Papers, 1947-1990, of Edward Abbey, author. Contains
biographical materials, correspondence, journals, notebooks, speeches, manuscripts,
articles, audiotapes, videotapes, and supplemental materials documenting his life and
career.
Collection Number:
MS 271
Language:
Repository:
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collections
University of Arizona
PO Box 210055
Tucson, AZ 85721-0055
Phone: 520-621-6423
Fax: 520-621-9733
URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/
E-Mail: LBRY-askspcoll@email.arizona.edu
Biographical Note
Edward Abbey was born on 29 January 1927 in Home, Pennsylvania, the eldest son of five
children born to Mildred and Paul Abbey. At seventeen, he first hitchhiked across the
West on a three month journey. From 1945 to 1946, he served in the U.S. Army in Alabama
and Italy. In 1948, while attending the University of New Mexico, Abbey began work on
his first novel, Jonathan Troy (1956). In 1951, he earned a BA in English and Philosophy
from that university, and published an article, "Some Implications of Anarchy." That
same year Abbey received a Fullbright Fellowship to Edinburgh University. In the early
1950s, he worked as a social welfare case worker in New Jersey and New York. In 1956, he
received a MA in Philosophy from the University of New Mexico; his graduate thesis was
titled "Anarchism and the Morality of Violence." The following year, he received a
Writing Fellowship at Stanford University. Abbey worked part-time as a park ranger and
fire lookout in the national parks and forests of the southwestern United States. He
would continue this work until the 1970s. With the publication of The Monkey Wrench
Gang, he was able to devote his time more fully to writing. Abbey gave public readings
and presentations at many American colleges and universities, and for the environmental
causes and groups he supported. In 1974, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship. During
this time, Abbey was "Writer in Residence" at the University of Utah and, later, at the
University of Arizona. He taught creative writing at the latter from 1981 onwards, and
became a full professor there in 1988. Abbey died 14 March 1989 in Tucson Arizona at the
age of 62. Married five times, he was survived by his wife, Clarke Cartwright Abbey, and
his five children. His selected major novels include: The Brave Cowboy (1956), Fire on
the Mountain (1962), Black Sun (1971), The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), Good News (1980),
The Fool's Progress (1988), and Hayduke Lives! (1990). His essays and observations are
compiled in Desert Solitaire (1968), The Journey Home (1977), Abbey's Road (1979),
Desert Images (1981), One Life at a Time, Please (1987), and Vox Clamantis in Deserto
(1989). He produced several travel books Appalachian Wilderness (1970), Slickrock
(1971), Cactus Country (1972), and The Hidden Canyon (1978). He contributed to divers
college anthologies, and wrote numerous articles and reviews for national and regional
publications.
Scope and Content Note
The bulk of the collection best documents Abbey's writings and activities during the
last two decades of his life, 1969 to 1989. Over half of the collection consist of
drafts of his novels, essays, articles, and other works. There are no drafts for his
earlier novels, Jonathan Troy, The Brave Cowboy, and Fire on the Mountain, nor for
Appalachian Wilderness and The Hidden Canyon.
His personal life and professional career
are summarily described in the Biographical Materials. Interviews and recordings of
Abbey are available in that series, and in the Audio-visual series. Articles about him
as a writer and defender of the environment are located in the Works series.
His frank
Outgoing Correspondence and Journals provide a thorough account of his life and
thoughts. Especially in the Journals, he chronicles the progress or regression of his
writings; his love for family, friends, colleagues, and classical music; his thoughts on
contemporary society; notes for his fictional characters; snippets of conversations
overheard, jokes told, or gossip exchanged; his observations on daily life and trips
taken; rough drafts of letters to be sent to editors or friends; and a other notes worth
noting.
See the Series Descriptions below for a fuller narrative of the contents of
each.
