College and Research Libraries


By J A M E S D. H A R T 

Search and Research: 
The Librarian and the Scholar 

AS C H O L A R C O N S I D E R S the stacks t o be the core of a library, f o r there h e 
pursues his own research, b u t the refer-
ence librarians, those professional bibli-
o g r a p h i c detectives, are o f t e n his best 
assistants. W h e t h e r in libraries great or 
modest, the reference l i b r a r i a n is the 
living link between the text a n d the 
reader. 1 Sometimes the scholar only asks 
this l i b r a r i a n to find a simple allusion, 
sometimes to f u r n i s h m o r e f u n d a m e n t a l 
aid. I n the great university libraries to 
which I have been accustomed, vast re-
search collections are needed by scholars, 
b u t their size o f t e n poses almost as 
m a n y problems as it solves for the 
u n d e r g r a d u a t e s . So, while the reference 
l i b r a r i a n of such research collections 
cooperates w i t h the scholar in o n e way, 
he assists the s t u d e n t in a n o t h e r . I have 
n o t only appreciated the reference desk 
f o r myself, b u t I have always enjoyed 
watching t h e students w h o almost seem 
to revere it. T h e y a p p r o a c h the desk 
as t h o u g h it were a n altar of knowledge 
at which may be consulted the h i g h 
priests a n d priestesses of the world of 
p r i n t e d data, a n d there, f r o m a process 
of bibliomancy t h a t is a n y t h i n g b u t 
r a n d o m , they receive the results of 
d i v i n a t i o n by means of a book. 

T h e reference desk is addressed i n 
different ways by its two m a j o r kinds 
of users in a university library, b u t in 

1 P a p e r p r e s e n t e d a t a m e e t i n g of t h e A L A R e f e r e n c e 
S e r v i c e s D i v i s i o n , J u l y 16, a t S a n F r a n c i s c o . 

Dr. Hart is Vice-Chancellor, Univer-
sity of California, Berkeley, and author 
of T h e O x f o r d C o m p a n i o n t o American 
L i t e r a t u r e . 

the m a n y o t h e r a n d diverse sorts of li-
braries t h r o u g h o u t the U n i t e d States, 
the reference l i b r a r i a n s serve still m o r e 
various publics. T h e r a n g e of i n f o r m a -
tion covers n o t only the conventional 
inquiries a b o u t quotations, biographical 
a n d geographical i n f o r m a t i o n , historical 
data, literary references, legislative a n d 
legal matters, b u t even answers a b o u t 
hobbies a n d how-to-do-it occupations 
a n d those endless a n d specious enigmas 
p r o v o k e d by o u r contest-working era. 
Daily the l i b r a r i a n enters the un-isolated 
i n t e r r o g a t i o n b o o t h of the $64,000 ques-
tions. I n d e e d , h e goes beyond the fur-
nishing of answers to the services of ab-
stracting a n d indexing, all of which are 
provided w i t h speed a n d a u t h o r i t y . T h e 
forces h e c o m m a n d s a n d the powers h e 
marshals m u s t be as great as those that 
G i l b e r t a n d Sullivan a t t r i b u t e d to the 
model of a m o d e r n m a j o r general. H e ac-
cepts as c o m m o n p l a c e the i n f o r m a t i o n , 
vegetable, animal, a n d m i n e r a l a t t r i b u t e d 
to such a military figure a n d is never 
puzzled to n a m e the kings of E n g l a n d 
a n d to q u o t e the fights historical f r o m 
M a r a t h o n to W a t e r l o o in o r d e r categor-
ical. I have never h a d occasion t o dis-
cover w h e t h e r reference librarians are 
"very well a c q u a i n t e d w i t h matters m a t h -
ematical" a n d " u n d e r s t a n d equations, 
b o t h the simple a n d q u a d r a t i c a l , " b u t I 
suspect you do. O l d generals, they say, 
fade away, b u t I c a n n o t imagine a world 
in which the reference l i b r a r i a n is n o t al-
ways active, "teeming w i t h a lot of news," 
a n d p e r h a p s " w i t h m a n y c h e e r f u l facts 
a b o u t the square of the hypotenuse." . 

Somewhat over a h u n d r e d years ago 
Carlyle coined the a p h o r i s m t h a t " t h e 

SEPTEMBER 1958 365 



t r u e University of these days is a col-
lection of books." Scholars, p a r t i c u l a r l y 
in the h u m a n i t i e s a n d social sciences, 
have t a k e n t h e a p h o r i s m , p u t their own 
i n t e r p r e t a t i o n u p o n it, a n d m a d e of it a 
truism in the academic world. Carlyle 
m e a n t only t h a t small p u b l i c libraries of 
great books w o u l d allow every m a n to 
educate himself. B u t in these latter days 
of Ph.D.'s a n d specialists w i t h i n special-
ized fields of knowledge, the l e a r n e d 
academic scholar t h i n k s of the library as 
the core of his university, t h e great col-
lection encompassing all the d o c u m e n t s 
needed to p u r s u e advanced research in 
his own p a r t i c u l a r segment of learning, 
a n d t h e r e f o r e in his n e i g h b o r ' s as well. 
I n his conception, the faculty of a uni-
versity offers i n s t r u c t i o n by w o r d of 
m o u t h to students, g r a d u a t e a n d u n d e r -
g r a d u a t e , a n d by p u b l i s h e d research to 
l e a r n e d peers at c o m p a r a b l e institutions 
in the U n i t e d States a n d a r o u n d t h e 
world. T h e professor speaks in the class-
r o o m to one public, b u t he studies in the 
library to w r i t e to the larger p u b l i c of 
m a t u r e scholars in his field. Both are es-
sential ways of f u l f i l l i n g his purposes as 
a teacher to y o u n g students, to l e a r n e d 
specialists, a n d to society at large. 

