WHITE MSS.
The White mss., ca. 1932-1969, consist of the correspondence, writings, and memorabilia of William Anthony Parker White, 1911-1968, critic, editor, writer.
Most widely known by his pseudonym Anthony Boucher, W.A.P. White is considered by many to be the finest, most incisive critic of detective and fantasy fiction of his time. Contemporary support for such an opinion was provided by the Mystery Writers of America who three times awarded him an Edgar for excellence in criticism.
White was born in Oakland, California, the only child of two physicians. He attended college in Southern California, graduating from the University of Southern California in 1932, then moved to Berkeley to obtain an M.A. in German from the University of California. His many faceted literary career began in Los Angeles as theatre and music critic for United Progressive News, 1933-1937. Having settled permanently in Berkeley, White successively, sometimes simultaneously, served as mystery book editor, San Francisco Chronicle, 1942-1947; contributor and reviewer, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, 1948-1950 and 1957-1968; editor, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, 1948-1958; creator, writer and announcer of "Golden Voices," radio KPFA, Berkeley, 1949-1968; fantasy reviewer, Chicago Sun-Times, 1949-1950; mystery reviewer, New York Times Book Review, 1949-1968; fantasy reviewer, New York Herald Tribune (as H.H. Holmes), 1951-1963; editor, True Crime Detective, 1952-1953; reviewer, Opera News, 1961-1968. In his spare time, White authored eight books of mystery or science fiction (two of them using the pseudonym H. H. Holmes), compiled The Pocket Book of True Crime Stories, 1941; and edited Great American Detective Stories, 1945, Four and Twenty Bloodhounds, 1950, the annual volumes of The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction, for the years 1952 through 1959, and Best Detective Stories of the Year for 1963 and 1964.
Other activities in White's career include translations of detective and science fiction from French, Spanish, and Portuguese into English; writer of the Canadian Broadcasting Company's radio series "Sherlock Holmes" and "Gregory Hood," 1945-1948; consultant for the television series "Checkmate"; informal advisor and reference librarian to hundreds of writers, readers, and publishers in the fields of mystery and fantasy fiction. A most noteworthy posthumous recognition of his many contributions was the naming of the annual science and fantasy fiction conventions as "Bouchercons" in 1969.
This collection of White's papers is divided generally into three catagories of materials: correspondence, writings, memorabilia. The correspondence files are arranged alphabetically and include letters from writers, publishers, editors, friends and family, as well as considerable fan mail. Many of the letters are accompanied by carbon copy replies of White. Among the more prominent correspondents are: Eric Ambler, Kingsley Amis, Poul Anderson, H. Richard Archer, Charlotte Armstrong, Robert Arthur, Isaac Asimov, Michael Avallone, Samm Sinclair Baker, William Stuart Baring- Gould, Jacques Barzun, John Baxter, Charles Beaumont, Rafael Bernal Jimenez, Alfred Bester, Robert A. Bloch, Jorge Luis Borges Leigh Brackett, Ray Douglas Bradbury, William T. Brannon, Herbert Brean, Reginald Bretnor, Carter Brown, Frederic Brown, Wenzell Brown, Christopher Bush, Herb Caen, Eleanor Cameron, John Wood Campbell, C.E. Carle, John Dickson Carr, Curtis W. Casewit, Bruce Cassidy, Raymond Thornton Chandler, Leslie Charteris, John Ciardi, Arthur C. Clarke, Theodore R. Cogswell, Alexander H. Cohen, Leslie Barrett Cole, Groff Conklin, John Creasey, Kendell Foster Crossen, Avram Davidson, Basil Davenport, Dorothy Salisbury Davis, Lyon Sprague De Camp, Miriam Allen DeFord, August William Derleth, Armand Deutsch, Philip K. Dick, Doris Miels Disney, Davis Dresser, David Duncan, Edward McMaken Eager, Stanley Ellin, Harlan Ellison, Clifton Fadiman, Elizabeth Fenwick, Alfred Frankenstein, Dorothy Gardiner, Earl Stanley Gardner, William Campbell Gault, Doris Wilcox Gilbert, Michael Francis Gilbert, Ronald Joseph Goulart, Dennis Howard Green, Frank Gruber, Edward T. Guymon, Jr., Howard Haycraft, Gerald Heard, Joel Walker Hedgpeth, Robert A. Heinlein, Alfred Hitchcock, Dolores Hitchens, Edward D. Hoch, Allen J. Hubin, Dorothy B. Hughes, Joseph Henry Jackson, Laurence M. Janifer, Harry Stephen Keeler, Walt Kelly, Damon Knight, Manfred B. Lee, Fritz Leiber, Willy Ley, Jess Francis McComas, Bernice (Carey) Martin, Judith Merril, Kenneth Millar, Lenore Glen Offord, Stuart Palmer, Helen Rand Parish, John Robinson Pierce, Thelwall True Proctor, Basil Rathbone, James Roosevelt, Lawrence Edmund Spivak, Vincent Starrett, Rex Todhunter Stout, Theodore Sturgeon, Lewis Madison Terman, Alfred Elton Van Vogt, William Anthony Parker White, Donald Alfred Yates.
Writings present in the collection include manuscripts of his novels; published and unpublished articles and short stories; plays and screen plays; reviews; radio and television scripts; opera program scripts, tear sheets and galleys for anthologies; manuscripts of introductions to books, articles, etc.; translations; and miscellaneous writings including limericks, puzzles, and poetry. An extensive file of a Playboy Magazine project on science fiction writers and writing, edited by Boucher, completes this section. Correspondence relating to the Playboy project is included here. There is a detailed list of the writings in the Vertical File.
Included in the memorabilia portion of the collection are photographs, scrapbooks of review clippings; some financial records; printed tributes to Boucher following his death; and general family and personal memorabilia. Supplemental materials include ephemera from the annual Bouchercons since 1969.
The collection is partially indexed; full cataloging is in progress.
Collection size: ca. 30,000 items