Wallace Irwin Papers, ca. 1917-1959

Summary

Creators:

Irwin, Wallace, 1875-1959

Abstract:

Some letters from family, friends, agents and publishers; manuscripts of short stories, novels, plays, poems, etc.; manuscript of his unpublished autobiography; clippings; scrapbooks; publishing agreements; photographs and snapshots; drawings; personalia. Manuscripts of writings of his wife, Laetitia M. Irwin, also included.

Extent:

Number of containers: 3 boxes, 8 cartons

Language:

English

Background

Biographical / historical:

Wallace Irwin -humorist, author and journalist -was born in Oneida, New York, March 15, 1875. When he was five the family moved to Leadville, Colorado. Both he and his brother Will (who also became a noted author and journalist) attended Stanford University and there earned reputations that, according to Wallace, "savored of brimstone." Editing two of the campus publications, Wallace brought down on his head the ire of certain faculty members whom he lampooned in verse. He was expelled, as was Will previously.

Wallace then went to San Francisco in pursuit of a newspaper career. He worked for a time as a reporter on The Report, the News Letter and the Examiner, and then as editor of the Overland Monthly. Acting on a suggestion from Gelett Burgess, Irwin amplified some verse he had composed for the Overland into a series of sonnets written in tough American slang. The Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum, begun as a literary prank, was published by Morgan Shepard and Paul Elder in pamphlet form. It enjoyed great popularity and went through several editions. Moreover, reviewers all over the country praised it.

Like most western authors, Irwin went to New York, and eventually joined the staff of Collier's. The magazine serialized his famous Letters of a Japanese Schoolboy, in which the character Hashimura Togo appeared, and so popular did it become that Irwin resigned from the staff in 1909 to syndicate his series and freelance. From then on he wrote independently, contributing articles and stories to several periodicals and producing several novels, including Seed of the Sun (1921), Lew Tyler's Wives (1923) and The Julius Caesar Murder Case (1935).

Irwin died in 1959 at his home in Southern Pines, North Carolina.

Physical location:

For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Related resources

Other descriptive data:

Mrs. Irwin, the former Laetitia McDonald, and a novelist in her own right, presented a collection of their papers to the Bancroft Library in 1959, with a few additions in 1960. They include letters from friends, family, agents and publishers, ca. 1917-1959; manuscripts of their writings (novels, short stories, plays, etc.); the manuscript of Irwin's unpublished autobiography; clippings; scrapbooks; publishing contracts and agreements; photographs; and drawings. The papers are described in greater detail in the Key to Arrangement which follows.

Location of this collection:

UC Berkeley, Bancroft Library

University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft Library

Berkeley, CA 94720-6000, US

Contact:

510-642-6481

bancref-library@berkeley.edu

Website