Such a scholar m u s t have an e n o r m o u s 
a c c u m u l a t i o n of books, j o u r n a l s , a n d all 
the ancillary materials of a great library. 
T h i s is the stuff of his research. H e r e is 
c o n t a i n e d t h e expression of m a n ' s intel-
lectual history. T h e scholar needs n o t 
only w h a t M a t t h e w A r n o l d called " t h e 
best t h a t has been k n o w n a n d said," b u t 
the c o m m o n p l a c e as well, f o r the medio-
cre is o f t e n q u i t e as v a l u a b l e as the great 
in p r o v i d i n g a n u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the cli-
m a t e of o p i n i o n o u t of w h i c h grew—or 
against w h i c h r e b e l l e d — a M i l t o n , a Mo-
liere, or a G o e t h e . For this reason, "a 
m a n will," as Dr. J o h n s o n said, " t u r n 
over half a l i b r a r y to m a k e o n e b o o k . " 
If this seems a n exaggeration, just see 

w h a t I have already d o n e in these pref-
atory statements. 

T h e r e are great libraries t h a t are n o t 
associated w i t h universities. O n e thinks 
of the Folger, the Newberry, a n d t h e 
H u n t i n g t o n , a n d one could n a m e m a n y 
more. B u t n o university can be great 
unless it has a great library. 

T h e scholar, p a r t i c u l a r l y if his field of 
research is one of those t h a t are n o t de-
p e n d e n t u p o n laboratories, judges a uni-
versity by its library as m u c h as, if not 
more t h a n , by any o t h e r criterion. T h e 
universality of this m a n n e r of j u d g m e n t 
I observed p a r t i c u l a r l y d u r i n g the years 
w h e n I was charged by my teaching de-
p a r t m e n t w i t h g u i d i n g a n d centralizing 
its efforts to find positions f o r students 
w h o h a d newly won their Ph.D.'s. Alwavs 
w h e n I asked t h e m a b o u t the universities 
to which they wished me to m a k e an-
plications o n their behalf, one of their 
first questions was: " H o w is the library?" 
a n d this query was quickly followed by 
the d e m a n d : "I've got to go to a place 
w i t h a great library." I n d e e d , o n e can-
d i d a t e r a t h e r brashly said, " I c o u l d n ' t be 
h a p p y at a school w i t h less t h a n a mil-
lion books." Most of t h e m tacitly in-
dicated they r e q u i r e d that sort of spa-
cious library to keep t h e m f r o m intel-
lectual c l a u s t r o p h o b i a . 

T h a t w h i c h is t r u e of the fledgling 
scholar is equally r e l e v a n t to the m o r e 
m a t u r e m e m b e r of a university faculty. 
H e also expects his library to h a v e all 
the materials he may need f o r his schol-
arship, a n d as he becomes m o r e l e a r n e d 
in his subject, his scholarship is e i t h e r 
m o r e wide r a n g i n g or m o r e d e m a n d i n g 
in its c o n c e n t r a t i o n . 

A little over a century a f t e r Emerson's 
time, the A m e r i c a n scholar has changed 
in character. W h e t h e r this change is f o r 
good or f o r b a d is n o t my p o i n t at this 
m o m e n t . T h e fact is t h a t h e has changed, 
a n d t h a t his way of w o r k i n g a n d the 
way r e q u i r e d by the i n s t i t u t i o n s f o r 

366 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



which he works d e m a n d that he p r o d u c e 
p u b l i s h e d research. I n the h u m a n i t i e s 
a n d social sciences, this p u b l i s h e d re-
search is, by a n d large, based u p o n pri-
mary documents. I n literary studies, f o r 
example, these d o c u m e n t s are o f t e n the 
first as well as the best editions of novels, 
plays, poems, a n d o t h e r texts h e is ana-
lyzing in close, critical scrutiny. Such 
source materials m i g h t seem to be 
relatively easy to come by, at least if 
they were p u b l i s h e d w i t h i n recent 
times; b u t all l i b r a r i a n s a n d scholars 
k n o w t h a t they are generally r a r e a n d 
the mere possession of t h e m implies a 
large library. T o seek o u t the first book 
or magazine p r i n t i n g s of Emerson's 
writings presents a fair task, for t h o u g h 
m a n y are commonplace, some are diffi-
cult to find. M o r e u n u s u a l texts are 
even m o r e difficult to o b t a i n b u t yet 
are n o less commonly r e q u i r e d by the 
scholar in the h u m a n i t i e s . H e needs n o t 
only the basic texts of his a u t h o r , b u t 
he needs the materials t h a t s u r r o u n d 
them. I n the study of Emerson, f o r exam-
ple, these may i n c l u d e the obscure pam-
phlets o n philosophic a n d religious 
t h o u g h t representative n o t only of his 
associates b u t of the general c u r r e n t of 
mid-nineteenth-century ideas in the Uni-
ted States a n d a b r o a d . Beyond a n d be-
h i n d the p r i n t e d texts lie the m a n u -
scripts. Even a complete study of Emer-
son's works, in general well a n d widely 
p u b l i s h e d in scholarly editions, can be 
m a d e only if the s t u d e n t consults the 
still u n p r i n t e d j o u r n a l s housed i n H a r -
vard's H o u g h t o n Library. By a n d large, 
t h e m a n u s c r i p t s of Emerson a n d his 
significant contemporaries are so scarce 
t h a t the m a j o r i t y of scholars can gener-
ally see t h e m only t h r o u g h microfilm 
or some o t h e r photocopy or by traveling 
o n a research g r a n t to the special li-
braries which own them. 

T h e search f o r the location of such 
materials is sometimes a difficult prob-

lem in itself. It is n o t h a r d to discover 
the b u l k of Emerson's manuscripts, for 
any scholar in the field will k n o w t h a t 
they are located at H a r v a r d , the H u n t -
ington, a n d a few o t h e r great reposito-
ries, b u t m i n o r items such as his letters 
are widely scattered in o t h e r p u b l i c 
collections. T h e search f o r the location 
of the papers of lesser a u t h o r s is a n o t h e r 
a r d u o u s u n d e r t a k i n g . I n seeking o u t 
m a n u s c r i p t s of writers great or obscure, 
scholars a n d librarians cooperate to find 
the owners a n d m a k e a r r a n g e m e n t s w i t h 
them for r e p r o d u c t i o n of these originals, 
if such copying is allowed. 

