Beebe (Lucius M.) Collection, 1921-1966

Summary

Title:

Lucius Morris Beebe Collection,

Dates:

1921-1966

Creators:

Beebe, Lucius Morris, 1902-1966

Language:

English.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Lucius Morris Beebe Collection, MS 61, California State Railroad Museum Library, Sacramento, California.

Background

Scope and content:

Letters, manuscripts, galleys, clippings, ephemera, and biographical material relating to the newspaper society columnist, publisher, and railroad historian Lucius Morris Beebe.

Biographical / historical:

Lucius Beebe (December 9, 1902 Wakefield, Massachusetts - died February 4, 1966 Hillsborough, California) began his literary career at the New York Herald Tribune in 1929, achieved his own column in 1933, and went on to write articles for such periodicals as Town & Country,Gourmet,Playboy,Esquire,Trains, and the San Francisco Chronicle, to name a few. Beebe and Charles Clegg (1916-1979), his partner and co-author of half of his thirty-four books, bought their first private car, "The Gold Coast," in the late 1940s. The two lived and traveled aboard "The Gold Coast" from 1948 to 1950; the car is now part of the collection of the California State Railroad Museum. They later purchased another private car, "The Virginia City." They moved to Virginia City, Nevada in 1949, and in 1952 took over publishing and editing the newspaper The Territorial Enterprise, where Samuel Clemens had his roots. Beginning in 1960, they spent part of each year at their home in Hillsborough, south of San Francisco, where Beebe died in 1966. His thirty-year career as an author, combined with his eccentric personality, earned him an international reputation. Charles Clegg described Beebe as a "highly civilized nineteenth-century gentleman" possessing an "outrageous personal majesty," known by the world as a "wit and flamboyant gourmet."

Physical location:

Big Four Building or off-site storage. Please contact the Library in advance of your visit.

Physical description:

9 cartons

Related resources

Related material:

Upon Clegg's death in 1979, working files, photographs and selected works of art held by Beebe and Clegg were distributed to various institutions, including: Henry E. Huntington Library, San Marino, California Nevada Historical Society, Reno Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden DeGolyer Collection, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas Denver Public Library New York Public Library Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Most of the Beebe and Clegg negatives, literary and photographic rights are held by Charles Clegg's sister, Ann Holloway.

There is some Beebe family material held by the Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, 345 Main Street, Wakefield, Massachusetts 01880 (781) 246-6334.

Related collections at CSRM: MS 16, Gerald M. Best Papers, correspondence with Lucius Beebe. MS 34, Arthur Detmers Dubin Papers, correspondence with Lucius Beebe. Photographic portrait file

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:

Processed by Sarah Logue Ellen Halteman; machine-readable finding aid created by James Ryan

Date Prepared:

© 1999

Date Encoded:

Machine-readable finding aid derived from WordPerfect.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Senior Curator. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM 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], Lucius Morris Beebe Collection, MS 61, California State Railroad Museum Library, Sacramento, California.

Location of this collection:

California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

111 I Street

Sacramento, CA 95814, US

Contact:

(916) 323-8073

Library.CSRM@parks.ca.gov

Website