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Findind Aid to the Wm. (William) McDevitt Papers, 1892-1959
BANC MSS 89/86 c
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Collection Title: Wm. (William) McDevitt Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1892-1959
Collection Number: BANC MSS 89/86 c
Creator:
McDevitt, Wm. (William)
Extent:
Number of containers: 4 boxes, 1 carton, 1 oversize folder
Linear feet: 2.65
Repository: The
Bancroft Library
Berkeley, California 94720-6000
Abstract: Contains personal and business correspondence (ca. 1892-1959); manuscripts of writings; business records; clippings; some
printed pamphlets, many authored by McDevitt; printed ephemera (theatrical, World War II, Panama-Pacific International Exposition,
Socialist Party); other material relating to his wide ranging interests. Principal or significant correspondents include:
Joseph Henry Jackson, Charmain London, H. L. Mencken, William Meredith, Tom Mooney, Veronica Sexton, Upton Sinclair, John
B. (Father) Tabb, and Virginia Wilhelmson. Also includes various ephemera principally of local interest to the San Francisco
Bay Area.
Languages Represented:
English
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], Wm. (William) McDevitt Papers, BANC MSS 89/86 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley.
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
- Some printed materials have been transferred to the book collection of The Bancroft Library.
- Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collection of The Bancroft Library. (BANC PIC 1989.043--PIC)
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
McDevitt, Wm. (William)—Archives
London, Charmian
Jackson, Joseph Henry, 1894-1955
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis), 1880-1956
Meredith, William John
Mooney, Thomas J., 1882-1942
Sexton, Veronica J.
Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968
Tabb, John B. (John Banister), 1845-1909
Panama-Pacific International Exposition, (1915: San Francisco, Calif.)
San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)
The Wm. (William) McDevitt Papers were given to The Bancroft Library by the California Academy of Sciences, to which they
were bequeathed by Versonica J. Sexton, on August 3, 1989. Additions were made in 2005.
Socialist, bookseller, author. Principal areas of interest included: McDevitt's simplified spelling and shorthand systems;
the antiquarian book trade; socialism and the Socialist Party in San Francisco; contemporary literary figures including Jack
London, Upton Sinclair, Father Tabb, and George Sterling. For additional biographical information see: Roos, Robert de, "An
interview with William McDevitt, LL.M." (The Book Club of California Quarterly Newsletter, Vol. XIX, No. 4, Fall 1954.)
Scope and Content of Collection
The William McDevitt Papers contain business and personal correspondence, manuscripts of writings, business records, and clippings,
along with some printed pamphlets, many of which were authored by McDevitt, and other material relating to McDevitt's wide
ranging interests. These included his simplified spelling and shorthand systems, the antiquarian book business, socialism
and the Socialist Party in San Francisco, and contemporary literary figures, in particular Jack London, Upton Sinclair, Father Tabb, and George Sterling.
The collection also contains various ephemera, principally of local interest to the Bay Area, and other miscellaneous material
collected by McDevitt.
Principal correspondents in the collection include Joseph Henry Jackson, Charmian London, H. L. Mencken, William J. Meredith, Tom (Thomas J.) Mooney, Veronica Sexton, Upton Sinclair, John B. (Father) Tabb, and Virginia Wilhelmson.