T h e r e are also m a n y m a n u s c r i p t s 
which have n o t been corralled in p u b -
lic or research libraries. O n e thinks of 
those which, u p o n occasion, t u r n u p in 
the most unlikely a n d most u n e x p e c t e d 
places. T h e r e is, f o r example, the f a m o u s 
croquet b o x of M a l a h i d e Castle w i t h its 
f a b u l o u s collection of Boswell papers. 
O r to come closer to h o m e w i t h a some-
w h a t less publicized example, there is 
the r e m a r k a b l e discovery of t h e p a p e r s 
of Miss A n i t a Moffitt. T h i s spinster 
grand-niece of M a r k T w a i n d i e d in-
testate in New York State a few years 
ago, a n d w h e n her belongings h a d to be 
disposed of, n o o n e expected they m i g h t 
be of any m o r e value t h a n those likely 
t o be in the possession of any o t h e r aged 
lady w h o h a d lived in simple circum-
stances s u r r o u n d e d by m e m o r a b i l i a of 
a loved b u t otherwise u n d i s t i n g u i s h e d 
family of forebears. So it was that Miss 
Moffitt's family correspondence was dis-
posed of as a lot of old p a p e r . By good 
f o r t u n e , an acute dealer in all kinds of 
second-hand o d d m e n t s b o u g h t the ma-
terial a n d recognized t h a t it bore u p o n 
the Clemens family a n d M a r k T w a i n 
himself. Soon he b r o u g h t in k n o w i n g 
r a r e book dealers, a n d t h u s was uncov-
ered a great cache of M a r k T w a i n ma-
terials, which i n c l u d e d some two thou-
sand previously u n k n o w n family letters, 

SEPTEMBER 1958 367 



116 of t h e m by T w a i n himself a n d the 
r e m a i n d e r p e r h a p s equally v a l u a b l e i n 
t h r o w i n g light u p o n h i m , his activities, 
his ideas, a n d his b a c k g r o u n d . Q u i t e as 
significant in their own way were the 
scrapbooks c o n t a i n e d in the collection, 
f o r i n t o these T w a i n ' s family h a d pasted 
the articles a n d squibs t h a t he contrib-
u t e d to the Territorial Enterprise of 
Virginia City d u r i n g his early days of 
a u t h o r s h i p . N o complete file of this 
j o u r n a l exists, a n d so no complete col-
lection of T w a i n ' s c o n t r i b u t i o n s to it 
could be assembled u n t i l the scrapbooks 
m a d e this possible. I a m h a p p y to say 
t h a t the A n i t a Moffitt collection in 
course of time was p u r c h a s e d for the 
University of C a l i f o r n i a by generous 
donors, a n d the first p r o d u c t of scholar-
ship f r o m this collection has been the 
p u b l i c a t i o n of T w a i n ' s writings f o r t h e 
Territorial Enterprise. 

Such well-publicized m a j o r discoveries 
as those of the M a l a h i d e or the Moffitt 
collections soon come to be k n o w n to 
all scholars a n d are soon used by those 
best e q u i p p e d to employ t h e m . B u t al-
most daily there are o t h e r finds of lesser 
consequence t h a t come to libraries 
f r o m benefactors or f r o m booksellers 
in the f o r m of family p a p e r s that, in 
a d d i t i o n to their own intrinsic interest, 
f r e q u e n t l y i n c l u d e letters received f r o m 
e m i n e n t figures of l i t e r a t u r e a n d o t h e r 
worlds u n d e r constant study by scholars. 
M a n y of these are almost accidental 
accretions n o t well k n o w n to the schol-
arly world for some time. T h u s , literary 
figures w h o were v o l u m i n o u s corre-
s p o n d e n t s are likely to b e represented 
by a few letters in o n e l i b r a r y a f t e r 
a n o t h e r , a n d the scholar t h e r e f o r e has 
to d o a great deal of c o r r e s p o n d i n g him-
self to find the location of papers w h i c h 
may b e a r u p o n the p r o b l e m he is at-
t e m p t i n g to d o c u m e n t . 

T h e scholar in the h u m a n i t i e s w h o 
classically works as a n i n d i v i d u a l m u s t 

reach his own conclusions t h r o u g h his 
private reasoning, b u t this reasoning is 
o f t e n based u p o n p u b l i c papers. T o 
find the w h e r e a b o u t s of these p a p e r s 
f r e q u e n t l y r e q u i r e s the j o i n t efforts of 
scholars a n d librarians, b u t there are 
m a n y gaps in this cooperation, despite 
the c o m m o n p u r p o s e a n d m u t u a l good 
will of b o t h parties. F o r example, u n t i l 
now, a n d indeed even now, n e i t h e r li-
b r a r i a n n o r scholar has h a d m u c h m o r e 
t h a n large a n d general knowledge of the 
location of the m a n u s c r i p t s of Amer-
can a u t h o r s b o t h m a j o r a n d m i n o r . I n 
1951 the A m e r i c a n L i t e r a t u r e G r o u p of 
the M o d e r n L a n g u a g e Association estab-
lished a C o m m i t t e e on M a n u s c r i p t Re-
sources. It was the charge, a n d it be-
came the steadfast concern, of this com-
mittee to find w h a t m a n u s c r i p t s of Amer-
ican l i t e r a t u r e exist a n d where they are. 
W o r k i n g toward this goal the committee 
p r e p a r e d a substantial checklist of forty-
n i n e pages, each c o n t a i n i n g in alpha-
betical o r d e r the names of a p p r o x i m a t e l y 
forty A m e r i c a n a u t h o r s f r o m the earliest 
colonial times d o w n to o u r own day. 
Copies of this p a m p h l e t have b e e n dis-
t r i b u t e d to libraries t h r o u g h o u t t h e 
U n i t e d States w i t h a request t h a t t h e 
l i b r a r i a n s a n n o t a t e the coded i n f o r m a -
tion u n d e r the n a m e of each a u t h o r , 
to show holdings of m a n u s c r i p t s of 
creative works, diaries, letters w r i t t e n to 
a n d by the a u t h o r , a n d d o c u m e n t s bear-
ing on or books c o n t a i n i n g m a r g i n a l i a 
by t h e a u t h o r . W h e n each of the li-
braries has checked its own m a n u s c r i p t 
collections of the a p p r o x i m a t e l y 2,000 
a u t h o r s listed, one a m a l g a m a t e d refer-
ence work will be created. T h i s will 
allow l i b r a r i a n a n d scholar alike to see 
which libraries h o l d w h a t in the way 
of m a n u s c r i p t s of A m e r i c a n authors. By 
c o o p e r a t i o n w i t h this p r o j e c t l i b r a r i a n s 
will assist m a n y scholars to p u r s u e their 
research. 

