Conditions Governing Access
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Biographical / Historical
Paging
Other Biographical Sources
Preferred Citation
Scope and Contents
Conditions Governing Use
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Bernard Augustine De Voto papers
Creator:
De Voto, Bernard Augustine
Identifier/Call Number: M0001
Identifier/Call Number: 1689
Physical Description:
63 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1918-1955 (inclusive), 1944-1951 (bulk)
Date (bulk): 1944-1951
Abstract: Bernard DeVoto (1897-1955) was a novelist, historian, critic, and editor. His collection includes correspondence, typescripts
and galley proofs of 19 major works, 166 articles, 25 short fiction and non-fiction papers, broadcasts, speeches, lectures,
and other papers. The correspondence (1948-55) with
Harper's magazine relates to DeVoto's column "The Easy Chair", and includes letters from the magazine to senders of letters of condolence,
and letters concerning DeVoto. Includes research material used in DeVoto's literary writings and in his work relating to politics,
conservation and reclamation, free speech, national parks, and Western Americana. Correspondents include many of the leading
persons in contemporary literature, politics, education, and the arts.
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research with the exception of the boxes originally numbered 175, 176, and 177, which are closed to
researchers. Please page materials at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
The family notes located in 1/22/466 are not to be copied although they may be read.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from the estate of Bernard DeVoto, 1956; supplemented by gifts from various sources.
Biographical / Historical
Chronology
1897 |
Born, January 11, Ogden, Utah. |
1902 |
Began schooling at Sacred Heart Academy, Ogden. |
1910 |
Entered Ogden High School. |
1914 |
Graduated Ogden H.S.; entered University of Utah. |
1915 |
Entered Harvard College as a sophomore. |
1917 |
Enlisted U.S. Army, to 1919. |
1920 |
Harvard graduation; return to Ogden. |
1922 |
Appointed as Instructor, Northwestern University. |
1923 |
Married Helen Avis MacVicar. |
1924 |
The Crooked Mile. |
1925 |
"Ogden: The Underwriting of Salvation." |
1926 |
The Chariot of Fire. |
1927 |
Writer's Handbook, A Manual of English Composition. |
|
Moved to Lincoln, Mass. |
1928 |
The House of Sun-Goes-Down. |
1929 |
Began part-time teaching at Harvard; instructor and tutor, 1929-1934; lecturer, 1934-36. |
1930 |
Americana Deserta |
|
Editor of Harvard Graduate's Magazine, 1930-32. |
|
Birth of a son, Gordon King. |
1932 |
Mark Twain's America. |
1934 |
We Accept With Pleasure. |
1935 |
Harper's Magazine. |
1936 |
The Saturday Review of Literature; moved to New York City. Forays and Rebuttals. |
1937 |
Awarded honorary Litt. D. by Middlebury College. |
1938 |
The Saturday Review of Literature; |
1939 |
Troubled Star. |
1940 |
Mark Twain in Eruption |
|
Birth of a son, Mark |
|
Rain Before Seven. |
|
Minority Report. |
1942 |
New England Quarterly |
|
Year of Decision: 1846. |
|
Advance Agent. |
|
Awarded honorary Litt. D. by Kenyon College. |
|
Mark Twain at Work. |
1944 |
The Woman in the Picture. |
|
The Literary Fallacy. |
|
Strange Fruit |
1946 |
Trip West in summer led to conservation work. |
|
The Portable Mark Twain |
1947 |
Editor in chief of the History Book Club. |
|
Mountain Time. |
|
Across the Wide Missouri. |
1948 |
Across the Wide Missouri. |
1950 |
The World of Fiction. |
1951 |
The Hour. |
1952 |
Attacked by Senator Joseph McCarthy. |
|
The Course of Empire. |
1953 |
Journals of Lewis and Clark |
|
Won National Book Award for best non-fiction of 1952. |
1955 |
The Easy Chair. |
1956 |
Women and Children First. |
Paging
Page from Catalog Record: https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/4082981
Other Biographical Sources
For additional material see the following:
Material in Box labeled "Biographical", including various genealogies, journals, a play concerning his life from 1920 to 1922,
and the "Kent Potter" story.
Dissertation by Robert Edson Lee. (Includes a checklist of DeVoto's works).
Letters to DeVoto from Avis DeVoto and Marian M. Condliss.
Letters from DeVoto to Melville Smith, 1920-25;
Letters from DeVoto to Robert Forsythe, 1927;
Letters from DeVoto to Adrienne Burke, 3/27/44;
Letters from DeVoto to Natl. Inst. of Arts and Letters, 12/22/47;
Letters from DeVoto to Kate Sterne (safe) dated 10/6/27.
