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Steiner (Stan) papers
M0700
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Stan Steiner Papers
Identifier/Call Number: M0700
Physical Description:
69 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): ca. 1940-1987
Abstract: Stan Steiner (1925–1987) was an American social historian, author and teacher who wrote books focusing on American minority
communities and their relationship to the broader society as well as the mythology of the American West.
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use. Audiovisual materials
are not available in original format, and must be reformatted to a digital use copy.
Series I. Subject Files
Subject Files make up the bulk of the collection. Steiner's clippings, notes, articles, and ephemera are arranged roughly
following Steiner's own organization. For clarity, however, primary groupings have been articulated. These groupings have
been organized alphabetically.
Series II. Correspondence
The Correspondence series is organized into three primary groupings. The bulk of this series is organized chronologically.
The second group is an alphabetical collection of correspondence related to the production of his various books, including
correspondence with his publishers and fan notes. Finally, the third group of correspondence is general correspondence arranged
alphabetically.
Series III. Manuscripts by Steiner
Steiner's manuscripts, notes on his manuscripts, and collected ephemera related to his manuscripts are gathered here alphabetically
by title. Following the provenance of the collection, we have preserved the working titles Steiner gave to his manuscripts.
For example, manuscript drafts of The Spirit Woman are available under S and N, following Steiner's working title: The Notebooks
of Wa Wa Chaw. The manuscripts are arranged alphabetically.
Series IV. Manuscripts by Others
Manuscripts by others are arranged alphabetically.
Series V. Notebooks
Steiner's notebooks are arranged chronologically.
Series VI. Reviews
Reviews are arranged alphabetically by title.
Series VII. Business Files
Business Files are arranged alphabetically.
Series VIII. Audiovisual Materials
Audiovisual materials are arranged into groups by format: audiocassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, and motion pictures, with an
additional group of audiotapes added to the collection later. Within the formats, the materials are arranged alphabetically
by title of Steiner's work followed by Steiner's own notation. Steiner's organization of the materials for each work has been
preserved.
Series IX. Clippings
Clippings are a collection of miscellany left disorganized at Steiner's death. They have been organized into basic groupings
which follow the organization of the subject files.
Series X. Lectures and Academe
Series 10 is organized alphabetically.
Series XI. Publications
Publications are organized alphabetically.
Series XII. Steiner Library
The Steiner Library is only a container listing. These volumes can be found in Stanford Libraries stacks.
Stan Steiner was born on January 1, 1925, son of Bernard and Regina Storch Steiner of Brooklyn. After attending the University
of Wisconsin for a year, Steiner hitchhiked West from New York in 1945 and began a forty year love affair with the people
and places of the American West.
The center of his personal and working life until his death was the reevaluation of the history of the West from a Western
perspective. This took the form of his many books, from his earliest
The Last Horse (1961) to the posthumous publication, edited by Emily Skretny Drabanski, of
The Waning of the West (1989). Along the way, Steiner wrote several seminal works, among them
The New Indians (1968),
La Raza : The Mexican Americans (1969),
The Tiguas : Lost Tribe of City Indians (1972),
The Islands : The World of the Puerto Ricans (1974),
The Vanishing White Man (1976), Fusang :
The Chinese who Built America (1979),
Spirit Woman : The Diaries of Bonita Wa Wa Calachaw Nunez (editor, 1980),
The Ranchers (1980, rev. 1985), and
Dark and Dashing Horsemen (1981).
Steiner was a member of the Western Writers of America, the Chinese Historical Society of America, and the Western History
Association. He was also a founding member of the National Association for Lawman and Outlaw History and the founder and president
of the Writers' Cooperative of Santa Fe. He was the recipient of the 1971 Ainsfield Wolf Award from the Saturday Review for
La Raza, the 1973 and 1977 Golden Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America for
The Tiguas and
The Vanishing White Man. Steiner also received a National Endowment grant in 1983. He taught at many colleges and universities throughout the United
States and Europe.
Stan Steiner died in 1987. His wife, Vera John-Steiner, a professor of Linguistics and Education at the University of New
Mexico, passed away in 2017.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donative purchase from Vera John-Steiner, 1994.
[Identification of item] Stan Steiner Papers, M0700, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
The Stan Steiner papers include the personal and professional papers of Stan Steiner covering the time period from 1940 -1987
and occupy 69 linear feet. They document the personal and intellectual activities of a writer, a social historian, a moralist,
a folklorist, an anecdotalist, and a myth-teller. His writings-some twenty books and countless articles-are a continuing search
for vanishing cultures and the histories of forgotten people, specifically of the American West. To that end, Steiner wrote
about Native Americans, the Chinese who helped build the West, Mexican Americans, New Mexico and New Mexicans, ranchers, farmers,
cowboys, and Islanders. His goal was to disabuse his readers of stereotypes and misinformed images of the West by telling
the complicated, nuanced, and elemental stories of these people in their own words, what Steiner called "testimonials." His
manuscripts provide multiple draft copies of many of these testimonies as well as typed manuscripts and photostats of typed
drafts and published works by Steiner.
Comprising 138 manuscript boxes, the papers are also a trove of clippings and ephemera in the post-War era, documenting everything
from right-wing organizations and social movements to Native American tribes and land policy, to the farm worker movements.
These interests carry over into Steiner's correspondence and audiotapes, as well, including fairly extensive documentation
of correspondence with such notables as Vine Deloria and Cesar Chavez, among others.
Steiner once wrote, "the roots of America, which are its true heritage and will be its only salvation, are what I seek in
my work. For these are my roots. And in seeking and finding them there is joy and peace. There is no other." This collection
documents Steiner's lifetime of seeking.
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.