T h e scholar in t u r n helps the library 

368 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



to f o r m a n a p p r o p r i a t e collection by the 
very act of his using it a n d thereby in-
f o r m i n g the staff of the need for m o r e 
materials. I n my university, which I 
know best of all, I recall, for example, 
t h a t w h e n a y o u n g assistant professor 
was recently a p p o i n t e d to a post new to 
o u r campus as a n h i s t o r i a n of science, 
h e f o u n d m a n y gaps in o u r library hold-
ings in this area. His u n u s u a l t r a i n i n g 
as physicist, historian, a n d p h i l o s o p h e r 
a n d his cultivation of a subject new to 
Berkeley m a k e this m a n a striking illus-
t r a t i o n of w h a t a faculty m e m b e r does 
to m a k e k n o w n the need for special 
collections of materials n o t previously 
emphasized in a given library. T h e same 
p o i n t could be illustrated by almost 
every new appointee, a l t h o u g h o f t e n less 
dramatically. Since my knowledge of the 
ways in which faculty m e m b e r s have 
assisted the g r o w t h of the University of 
California's collections outside the area 
of the h u m a n i t i e s is based m o r e o n re-
p o r t t h a n on first-hand knowledge, I 
should now like to concentrate u p o n 
the way in which o n e very old-time 
faculty m e m b e r became aware of a need 
f o r special materials a n d how he tried 
to h e l p in the acquisition of such ma-
terials. I n t h a t u n d e r t a k i n g he dis-
covered once again how good a n d how 
valuable were the f r i e n d s he h a d a m o n g 
the l i b r a r i a n s of his university in the 
reference services a n d o t h e r d e p a r t m e n t s 
a n d desks. T h i s personal illustration 
may lend some p a r t i c u l a r i t y a n d some 
life to my previous generalizations. 

A b o u t five years ago the Chair-
m a n of the L i b r a r y C o m m i t t e e , the Li-
b r a r i a n of the General Library, a n d the 
Director of the B a n c r o f t Library, met to 
discuss the former's interest in extend-
ing the collection of the B a n c r o f t Li-
brary. O u r view was t h a t since the Ban-
croft L i b r a r y is the University's great 
research center for the study of F a r West-
ern history a n d since history includes 

c u l t u r a l history, we should give atten-
tion to literary history as a n i m p o r t a n t 
element of the B a n c r o f t collections. W e 
then d e t e r m i n e d to assemble a collection 
of the manuscripts, letters, a n d o t h e r 
d o c u m e n t a r y m e m o r a b i l i a of the literary 
figures of this region, w i t h p a r t i c u l a r 
emphasis on n o r t h e r n C a l i f o r n i a . O u r 
first p r o b l e m was to decide which 
a u t h o r s should be collected. H a v i n g 
compiled o u r list, scholars a n d l i b r a r i a n s 
worked together to learn how m a n y 
manuscripts of these a u t h o r s were al-
ready in p u b l i c or research libraries. 
T h i s knowledge helped us to d e t e r m i n e 
t h a t in some instances we should n o t 
compete w i t h o t h e r collections long 
established a n d already significant. T h e n 
we t u r n e d to the as yet relatively un-
collected or wholly uncollected a u t h o r s 
a n d began the great search for their 
papers. T o g e t h e r we f o u n d o u t where 
these m i g h t be, w h e t h e r in the h a n d s 
of private collectors, book dealers, au-
thors' families, publishers, or o t h e r likely 
sources. I n a very short time, we were 
able to create at the University of Cali-
f o r n i a ' s B a n c r o f t L i b r a r y a first-rate 
basic collection of regional literary 
manuscripts. T h u s , f o r example, we 
soon o b t a i n e d f r o m her family a n d 
friends a m a j o r collection of the m a n u -
scripts a n d letters of G e r t r u d e A t h e r t o n ; 
f r o m the executrix of his will t h e ma-
jority of the papers of Gelett Burgess. 
F r o m various sources we a c q u i r e d 
very sizable collections of t h e papers of 
Mary Austin, A m b r o s e Bierce, Jack Lon-
don, J o a q u i n Miller, George Sterling, 
H a n s O t t o Storm, a n d o t h e r p r o m i n e n t 
writers of n o r t h e r n C a l i f o r n i a . 

P e r h a p s the most interesting, exciting, 
a n d a m u s i n g search was t h a t f o r t h e 
manuscripts of F r a n k Norris. A t t h a t 
time I was d i r e c t i n g a g r a d u a t e student's 
dissertation o n Norris's w r i t i n g of Mc-
Teague a n d The Octopus, his two m a j o r 
novels. Norris's fiction has usually b e e n 

