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Collection Summary | |
Creator: | Abbey, Edward. |
Collection Name: | Papers of Edward Abbey, |
Inclusive Dates: | 1947-1990 |
Physical Description: | 12.1 feet |
Abstract: | 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 |
Repository: |
University of Arizona Libraries, Special Collection University of Arizona PO Box 210055 Tucson, AZ 85721-0055 Phone: 520-621-6423 Fax: 520-621-9733 URL: http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/ |
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.
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.
None.
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.
Edward Abbey papers(MS 271).Special Collections, University of Arizona Libraries.
Series 1: Biographical Information, 1947-1989 | |||||||||||
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 | |||||||||
1 | 2 | University of Arizona teaching file, 1988-1989 | |||||||||
1 | 3 | Memorials and tributes, 1989 | |||||||||
1 | 4-5 | Interviews, 1969-1988 | |||||||||
1 | 6 | F.B.I. file, 1982 |
Series 2: Correspondence, 1966-1989 | |||||||||||
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. | |||||||||||
Series 2.1: Family Correspondence, 1966-1988 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
1 | 7 | Children, 1976-1988 | |||||||||
1 | 8 | Siblings, 1967-1987 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
2 | 1-2 | Parents: Mildred and Paul Abbey, 1966-1988 | |||||||||
2 | 3 | Abbey, Judy, 1967 | |||||||||
Subseries 2.2: Incoming Correspondence, 1967-1989 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
2 | 4-12 | Incoming, A-Z, 1967-1989 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
3 | 1 | Ballard, Carroll (Monkey Wrench Gang Screenplay), 1985-1987 | |||||||||
3 | 2 | Congdon, Don (Literary Agent), 1970-1986 | |||||||||
3 | 3 | Reader comments on articles, 1970-1980s | |||||||||
3 | 4 | Fan mail, 1987-1988 | |||||||||
Subseries 2.3: Outgoing Correspondence, 1969-1989 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
3 | 5-20 | Outgoing, 1967-1989 |
Series 3: Journals, 1951-1989 | |||||||||||
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 |
Series 4: Notebooks and Speeches, 1951-1988 | |||||||||||
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. | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
7 | 1 | The Brave Cowboy, no date | |||||||||
7 | 2 | The Good Life, no date | |||||||||
7 | 3 | Great books of anarchism; Black Sun, ca. 1951 | |||||||||
7 | 4 | Untitled, ca. 1962-1970 | |||||||||
7 | 5 | Speeches, no dates | |||||||||
7 | 6 | Speeches, 1968-1975 | |||||||||
7 | 7 | Speeches, 1976-1988 | |||||||||
7 | 8 | Speeches/Notes: Boro Council Minutes, Seneca Evening Gazette, Desert Solitaire, 1969 | |||||||||
7 | 9 | Speeches/Notes: Monkey Wrench Gang, 1970 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
8 | 1-6 | Speeches/Notes, 1972- ca.1980s | |||||||||
8 | 7 | Speeches/Notes: Lake Foul (Powell) trip, teaching, 1982 | |||||||||
8 | 8 | Speeches/Notes: Hopi runners, Oraibi trip, 1982 | |||||||||
8 | 9 | Speeches/Notes: Alaska trip, teaching, 1983 | |||||||||
8 | 10 | Speeches/Notes, 1984 | |||||||||
8 | 11 | Speeches/Notes: Telluride, 1986 |
Series 5: Works, 1951-1990 | |||||||||||
Subseries 5.1: Manuscripts, 1959-1990 | |||||||||||
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 | |||||||||
22 | 4 | notes, drafts with corrections, carbons, 1989 | |||||||||
Subseries 5.2: Screenplays, 1969-1988 | |||||||||||