Pseudonyms: Cady Hewes; C.H.; John August; J.A.; Frank Gilbert; Richard Dye; Fairley Blake.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item] Bernard Augustine De Voto Papers, M0001, Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford Libraries, Stanford,
Calif.
Scope and Contents
The DeVoto Papers contain Bernard DeVoto's correspondence date from 1918 until his death in November 1955. The bulk of the
correspondence was written between 1944 and 1951. The collection also includes manuscript, typescript and galley proof copies
of nineteen major works, 166 articles, 25 short fiction and non-fiction items, and about 44 broadcasts, speeches and lectures.
Of primary interest is DeVoto's research material used in his literary output and in his life-long work in many fields, including
politics, conservation and reclamation, free speech, the national park systems and Western Americana.
Correspondents include many of the leading figures in contemporary literature, politics, education and the arts. A partial
list of the correspondents is included in the Optional Section of this register.
Conditions Governing Use
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Galley proofs.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1953-1961.
Historians.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1933-1945.
Lectures.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1929-1933
United States -- History -- 1865-1921.
Speeches.
United States -- History -- 1849-1877.
North Africa.
Natural resources.
National parks and reserves -- United States.
Mormons -- Utah -- History.
Liberty.
Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Photoprints.
Italy -- Civilization -- 476-1268.
United States -- Politics and government -- 1945-1953.
Conservation of natural resources.
Indians of North America.
Articles.
Manuscripts (literary).
Maps
West (U.S.) -- History.
Educators.
Authors.
Brinton, Clarence Crane
Bruner, Jerome Seymour.
Brooks, Van Wyck
Bowen, Catherine Drinker
Briggs, L. B. R.
Brandt, Carl.
Carlyle, Thomas
Carhart, Arthur Hawthorne
Chamberlain, T. G.
Catton, Bruce
Buley, R.
Buck, Pearl S. (Pearl Sydenstr
Canby, Henry Seidel
Bundy, McGeorge.
Crane, Hart
Mirrielees, Edith Ronald, 1878-1962
Davis, Elmer.
De Voto, Bernard Augustine
Chandler, Raymond
Church, Frank
Collins, Carvel Emerson
Cozzens, James Gould
Fadiman, Clifton
Farrell, James T. (James Thoma
Faulkner, William
Fischer, John
Dobie, J. Frank (James Frank. 1888-1964.)
Douglas, Paul Howard
Edmonds, Walter Dumaux
Edsall, John Tileston
Hurlbut, B.
Howard, Joseph Kinsey
Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar)
Holbrook, Stewart Hall
Ickes, Harold L. (Harold LeCla
Hillyer, Robert Silliman
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth
Hicks, Granville
Fisher, Dorothy Canfield
Knopf, Alfred A.
King, G.
Kern, Jerome
Jones, Howard Mumford
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Bai
Huxley, Aldous
Hutchinson, W.
Mansfield, Mike
Lindsay, Vachel
Little, Brown and Company.
Lattimore, Owen
Kubie, Lawrence Schlesinger
Lark, C. T.
Merk, Frederick
Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis),
McCord, David Thompson Watson,
Mein, F.
Bliven, Bruce
Marx, Groucho
Mattingly, Garrett
Brooks, Paul,
Schlesinger, Arthur Meier
Lewis, Sinclair
Wylie, Philip
Willkie, Wendell L. (Wendell Lewis)
Wolfe, Thomas
Melville, Herman
Wecter, Dixon
Van Doren, Mark
Untermeyer, Louis
Twain, Mark, 1835-1910
Stout, Rex
Stevenson, Adlai E. (Adlai Ewing)
Stein, Gertrude
Stegner, Wallace, 1909-1993
Stearns, Harold T. (Harold Tho
Stassen, Harold Edward
Spillane, Mickey
Saltonstall, Leverett
Lodge, Henry Cabbot
Sandburg, Carl, 1878-1967
Rhodes, Eugene Manlove
Robeson, Paul
Pratt, Fletcher
Pulitzer, Joseph
Porter, C.
Pound, Ezra
Paine, Albert Bigelow
Adams, Ansel, 1902-1984
Perkins, Maxwell E. (Maxwell Evarts)
Murdock, Kenneth Ballard
O'Neill, Eugene
Barrett, Frank.
Morrison, Theodore, 1901-1988
Beebe, Lucius.
Moss, Frank E.
Alsop, Joseph, 1910-1989
Morgan, Dale Lowell
Balch, E.
Morison, Samuel Eliot