SEPTEMBER 1958 369 



considered in terms of the n a t u r a l i s t i c 
p h i l o s o p h y of l i t e r a t u r e a n d evaluated 
a p a r t f r o m t h e intrinsic merits of the 
novels themselves. T h i s study assumed 
t h a t N o r r i s was a n artist of sufficient 
s t a t u r e to w a r r a n t a n e x a m i n a t i o n 
of the genesis of his two best novels 
a n d to e x p l a i n the reasons f o r their 
f o r m . I n his p r e l i m i n a r y work o n the 
subject, t h e g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t analyzed 
the fiction of Kipling, Zola, a n d 
o t h e r writers k n o w n to have influenced 
N o r r i s a n d carefully scrutinized t h e 
p r i n t e d texts of Norris's own novels in 
o r d e r to work o u t as best he could the 
ways in w h i c h Norris's fiction was 
shaped. W h e n I first saw the early p a r t 
of this dissertation, I immediately said, 
as any director of such a thesis would, 
t h a t the s t u d e n t should e x a m i n e the 
a u t h o r ' s p r e l i m i n a r y d r a f t s a n d re-
vised m a n u s c r i p t s so as to i n q u i r e 
i n t o t h e workings of his m i n d as h e 
w r o t e a n d to u n d e r s t a n d at first h a n d 
his techniques of composition. I was 
surprised to b e told by the g r a d u a t e 
s t u d e n t t h a t t h e m a n u s c r i p t s of Mc-
Teague a n d The Octopus d i d n o t exist 
a n d that n o o t h e r s u b s t a n t i a l N o r r i s 
m a n u s c r i p t was available in p u b l i c or 
p r i v a t e collections. T h i s seemed t o me 
p r o b a b l y a n i n a c c u r a t e statement, f o r 
N o r r i s h a d d i e d only some fifty years 
ago in this state. A t the time of his 
d e a t h , h e was b o t h a p o p u l a r a n d a 
critically esteemed writer, a n d it was 
h a r d to believe t h a t his m a n u s c r i p t s a n d 
correspondence h a d all vanished in this 
short p e r i o d of time. P r e s u m a b l y some 
family, friends, a n d p u b l i s h i n g asso-
ciates still lived a n d n o t only remem-
b e r e d the a u t h o r w h o h a d died so pre-
maturely, b u t r e t a i n e d some of his letters 
o r o t h e r p a p e r s as s e n t i m e n t a l souvenirs. 

T h e m a t t e r was on my m i n d w h e n a 
f e w evenings later I was o u t f o r d i n n e r , 
it so h a p p e n s at the house of my brother-
in-law, a n d told h i m of my s t u d e n t ' s 

statement. H e immediately corrected it 
by showing m e o n his shelves a set of the 
A r g o n a u t E d i t i o n of Norris's works is-
sued in 1928 a n d p o i n t i n g o u t t h a t its 
first v o l u m e c o n t a i n e d a single page of 
t h e m a n u s c r i p t of McTeague. I t was ob-
vious, therefore, t h a t as late as 1928 t h e 
e n t i r e m a n u s c r i p t of this novel h a d 
been in existence a n d h a d been wilfully 
b r o k e n u p page by page a n d d i s t r i b u t e d 
by the p u b l i s h e r in each of the sets of 
this expensive e d i t i o n . T h e p a r t i c u l a r 
page t h a t I saw t h a t evening was a large 
piece of r u l e d p a p e r , s o m e t h i n g like 
legal cap, over w h i c h N o r r i s h a d w r i t t e n 
w i t h obvious ease in his flowing h a n d . 
T h e s u b s t a n t i a l l e f t - h a n d m a r g i n re-
served for corrections h a d b e e n little 
used. T h e few verbal e m e n d a t i o n s it 
h e l d h a d seemingly b e e n m a d e n o t in 
the process of first w r i t i n g b u t as altera-
tions w h e n N o r r i s r e r e a d the finished 
first d r a f t . T h e s e were so few a n d so 
slight in substance t h a t the m a n u s c r i p t 
seemed only to illustrate t h a t N o r r i s 
wrote w i t h speed a n d certainty. 

O n e page of a n a u t h o r ' s lengthy man-
uscript c a n n o t tell m u c h a b o u t his ways 
of composition, b u t a large p a r t of a 
m a n u s c r i p t can tell a great deal. T h e 
q u e s t i o n now was where were the o t h e r 
pages? My brother-in-law offered to 
give his page of m a n u s c r i p t to the 
B a n c r o f t Library, b u t I declined, 
t h i n k i n g t h a t the single page was 
of little consequence in itself. I h a d 
h a r d l y h a d time to b r o o d a b o u t the 
w h e r e a b o u t s of the o t h e r pages w h e n 
two days later my brother-in-law tele-
p h o n e d me to say t h a t h e h a d seen 
a n o t h e r set of t h e A r g o n a u t E d i t i o n in 
the store of a San Francisco book dealer 
a n d t h a t he h a d p u r c h a s e d it in o r d e r 
to have a second page to present to t h e 
library. W i t h such a brother-in-law a n d 
such a speedy b e g i n n i n g it seemed only 
p r o p e r to begin the quest f o r the re-
m a i n i n g pages. 

370 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



My g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t a n d I decided 
t h a t his dissertation could be c o n t i n u e d 
successfully only w h e n m o r e of the man-
uscript was in h a n d , so before the re-
search, there h a d to be a search. I n this 
he a n d I a n d h e l p f u l reference librarians 
used every means t h a t we could t h i n k 
of to discover owners of the m a n u s c r i p t . 
F r o m the v o l u m e titled Private Book 
Collectors of the United States and Can-
ada we assembled a list of all bibliophiles 
w h o indicated t h a t their collecting in-
terests encompassed the field in which 
the Norris set m i g h t be included. T o 
each of t h e m I wrote asking a b o u t this 
set a n d f r o m m a n y we received the man-
uscript pages in original or in photostat. 
Similar letters w e n t to a p p r o p r i a t e re-
search libraries in the U n i t e d States and 
a b r o a d w i t h c o m p a r a b l e results. M a j o r 
rare book dealers were next to receive 
o u r letters a n d again m a n y copies were 
t u r n e d u p a n d m a n y examples of schol-
arly cooperation afforded. T h e n book 
stores specializing in sets were tried a n d 
were f o u n d particularly h e l p f u l . F u r t h e r 
assistance came f r o m general p u b l i c i t y 
dispatched to t h e m a j o r library j o u r n a l s 
of the U n i t e d States a n d of this state. 
J o s e p h H e n r y Jackson, the distinguished 
book reviewer of the San Francisco 
Chronicle, devoted several columns a n d 
even o n e f u l l page of the Sunday edi-
tion to this quest. At his suggestion, 
B e n n e t t Cerf a n d o t h e r book columnists 
t h r o u g h o u t the country picked u p the 
subject a n d wrote a b o u t it. R e a d e r s f a r 
a n d n e a r began to write to me a b o u t 
the m a n u s c r i p t . O n e wrote f r o m Stock-
h o l m a n d sent the page he owned. I 
t h i n k I d i d n o t consider this any m o r e 
u n u s u a l t h a n the page that came f r o m 
a colleague whose office was b u t three 
doors d o w n the hall f r o m mine, w h o first 
learned of the quest t h r o u g h a literary 
column, a n d kindly c o n t r i b u t e d t h e page 
f r o m the set which he h a d housed in his 
study. Despite such successes we met 

m a n y obstacles too. Before long we 
learned t h a t n o t only h a d Norris's heirs 
given away pages before the publishers 
discovered they could b e sold, b u t we 
f o u n d sets w i t h only half a page because 
the r e m a i n i n g m a n u s c r i p t was n o t long 
e n o u g h to provide a f u l l page for each 
customer. 

O u r search was so successful t h a t soon 
we h a d a pretty sizable p o r t i o n of the 
m a n u s c r i p t a n d it seemed only p r o p e r 
now to extend o u r collection to all kinds 
of F r a n k N o r r i s m a n u s c r i p t s a n d cor-
respondence. F r a n k l i n W a l k e r , professor 
of A m e r i c a n l i t e r a t u r e at Mills College 
a n d a u t h o r of the sole biography of 
Norris, d o n a t e d the original notes f o r 
his book, f r o m which I learned of t h e 
persons w h o m h e h a d interviewed some 
twenty years earlier. Now, w i t h the con-
t i n u e d assistance of librarians, I ex-
tended this list to include all people 
that N o r r i s h a d k n o w n , such as his 
college classmates, f r a t e r n i t y brothers, 
a n d others w i t h w h o m h e m i g h t have 
associated d u r i n g his brief life. T h e 
next question was to find w h e r e these 
people lived, if indeed they were still 
living. T h e reference l i b r a r i a n s dili-
gently searched o u t all sorts of records 
f r o m city directories to obituaries 
to discover the addresses of those still 
alive a n d the names a n d location of 
descendants. I n this way we b e g a n to 
a c c u m u l a t e letters, p h o t o g r a p h s , and 
o t h e r m e m o r a b i l i a which came f r o m 
such sources as the widow of Norris's 
r o o m m a t e in his f r e s h m a n year, ac-
q u a i n t a n c e s of his high school days, a n d 
others w h o somehow t o u c h e d the career 
t h a t took N o r r i s t h r o u g h t h e U n i t e d 
States to France a n d later to South 
Africa, a m o n g his m a n y travels. 

Of course this search for people w h o 
knew Norris i n c l u d e d his family. I n 
course of time I c o m m u n i c a t e d w i t h 
Kathleen Norris, the widow of F r a n k ' s 
b r o t h e r . H e r late h u s b a n d , Charles, a 

SEPTEMBER 1958 371 



well-known novelist himself, h a d been 
so m u c h F r a n k ' s j u n i o r t h a t by the time 
he m a r r i e d , his b r o t h e r h a d already m e t 
his p r e m a t u r e d e a t h . As a result, Charles's 
widow h a d h a d h a r d l y any association 
w i t h t h e a u t h o r f o r whose papers we 
searched. Nevertheless, she d i d own some 
materials i n h e r i t e d f r o m h e r h u s b a n d . 
She presented the B a n c r o f t L i b r a r y w i t h 
a scrapbook in w h i c h Norris's m o t h e r h a d 
preserved book reviews a n d o t h e r notices 
of her oldest son's career. M o r e impor-
t a n t yet, she discovered a m o n g her be-
longings o t h e r pieces of Norris's writing. 
T h e s e i n c l u d e d n o t only a n o t h e r page of 
the McTeague m a n u s c r i p t b u t a fine, pre-
viously u n p u b l i s h e d article d e a l i n g w i t h 
Stephen C r a n e a n d Norris's checklist of 
all of the m a n u s c r i p t s h e passed u p o n 
w h e n he served as a professional r e a d e r 
for the firm of D o u b l e d a y . 

Beyond these generous gifts a n d oth-
ers, Mrs. Norris p r o v i d e d some v a l u a b l e 
i n f o r m a t i o n . She told us of t h e letters, 
drawings, a n d o t h e r F r a n k N o r r i s papers 
o w n e d by her son, the a u t h o r ' s name-
sake, a n d he generously presented these 
o n a n indefinite loan to t h e B a n c r o f t 
Library. Mrs. Charles G. Norris also in-
f o r m e d us t h a t F r a n k Norris's widow 
was still alive, a n d t h a t she h a d twice 
been r e m a r r i e d in t h e fifty years since 
t h e a u t h o r ' s d e a t h . K a t h l e e n N o r r i s gave 
me the n a m e a n d address of this lady 
w h o kindly received m e in h e r r o o m at a 
n u r s i n g home, t h o u g h she was aged a n d 
sick. T h e n at h e r suggestion a n d w i t h 
h e r permission, t h e g r a d u a t e s t u d e n t , 
a l i b r a r i a n , a n d I n o t only m e t h e r son 
by her second m a r r i a g e b u t were given 
the o p p o r t u n i t y to go t h r o u g h h e r books 
in the library r o o m of his house. T h e r e 
we f o u n d a large p a r t of the collection 
t h a t F r a n k N o r r i s h a d f o r m e d , i n c l u d i n g 
his a n n o t a t e d set of Zola. 

