An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
Creator:
Steinbeck, John, 1902-1968
Title:
John Steinbeck Collection
Dates:
1926-1977
Extent:
12 boxes (5 linear feet), 3 galley files
Abstract:
Handwritten and typescript articles,
novels, and short stories, and correspondence with Steinbeck's editor, Pat Covici,
make up
the bulk of the collection.
Born in 1902, the third of four children, John Steinbeck was the only son of John
Ernst and
Olive Hamilton Steinbeck. Raised in the family home in Salinas, California, Steinbeck
roamed
the woods and explored Monterey Bay and the Big Sur. He was not a motivated student,
but he
knew from an early age that he wanted to write. He graduated from Salinas High School
in
1919 and entered Stanford University, which he attended intermittently until 1925.
He often
took time off in order to earn money for the following term's tuition and took a variety
of
jobs including clerk, surveyor, and ranch hand. In 1923 Steinbeck took a class in
marine
biology which sparked a life long interest in the subject. He left Stanford in 1925
without
graduating.
Steinbeck began writing fiction in college and published a few pieces in the school
paper.
When he left school he decided New York was the place for an aspiring writer to be,
so he
took a job on a freighter and headed East. Less than a year later, discouraged by
his lack
of success, he returned to California on another steamer. He spent the next couple
of years
working as a handyman and caretaker at a Lake Tahoe estate and in February 1928 he
finished
his first novel Cup of Gold. Later that year he met Carol Henning,
whom he would marry two years later. At the end of the year he moved to San Francisco,
where
Henning had a job, moved in with a friend who was also a budding writer, and began
working
on his second novel.
Cup of Gold was published in 1929 and Steinbeck and Henning were
married in 1930. The couple lived simply, largely supported by Steinbeck's father.
Steinbeck
published Pastures of Heaven (1932) and To a God Unknown (1933) in quick succession, but the bankruptcy of
his publisher left him without any consistent means of income from his writing. The
couple
moved into the Steinbeck family's cottage in Pacific Grove and, as the grip of the
Depression tightened, lived largely on what they could grow or catch in the sea. Steinbeck
traveled in California a great deal during the Depression and he wrote about what
he saw.
What some critics consider his greatest works were published during the thirties including
Tortilla Flat (1935), Of Mice and Men (1937), The Red Pony (1937), and The Grapes of Wrath (1939).
Early in 1941 Steinbeck separated from Henning and in the fall moved to New York City
with
Gwyndolyn Conger. His divorce became final in 1942 leaving him free to marry Conger
in early
1943. Steinbeck left almost immediately to travel to Europe as a foreign correspondent
for
the New York Herald Tribune. Gwyndolyn had two children with Steinbeck,
Thom in 1944 and John in 1946. The couple moved back and forth between New York and
California during the forties and divorced in 1948.
Steinbeck met his third wife, Elaine Scott, in 1949 and they married in 1950. They
lived
primarily in the New York City area, spending part of each winter in Mexico or other
warm
climes, and in 1955 they bought a summer cottage in Sag Harbor. Steinbeck continued
to
write, varying his steady stream of novels with plays and screen adaptations. Many
of his
novels were performed on stage or made into movies. In 1960, despite illness, Steinbeck
took
a cross-country trip with only a French poodle for company. The diary of this trip
became
Travels with Charley (1962). His last novel, The Winter of Our Discontent, was published in 1961. After traveling
to Stockholm in 1962 to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature, Steinbeck's health
began to
decline. He had been suffering small strokes for several years, and they began to
worsen. He
died at home in 1968.
Sources
Dictionary of Literary Biography --
Volume 9: American Novelists, 1910-1945. James J. Martine, Ed. (Detroit: Gale
Research Company, 1981).
Parini,
Jay. John Steinbeck: A Biography.
(London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1994).
Scope and Contents
Holograph and typescript articles, novels, and short stories, and correspondence with
his
publisher make up the bulk of the John Steinbeck Collection, 1926-1977. The collection
is
organized into four series, arranged alphabetically by author or title and chronologically
where possible: Series I. Works, 1926-1966 (9 boxes); Series II. Correspondence, 1932-1964
(1 box); Series III. Personal Papers, 1943-1946 (1 folder); and Series IV. Third-Party
Works
and Correspondence, 1939-1977 (2 boxes). These papers were previously accessible through
a
card catalog, but have been re-cataloged as part of a retrospective conversion project.
Adrian Goldstone materials that were formerly part of the Steinbeck collection have
been
withdrawn and cataloged separately.
The Works Series contains draft and proof versions of many of Steinbeck's better known
novels as well as dozens of articles written during his travels in Europe and while
reporting on national political conventions, and numerous short stories, scripts,
and
screenplays. Of particular interest may be the journal Steinbeck kept while envisioning
Grapes of Wrath and complete holograph and typescript versions of
East of Eden. Also present are the novel, play, and radio play
versions of The Moon Is Down as well as holograph versions of
Pastures of Heaven, Tortilla Flat, and The Wayward Bus. Individual
titles are listed in the Index of Works at the end of this guide.
The Correspondence Series is composed of letters to and from Steinbeck. Over 500 letters
between Steinbeck and his editor, Pascal "Pat" Covici,
represent the bulk of this series with additional letters from Steinbeck to Ben Abramson,
Robert Ballou, and others. Correspondents are listed in the Index of Correspondence
at the
end of this guide.
The small Personal Papers series contains notes, a memorandum of agreement, and Steinbeck's
war correspondent identity card. The Third-Party Works and Correspondence Series contains
a
number of works by Steinbeck's friends and associates as well as a few letters. Of
note is a
typescript of Oscar Hammerstein's Pipe Dream, a play adaptation of
Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday, a draft television adaptation for
Travels with Charley, and a number of letters from Steinbeck's third
wife Elaine. Individual titles and correspondents are listed, by author, in the Index
of
Works by other Authors and the Index of Correspondence at the end of this guide.
Elsewhere in the Ransom Center are about 60 photographs of Steinbeck and his family,
and
eleven Vertical Files containing newspaper clippings with biographical information
and
literary criticism in addition to published articles by Steinbeck.
Related Material
Other materials associated with John Steinbeck may be found in the following collections
at
the Ransom Center:
