Manuscripts
Mary Hunter Austin papers, (bulk 1920-1934)
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Mary Hunter Austin papers
Manuscripts
This collection contains the personal papers of American novelist, essayist, and political activist Mary Hunter Austin, best known for her portrayals of life in California and New Mexico. It includes correspondence and literary manuscripts by both Austin and numerous other authors, editors and friends, as well as ephemera, scrapbooks of newspaper clippings about Austin, and photographs. Literary manuscripts include Austin's personal journals, short stories, poems, essays, and numerous drafts of novels. The correspondence deals with Austin's personal life and business dealings as well as her activities with Indian rights and the water right controversies in California's Owens Valley and in the Southwest. There are also materials related to Austin's interests in folklore and religion in New Mexico and the Southwest. Subjects include the publishing of her books, Indians of North America, Spanish folklore, religion and mysticism, and the Colorado River and Owens Valley water isues. The more than 1,200 photographs in the collection date from 1869 to the 1920s and include personal and family photographs of Mary Austin, her friends and relatives, and her various homes; portraits of notable literary friends and acquaintances; theaters and theater productions; Southwest Indians and pueblos, art and artifacts; desert plants and scenery; town views and travel photographs; Guatemalan masks; views of Penitente processions in New Mexico; and other miscellaneous views. Most of the photographs are unattributed and are of various sizes and formats.
mssAU
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Mary Austin letters
Manuscripts
Nine letters by Mary Austin consisting of six letters to John Northern Hilliard, dated [October 1913?] (41072); [September-October 1915] (HM 41073); March 16, 1916 (HM 41074); [Spring 1916] (HM 41075); May 24 [1920?] (HM 41076); and undated (HM 41077); one letter to Ida Louise Harrison Hilliard, dated December 5, 1916 (HM 41071); one letter to Grace (Sartwell) Mason, dated December 22, 1915 (HM 41078); and one letter to James "Redfern" Mason, dated May 16, 1915 (HM 41079). The letters primarily discuss mutual friends and Austin's writing projects and activities. The letters to John Northern Hilliard mention Austin's work and frustration with the Western Drama Society and its treatment of Vernon Kellogg, Austin's work with the Panama Pacific International Exposition, a missing part of a manuscript, and the Forest Theatre, as well as an undated note that accompanied a gun that Austin gave Hilliard.
mssHM 41071-41079
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Mary Austin letters to Dorothea Lummis Moore
Manuscripts
These three letters are written from Mary Austin in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Dorothea (Rhodes) Lummis Moore. The letters discuss mutual friends, Austin's writing, and reading, and are dated September 23, 1930 (HM 45149); November 28, 1932 (HM 45150); and December 12, 1932 (HM 45151). Among the topics mentioned are D.H. Lawrence, Ida Tarbell's list of fifty famous women, Austin's autobiography, and Austin's effort to get a Guggenheim fellowship to work on an Indian art book.
mssHM 45149-45151
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Mary Austin letters
Manuscripts
These seven letters are to members of the Watterson family of Inyo County, California, including one letter to Mark Q. Watterson, Inyo County Bank owner. He and his brother, Wilfred, got caught up in the California Water Wars. They were both financial and civic leaders who had opposed the Los Angeles Aqueduct and in 1927 their bank collapsed and they were indicted for embezzlement, later tried, and convicted on thirty-six counts. The other six letters are to Mark's sister Elsie Watterson. The letters deal with the water issue, Owens Valley, Inyo Valley, the aqueduct, Boulder Dam, and Mark and Wilfred's incarceration at San Quentin. Mary Austin is offering to help the Watterson family in any way she can and offers to write something about the situation. She also talks about writing her autobiography. There are also two postcards with images of Mary Austin's house.
mssHM 79044-79050
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Mary Austin manuscripts and letters to Louis Untermeyer
Manuscripts
This collection contains five letters to Louis Untermeyer from Mary Austin and typewritten carbon copies of "Hymns of the Penitentes," an essay about the Indian Penitente group of New Mexico and their chants and hymns (HM 41060), and "Rimas Infantiles of New Mexico," an essay on the cradle songs of New Mexico (HM 41061), with corrections in ink by the author. The letters, dated June 24, 1930 (HM 41062); July 18, 1930 (HM 41063); September 10, 1930 (HM 41064); October 19, 1930 (HM 41065); and November 12, 1930 (HM 41066), primarily discuss Native American and Southwest poetry and songs, prompted by Untermeyer's work on a projected anthology of Indian verse.
mssHM 41060-41066
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Mary Austin letter to Max Farrand
Manuscripts
The letter reads: "As my chief object in desiring photostats of items in the Huntington Library is to make them available to students researching in that particular field, with the idea of writing about their discoveries, your reservation in respect to quotations will prevent their being generally used. I am glad to have seen the manuscripts in question, and to know what can be referred to, but under the circumstances I think it would be useless to have photostats made."
mssHM 79069