I t occurred to m e t h a t since these 
books h a d been preserved t h e r e m i g h t 
well be others which h a d n o t disap-

peared. O n e reason for this belief de-
rived f r o m a p h o t o g r a p h of N o r r i s t a k e n 
in f r o n t of his bookshelves n o t long be-
fore his d e a t h . T h e p h o t o was so clear 
t h a t f r o m it one could i d e n t i f y the titles, 
n o t only of the works we h a d f o u n d b u t 
of o t h e r volumes whose pages m i g h t pos-
sibly bear significant comments or mar-
ginalia c o m p a r a b l e t o those in the texts 
which h a d been presented to the Uni-
versity of C a l i f o r n i a in the n a m e of 
Norris's widow. Accordingly, I asked 
if there were any o t h e r places where 
these books could be located. O n e o t h e r 
place was suggested. T h i s was the Ore-
gon h o m e of Mrs. Norris's second hus-
b a n d , where she h a d l e f t some of h e r 
possessions in storage. T h e r e we f o u n d 
n o m o r e books, b u t a n attic yielded 
s o m e t h i n g of f a r greater value. T h i s was 
a package of manuscripts, yes, i n c l u d i n g 
one page of t h e McTeague m a n u s c r i p t , 
p r e s u m a b l y extracted before the rest 
was b r o k e n u p for the A r g o n a u t E d i t i o n . 

T h i s page f r o m the O r e g o n attic was 
welcome, b u t even m o r e desirable was 
a packet of papers f o r w h i c h we h a d 
never sought. T h e s e were the themes 
N o r r i s h a d w r i t t e n three times a week 
for the composition class he took at H a r -
vard a f t e r h e l e f t the University of Cali-
f o r n i a . T h e s e themes represented early 
d r a f t s of passages in b o t h Vandover and 
the Brute a n d McTeague, a n d o n e of 
t h e m was a brief o u t l i n e of the plot of 
the latter novel. I n this way we l e a r n e d 
t h a t N o r r i s h a d the e n t i r e s t r u c t u r e of 
McTeague in m i n d even b e f o r e h e began 
to compose the book, which proved t h e r e 
was n o validity to the theory t h a t N o r r i s 
h a d w r i t t e n the novel u p to the p o i n t of 
M c T e a g u e ' s m u r d e r of his wife a n d then, 
u n a b l e to find a satisfactory conclusion, 
h a d p u t the work aside a n d later complet-
ed it w i t h w h a t h a d o f t e n been considered 
a hasty, m e l o d r a m a t i c e n d i n g o u t of keep-
ing w i t h the t o n e of the earlier p a r t of 
the novel. I n Oregon, too, was discovered 

372 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES 



Norris's original m a p of the setting of 
The Octopus, whose r e d r a f t i n g by a pro-
fessional artist has always been p r i n t e d 
as i n t r o d u c t o r y m a t e r i a l to t h a t novel. 
I n this f o r m it has f u r n i s h e d readers a 
chart of the locale, as a m a n u s c r i p t it 
shown how N o r r i s p l a n n e d a n d re-
worked particulars of the setting f o r 
himself. T h e O r e g o n cache also yielded 
Norris's notes for his last novel, The Pit, 
a n d f r o m it finally came an interesting 
scrapbook of newspaper clippings t h a t 
Norris g a t h e r e d as raw m a t e r i a l a b o u t 
the Mussel Slough affair a n d o t h e r events 
whose Active c o u n t e r p a r t s figure in The 
Octopus. 

A l t h o u g h this O r e g o n treasure trove 
m i g h t have sated some appetites, the 
scholar a n d the l i b r a r i a n involved in 
this quest still t h o u g h t a b o u t the books 
in Norris's library t h a t they h a d seen 
so clearly in t h e p h o t o g r a p h of the 
a u t h o r by his study desk. If the works of 
Zola a n d those of Stephen C r a n e h a d 
t u r n e d u p , why s h o u l d n ' t those by H a m -
lin G a r l a n d a n d James G i b b o n s H u n e -
ker, which were just as clearly visible in 
the picture? A n d w h a t a b o u t some of 
those o t h e r titles we h a d puzzled over 
in the photo? T h e i r a u t h o r s h i p we h a d 
finally figured o u t by c o m p a r i n g obscure 
parts of the picture w i t h the library's 
copies of volumes of the same e d i t i o n . 
( T h i s work w i t h a m a g n i f y i n g glass is 

p r o b a b l y n o t a r o u t i n e p a r t of a refer-
ence l i b r a r i a n ' s work, b u t t h e n is any-
t h i n g r o u t i n e in a business where every 
i n q u i r e r brings a new question?) W e 
h a d learned w h a t books Norris o w n e d 
a n d by which he m i g h t have been in-
fluenced, b u t we d i d n o t k n o w whether, 
as was sometimes his practice, h e h a d 
c o m m e n t e d u p o n t h e m in the margins 
themselves. F u r t h e r i n q u i r y of Mrs. Nor-
ris's son caused h i m to recall t h a t di-
rectly a f t e r the Second W o r l d W a r h e 
h a d given some books to a l i e u t e n a n t 
he h a d come to k n o w a b o a r d his ship, 

a m a n w h o h a d moved f r o m his native 
Missouri to a house in San Mateo, Cali-
f o r n i a t h a t h a d m o r e shelves t h a n h e 
h a d books. W i t h p r o p e r i n t r o d u c t i o n I 
went to t h a t house one Sunday m o r n i n g 
a n d came away w i t h the inscribed copies 
of the missing books by G a r l a n d a n d 
H u n e k e r a n d some others, i n c l u d i n g a 
p r e s e n t a t i o n copy of a work by Gelett 
Burgess, whose dimly p h o t o g r a p h e d 
b i n d i n g we h a d n o t previously identified. 
T h e owner t h o u g h t the activities of lit-
erary scholars q u i t e strange a n d d o u b t -
less w o n d e r e d a bit a b o u t the b e h a v i o r 
of professors a n d librarians at the state 
university which he now s u p p o r t e d n o t 
only by taxes b u t by donations. B u t h e 
seemed mollified by courteous acknowl-
edgments, tax deductions, r e p l a c e m e n t 
of his books w i t h others of a p p r o x i m a t e -
ly the same size a n d color f r o m o u r li-
brary's gifts a n d exchange d e p a r t m e n t . 