Retained by Ms. Clarke Abbey. It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission
to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record,
the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user
agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for the University of
Arizona, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any
person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Access Terms
Personal Name(s)
Abbey, Edward, 1927-1989 -- Archives
Dillard, Annie -- Correspondence
Eastlake, William -- Correspondence
Harrington, Alan, 1919- -- Correspondence
Hoagland, Ted --
Correspondence
Lopez, Barry Holstun, 1945- -- Correspondence
Nichols, John Treadwell, 1940- -- Correspondence
Geographic Name(s)
Arizona -- Fiction
Southwest, New -- Description and travel
West (U.S.) -- In literature -- Archival
resources
Subject(s)
Authors, American -- 20th century -- Archives
Civil disobedience
Conservation of natural resources -- Citizen participation
Contains personal data relating to his family and career, including University of
Arizona teaching files, memorials and tributes written after his death, interviews
with Abbey appearing in various publications such as Bloomsbury
Review, and The Mother Earth News [see also Audio-visual
Materials for additional untranscribed interviews]; and a Federal Bureau of
Investigation file on him obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
box
folder
1
1
Certificates, resumes, vita, family tree, 1947-1988
Family correspondents include his children Aaron, Joshua, and Susie; his siblings
John, Nancy, and Bill Abbey; one of his wives, Judy Abbey; and a larger set from
his parents Mildred and Paul Abbey.
Incoming and outgoing folders contain letters to and from Abbey chiefly regarding
his writing. Selected correspondents include: Horace Albright; Carroll Ballard;
Wendell Berry; Don Congdon (literary agent); Annie Dillard; William Eastlake;
Lawrence Ferlinghetti; Alan Harrington; Ted Hoagland; Richard Lamm; Jack Loeffler;
Barry Lopez; John Macrae (publisher and editor); John G. Mitchell; John Nichols;
Doug Peacock; Robert Redford; Norman Sanders; Pete Seeger; and Gary Snyder. Also
includes unsorted "letters to the editor" about Abbey and his writings, and "fan"
mail.
Contains mostly handwritten accounts of his daily activities and reflections on
his personal relationships and professional accomplishments, especially in his
journals numbered four through twenty accounting for the years 1951-89 [journals
one through three are missing]. Also includes smaller chronicles on a hospital
stay, various trips, and other activities. Abbey recorded additional diaries and
trips in his Notebooks in the following series.
box
folder
4
1-9
Journals 4-12, 1951-1966
box
folder
5
1-8
Journals 13-20, 1966-1989
box
folder
6
1
A Hospital Journal, no
date
6
2
Lookout's Logbook, Glacier National Park, 1975
6
3
Cabeza Prieta walks, 1980 [?],
1984
6
4
Trip: Kansas to Home, PA., 1986; Earth First! Rally, 1986
6
5
Trip: Grand Gulch; Notes on drag-line machine, 1988
Chiefly notebooks with handwritten notes pertaining to ideas, characters,
dialogue, and revision of his novels, articles and speeches. Also contains
typescripts of speeches, some with corrections and additions, given by Abbey over
two decades, from 1968 to 1988.Additional speeches are found
in the Audio visual Materials.
Arranged alphabetical by title. Contains original handwritten, typed, carbons,
photocopied, and revised manuscripts mostly of Abbey's published novels and
essays. Some titles lack complete versions of text. Many of the drafts were
undated, and many contained handwritten corrections in ink and pencil by the
author. When available, descriptive notes for the folder headings were copied
from envelopes containing the manuscripts. Some manuscripts for earlier titles
are not present.
box
folder
9
1
Abbey's Road (fragment, chapter 4), n.d.
9
2
"Anarchism and the Morality of Violence," (M.A. thesis), 1959
9
3-4
Beyond the Wall typescript with corrections, no
date
9
5
Beyond the Wall draft, fragment with corrections, 1983
9
6
Beyond the Wall galley proof with corrections, 1983
9
7-9
Black Sun original manuscript, no
date
box
folder
10
1-2
Black Sun revised manuscript, 1970
10
3
Cactus Country 1st draft, 1971
10
4
Cactus Country 2nd draft, no
date
10
5
City of Dreadful Night original manuscript, no
date
box
folder
11
1-2
City of Dreadful Night original manuscript, no
date
11
3
Desert Images
, 1979
11
4
Desert Music
, 1976
11
5-6
Desert Solitaire original manuscript, 1967
11
7-8
Desert Solitaire revised manuscript, 1967
11
9
Down the River
, 1980
box
folder
12
1-2
Good News corrected manuscript, no
date
12
3-4
Good News revised carbon, 1980
12
5-6
Good News master, 1st pass, 1980
box
folder
13
1
Fool's Progress outlines, no
date
13
2-6
Fool's Progress draft handwritten, no
date
box
folder
14
1-6
Fool's Progress original typescript with
corrections, no
date
box
folder
15
1
Fool's Progress original typescript with
corrections, no
date
15
2-5
Fool's Progress, draft typescript with
corrections, no
date
box
folder
16
1
Fool's Progress, draft typescript with
corrections, no
date
16
2-6
Fool's Progress proof with corrections, 1988
16
7-8
Fool's Progress, addition to Avon edition, 1990
box
folder
17
1
Good Life outline, notes, no
date
17
2
Good Life draft with corrections, no
date
17
3
Hayduke Lives! outline, notes, no
date
17
4-7
Hayduke Lives! original typescript, 1988
box
folder
18
1-2
Hayduke Lives! carbons, 1988
18
3-5
Hayduke Lives! photocopy with editing by Clarke, no
date
18
6-7
Hayduke Lives! retyped by Little, Brown, 1989
box
folder
19
1-2
Journey Home draft corrected, 1976
19
3-6
Monkey Wrench Gang 1st draft typescript with
corrections, no
date
box
folder
20
1
Monkey Wrench Gang 1st draft typescript with
corrections, no
date
20
2-6
Monkey Wrench Gang draft typescript with
corrections, 1975
20
7
Monkey Wrench Gang miscellaneous carbons, Avon ed., chapter
21, no
date
box
folder
21
1
One Life at a Time, Please original and carbons, ca.