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 | |||||||||
Subseries 5.3: Articles by Abbey, 1951-1990 | |||||||||||
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. | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
24 | 1-10 | Undated, 1951-1979 | |||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
25 | 1-3 | , 1980-1990 | |||||||||
Subseries 5.4: Book Reviews by Abbey, 1969-1988 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
25 | 4-5 | , 1969-1988 | |||||||||
Subseries 5.5: Plays, no date | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
25 | 6 | "Best of the West: a morality in one short act," , no date | |||||||||
Subseries 5.6: Poems, 1965-1980s | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
25 | 7 | , 1965-1980s | |||||||||
Subseries 5.7: Articles about Abbey, 1964-1990 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
25 | 8-10 | , 1964-1990 | |||||||||
Subseries 5.8: Reviews of Abbey's Works, 1954-1990 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
26 | 1 | Abbey's Road, 1979 | |||||||||
26 | 2 | Beyond the Wall, 1984 | |||||||||
26 | 3 | Brave Cowboy, 1962-1968 | |||||||||
26 | 4 | Desert Solitaire, 1968-1988 | |||||||||
26 | 5 | Down the River, 1982 | |||||||||
26 | 6 | Fool's Progress, 1988-1989 | |||||||||
26 | 7 | Good News, 1981 | |||||||||
26 | 8 | Hayduke Lives!, 1989-1990 | |||||||||
26 | 9 | Journey Home, 1977 | |||||||||
26 | 10 | Monkey Wrench Gang, 1975-1976 | |||||||||
26 | 11 | One Life at a Time, Please, 1988 | |||||||||
26 | 12 | Vox Clamantis, 1990 | |||||||||
26 | 13 | Miscellaneous, 1954-1988 |
Series 6: Audio-visual materials, 1959-1989 | |||||||||||
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. | |||||||||||
Subseries 6.1: Audio cassette tapes, 1976-1989 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
27 | 1 | Interview, Channel 3, March 1976 | |||||||||
27 | 2 | University of Denver, May 3, 1976 | |||||||||
27 | 3 | University of Arizona, February 2, 1977 | |||||||||
27 | 4-5 | Interview with Jack Loeffler, January 1, 1983 | |||||||||
27 | 6 | University of Montana, April 1, 1985 | |||||||||
27 | 7-9 | Road trip: Oracle, Arizona to Home, Pennsylvania, ca. 1987 | |||||||||
27 | 10 | New Dimensions, October 28, 1988 | |||||||||
27 | 11 | Earth First! Rally, Tucson, Ariz., Ed Abbey, Dave Forman, Bill Oliver, March 4, 1989 | |||||||||
27 | 12 | Memorial for Ed Abbey, May 20, 1989 | |||||||||
27 | 13-14 | Vic and Don, no date | |||||||||
Subseries 6.2: Microfilm, 1959-1960 | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
28 | 1 | El Crepusculo de la Libertad, October 29, 1959 to January 21, 1960 | |||||||||
28 | 2-3 | El Crepusculo, original copies, XI:44-49, 51-52; XII:1-4 | |||||||||
Subseries 6.3: Photographs | |||||||||||
box | folder | ||||||||||
28 | 4 | Hayduke tee-shirt, no date | |||||||||
Subseries 6.4: Video cassettes, 1983-1988 | |||||||||||
box | |||||||||||
28 | KAET (Phoenix, Ariz.): "Edward Abbey's Road," , 1983 | ||||||||||
28 | KCET: "Wilderness Journal," , 1983 | ||||||||||
28 | Speech: Lewis-Clark State College, March 24, 1985 | ||||||||||
28 | NBC Almanac (Out in the Rocks?), 1986 | ||||||||||
28 | "3rd Annual Archdruid Lecture Series" : Sierra Club benefit, Salt Lake City, Utah, January 15, 1988 | ||||||||||
28 | Cracking of the Glen Canyon Damn. | ||||||||||
28 | "Remembering Edward Abbey," by Shawn Emery. Uses above materials, 39 minutes, 44 seconds, 1992 |
Series 7: Supplemental materials, 1974-1988 | |||||||||||
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. |