By now Mrs. Norris's son was as m u c h 
i n t r i g u e d by the h u n t as those of us w h o 
were c o n d u c t i n g it. F u r t h e r jogging of 
his memory led h i m to recall t h a t some 
years earlier h e h a d given f o u r books 
to the elevator o p e r a t o r a n d d o o r m a n of 
the a p a r t m e n t b u i l d i n g in w h i c h his 
m o t h e r h a d once lived. A visit to the 
b u i l d i n g in San Francisco discovered 
t h a t the d o o r m a n was still there a n d t h a t 
he still h a d the books. A visit to his base-
m e n t r o o m discovered t h a t the f o u r 
books h a d indeed belonged to N o r r i s 
a n d bore his signature a n d some notes. 
T h e works, i n c l u d i n g Swinburne's 
poems, interested the d o o r m a n , b u t h e 
h a d never h e a r d of F r a n k N o r r i s a n d 
d i d n ' t in the least care a b o u t the f o r m e r 
owner. T h e titles were recorded, the pro-
fessor r e t u r n e d to Berkeley to get mod-
e r n editions of the works f r o m a book-
store or, he hoped, f r o m the gifts a n d 
exchange d e p a r t m e n t of the G e n e r a l 
Library. T w o weeks passed before h e 
could r e t u r n to San Francisco w i t h the 
books to be swapped. Car p a r k e d , h e ap-

SEPTEMBER 1958 373 



proached the b u i l d i n g only to discover 
a n o t h e r d o o r m a n o n duty. I n q u i r y re-
vealed that he h a d recently been hired, 
t h a t he knew n o t h i n g of the m a n he 
replaced. T h e a p a r t m e n t m a n a g e r was 
n e x t interviewed. H e said t h a t a f t e r al-
most fifteen years of service the d o o r m a n 
h a d taken m o r e a n d m o r e to d r i n k . Pre-
sumably the i n t o x i c a t i n g r h y t h m s of 
S w i n b u r n e were n o t e n o u g h to satisfy 
him . Some p a r t i c u l a r l y outrageous be-
havior h a d led to his discharge a n d off 
he h a d gone w i t h his b e l o n g i n g s — F r a n k 
N o r r i s books a n d all. T w o t e l e p h o n e 
conversations w i t h the labor u n i o n to 
which the d o o r m a n belonged d i d n o t 
yield a new address, a n d so somewhere 
today there is a d o o r m a n or a n elevator 
o p e r a t o r or a m a n p e r h a p s in the l i q u o r 
business or some o t h e r congenial em-
p l o y m e n t w h o has f o u r books t h a t should 
be in the B a n c r o f t Library, a n d I have 
a n extra copy of S w i n b u r n e ' s poems a n d 
some o t h e r works I d o n o t need. 

H e r e is a p r o b l e m I have n o t been 
able to solve. Never b e f o r e as I have 
b r o o d e d over it have I h a d my present 
o p p o r t u n i t y . I now b r i n g it to m a n y 
reference l i b r a r i a n s a n d , e n c o u r a g e d by 
w h a t o n e or two or t h r e e have d o n e to 
h e l p m e in the past, I feel h o p e f u l t h a t 
others will yet find a way to discover 

these lost books. So t h a t the p r o b l e m 
may be properly c o n c e n t r a t e d u p o n , I 
will n o t present any f u r t h e r a n d distract-
ing i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t m o r e successful 
p a r t s of the search f o r N o r r i s materials: 
a b o u t how we discovered Norris's own 
copy of t h e first e d i t i o n of McTeague 
in which h e m a r k e d the t e x t u a l changes 
to be m a d e for the second p r i n t i n g ; or 
a b o u t how his publishers, D o u b l e d a y 
a n d C o m p a n y , generously microfilmed 
all their contracts a n d records b e a r i n g 
u p o n h i m a n d presented the originals 
to t h e B a n c r o f t L i b r a r y while preserv-
ing only the photocopies f o r themselves. 
No, t h o u g h the quest c o n t i n u e d long 
a f t e r the sequence of the missing door-
m a n , a n d c o n t i n u e d , as it still does, very 
successfully, I will only a d d t h a t the 
story of the search for F r a n k Norris's 
m a n u s c r i p t s is p e r h a p s a m o r e protract-
ed a n d p e r h a p s a m o r e exotic e x a m p l e 
t h a n usual of the cooperation of scholar 
a n d l i b r a r i a n , nevertheless, so f a r as I 
can tell, n o search is too long a n d n o 
b i b l i o g r a p h i c a l request too strange f o r 
a reference l i b r a r i a n . T h e g r a d u a t e stu-
d e n t completed his dissertation success-
fully, a n d the B a n c r o f t L i b r a r y a c q u i r e d 
the greatest F r a n k N o r r i s collection in 
p u b l i c or p r i v a t e h a n d s because librar-
ians a n d scholars worked together. 

Weeding 

W e e d i n g of the collections of the N a t i o n a l L i b r a r y of Medicine to remove out-of-
scope materials c o n t i n u e s at a r a p i d r a t e ; almost 300 volumes have b e e n discarded 
each m o n t h for the past six m o n t h s . T h i s activity, necessary in any event, is par-
ticularly pressing d u r i n g a p e r i o d w h e n stack space is at a p r e m i u m . 

" N o n - b o o k " materials are also weeded. Recently some 500 prints, p h o t o g r a p h s , 
a n d engravings h e l d in the A r t Section, d e p i c t i n g such various subjects as R u m a n -
ian refugees in W o r l d W a r I I , scenic views of the Philippines, I n d i a n T r a i n i n g 
School activities, a n d a n i m a l skin tumors, were transferred to m o r e a p p r o p r i a t e cus-
todians such as the A r m y Signal Corps, t h e District of C o l u m b i a P u b l i c Library, the 
D e p a r t m e n t of I n t e r i o r L i b r a r y , a n d the A r m e d Forces I n s t i t u t e of Pathology.— 
National Library of Medicine News, X I I I , N o . 2, F e b r u a r y , 1958, p. 4. 

374 COLLEGE AND RESEARCH LIBRARIES