1988
21
2-5
One Life at a Time, Please draft with
corrections, 1988
21
6-7
One Life at a Time, Please proofs author's and marked
set, no
date
box
folder
22
1
One Life at a Time, Please proofs 1st revised master
set, no
date
22
2
Slickrock typescript with corrections, 1970-1971
22
3
Vox Clamantis in Deserto agreement and original (photocopy)
for Rydal Press, 1989
Arranged by title. Contains typescripts, carbons, and corrections to two novels
that were considered for adaptation to film. The bulk relates to The
Monkey Wrench Gang, and has scripts by Abbey and others.
Correspondence between Abbey and Carroll Ballard is filed in that series.
box
folder
23
1
Black Sun 1st draft, 1969
23
2
Black Sun carbon, no
date
23
3
Monkey Wrench Gang notes, 1986
23
4-9
Monkey Wrench Gang scripts by Abbey and others, 1985-1988
Arranged chronologically. Contains typescripts, tearsheets and photocopies of
essays and articles published in a wide variety of journals, newspapers, and
similar publications. The predominant themes of the articles are his
experiences as a park ranger and river runner, and his views on the current
state of culture and the environment. Many of his "letters to the editors" are
found in the Correspondence series; outlines and notes to some articles may be
found in the Journal and Notebook series.
Arranged by record type, then chronologically. Contains audio cassette tapes,
video cassette tapes, microfilm, and a photograph. The captions for the titles
were taken from the annotations on the containers, and not all materials were
screened for verification of contents. Master copies of the tapes were made and
are in Box 30.
The tapes are chiefly interviews and speeches by or about Abbey. Of interest are
tapes of a cross-country trip by Abbey from Arizona to Pennsylvania.
The microfilm is of issues of a newspaper El Crepusculo de la
Libertad (Taos, New Mexico) during Abbey's editorship; original copies
are also present.
One color photograph shows a man wearing a tee-shirt with a quote from Abbey's
fictional character G.W. Hayduke on the back side. There are no portraits of Abbey
in this series.
Contains sundry printed and handwritten items by or about Abbey including notes;
clippings on his friends, Dave Foreman, Ken Sleight, and Doug Peacock; research
for Hayduke Lives!; some royalty statements; Sierra Club and Earth
First! calendars, some with handwritten annotations by Abbey; and miscellaneous
materials relating to Abbey from other sources added after the original accession
was processed.
box
folder
29
1
Miscellaneous, no
date
29
2
Friends of Abbey, ca.
1988
29
3
Research on Hayduke Lives!
, ca.
1988
29
4
Royalty statements, 1986-1988
29
5
Calendars, some with notes by Abbey, 1974-1984
29
6
Materials added after original processing, from other
sources.,
box
30
Masters of audio cassette tapes (14). Note : Not
for researcher use, please use copies in Box 27.
,
30
Masters of video tapes (3): NBC Almanac, Wilderness Journal, Edward
Abbey's Road. Note : Not for researcher use, please use
copies in Box 28.
,
box
31
Wood framed, color photograph, of Edward Abbey holding a gun beside a
television that has a hole in the screen, and rests on a wood stump in the
desert, ca. 1986, image size ca. 40 by 51 cm. , 1986
