apr. 12, 1930

Kaltenborn, Hans Von, 1878-

Letter, Feb. 17, 1959

Krock, Arthur, 1886-

Letter, Apr. 17, 1930

Kahn, Julius, 1861-1924

2 letters, 1920 & 1921

L Miscellany

Lane, Franklin Knight, 1864-1921

Letter, n.d.

Leacock, Stephen, 1869-1944

Letter, July 8, 1922

[Lewis, Sinclair], 1885-1951

Letter, n. d. Signed: Ste. Clayre Lewyse

Laemmle, Carl, 1867-1939

2 letters, 1931 & 1937

La Farge, Christopher, 1897-

See Writers' War Board

Lambert, Sylvester Maxwell, 1882-

11 letters, 1938-1946

Liberty [magazine]

2 letters, 1926 & 1936. From Harvey Deuell and Fulton Oursler.

Littell, Robert, 1896-

2 letters, 1937-1938

Little, Brown & Company

16 letters, 1950-1952. Primarily from John Woodburn and addressed to Mrs. Irwin.

M Miscellany

MacAlarney, Robert Emmet, 1873-

Letter, n.d.

McCanse, Ralph Alan

Letter, Mar. 16, 1953

McCullough, Esther Morgan

Letter, June 2, 1956

McKeogh, Arthur, 1890-1937

Letter, Oct. 26, 1926

McKinley, William Brown, 1856-1926

Letter, Dec. 6, 1920

Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940

Letter, Nov. 24, 1929

McClatchy, Valentine Stuart, 1857-1938

2 letters, 1920-1921

Mason, Daniel Gregory, 1873-

6 letters, 1934-1942

Mayer, Grace M.

4 letters, 1956

Norris, Charles Gilman, 1881-1945

3 letters, 1921-1924

Oursler, Fulton, 1893-

See Liberty [magazine]

P Miscellany

Pearson, Edmund Lester, 1880-1937

Letter, n.d.

Pelley, William Dudley, 1890-

Letter, Feb. 2, 1925

Pershing, John Joseph, 1860-1948

Letter, Dec. 11, 1926

Phelan, James Duval, 1861-1930

2 letters, 1917 & 1924

Pictorial Review

3 letters, 1922-1928. Include letters from Arthur T. Vance.

Pollock, Channing, 1880-1946

2 letters, 1937-1941

Putnam, George Palmer, 1887-1950

4 letters, 1923-1934

R Miscellany

Rising, Lawrence

Letter, Jan. 24, 1933

Rinehart, Mary (Roberts), 1876-1958

2 letters, 1932-1933

Roosevelt Memorial Association

See Hagedorn, Hermann

S Miscellany

Siddall, John MacAlpine, 1874-1923

Letter, Dec. 24, 1918

Sisson, Edgar Grant, 1875-

Letter, Oct. 5, 1925. Written for Red Book Magazine.

Spaeth, Sigmund, 1885-

Letter, July 28, 1934

Sutro, Oscar, 1874-1935

Letter, Apr. 6, 1927

Satterlee, Herbert Livingston, 1863-1947

3 letters, 1923-1942

Stout, Rex Todhunter, 1886

See Writers' War Board

Sullivan, Mark, 1874-

2 letters, 1921 & 1932

T Miscellany

[Thompson, Dorothy], 1894-1961

Letter, June 20, 1931. Incomplete.

Vance, Arthur Turner, 1872-1930

See Pictorial Review

W Miscellany

Wells, Herbert George, 1866-1946

Letter, n. d. Addressed to Miss Van Dyke.

Physical Description: Wilbur, Ray Lyman, 1875-1949

Letter, Apr. 17, 1930

Writers' War Board

8 letters, 1943-1945. From Rex Stout, Clifton Fadiman and Christopher La Farge.