Margaret Millar papers, 1944-1994

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Summary

Creators:

Abstract:

This collection comprises the papers of Margaret Millar, an acclaimed mystery writer. The collection includes manuscript and typescript drafts and galley proofs of several of Millar's novels, including the award-winning Beast in View and award-nominated The Fiend and Beyond This Point Are Monsters. The collection also includes short stories, plays, television scripts, and poems by Millar from the 1940s to the 1980s.

Extent:

8.8 Linear Feet (26 boxes and 1 oversized folder) and 0.4 unprocessed linear feet

Language:

English .

Preferred citation:

Margaret Millar papers. MS-L002. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection comprises the papers of Margaret Millar, an acclaimed mystery writer. The collection includes manuscript and typescript drafts and galley proofs of several of Millar's novels, including the award-winning Beast in View and nominated The Fiend and Beyond This Point Are Monsters. The collection also includes a considerable sample of short stories, plays, television scripts, and poems by Millar from the 1940s to the 1980s. Also present are publication contracts, research notes, research files, and reviews.

Biographical / historical:

Margaret Ellis Millar (née Sturm) was the author of many mystery novels, plays, television scripts, poems, and short stories.

Millar was born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, on February 5, 1915. She studied psychiatry at the University of Toronto, but left college after three years without completing her degree. In 1938 she married Kenneth Millar, with whom she lived in Santa Barbara, California until his death in 1983. They had one daughter, Linda. Margaret Millar died on March 26, 1994, at age 79, in Santa Barbara, California.

Millar's novels have been published in several languages including French, Japanese, Portuguese, Swedish, Danish, Italian, German, Spanish, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, and Catalan. Her literary work has received ample recognition by literary critics, reviewers, and peers. In 1956 she was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel, and in 1983 she received the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award.

Chronology
Date	Event
1915 February 5	Born Margaret Ellis Sturm.
1936	Leaves University of Toronto.
1938	Marries Kenneth Millar, pseudonym Ross Macdonald.
1941	The Invisible Worm
1942	The Devils Loves Me The Weak-Eyed Bat
1943	Wall of Eyes
1944	Fire Will Freeze
1945	The Iron Gates
1947	Experiment in Springtime
1948	It's All in the Family
1949	The Cannibal Heart
1950	Do Evil in Return.
1952	Rose's Last Summer Vanish in an Instant
1954	Wives and Lovers
1955	Beast in View
1956	Beast in View
1957	An Air That Kills
1957-1958	Serves as president of Mystery Writers of America.
1959	The Listening Walls
1960	A Stranger in My Grave
1962	How Like an Angel
1964	The Fiend
1965	Los Angeles Times The Fiend
1967	The Birds and the Beasts Were There
1970	Beyond This Point Are Monsters
1971	Beyond This Point Are Monsters
1976	Ask For Me Tomorrow
1979	The Murder of Miranda
1982	Mermaid
1983	Receives Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award. Banshee
1983 July 11	Kenneth Millar dies in Santa Barbara, California.
1986	Spider Webs
1994 March 26	Margaret Millar dies in Santa Barbara, California.

Acquisition information:

Acquired in a series of donations and purchases beginning in 1966. The bulk of the archive was purchased in 1984 with funds provided by the Friends of the UCI Libraries.

Processing information:

Processed by Archives staff in the 1980s; additions and revisions completed by Ernesto Bassi and Audrey Pearson, 2008.

Arrangement:

This collection is arranged in 4 series.

Series 1. Novels, 1956-1994. 5.8 linear feet.
Series 2. Other writings, 1936-1963. 1.2 linear feet
Series 3. Publication contracts, 1943-1978. 0.4 linear feet.
Series 4. Research files, notes, and reviews, 1945-1994. 1.4 linear feet.

Accession 2018.018, an unprocessed addition to the collection, is listed at the end of the finding aid.

Rules or conventions:

Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:: American fiction -- 20th century -- Sources
Suspense fiction -- 20th century
Authors
Names:: Millar, Margaret -- Archives

Access and use

Restrictions:: Researchers must agree to the Rules of Use for Special Collections & Archives in advance of access to collection materials. Please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives for more information.
Terms of access:: Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to publish, or to request permission to reproduce copyrighted material in excess of fair use, please contact the Margaret Millar Charitable Remainder Unitrust.