Skip to main content

Irving Wallace papers

 Collection
Identifier: 0144

  • Staff Only
  • Select an item to initiate a request

Scope and Content

Collection consists of correspondence, research notes, proofs, and corrected typescripts for various stories, screenplays, and novels by Irving Wallace. Books represented in this collection include The Plot, The Man, The Sunday Gentleman, The Twenty-Seventh Wife, The Fabulous Originals, and The Writing of One Novel. While the papers are mostly copies, most items contain autograph notations by Wallace. Also included in this collection are photographs, including original stills of Sarah Bernhardt, magazines in which interviews of Wallace and reviews or excerpts of his work can be found, drafts of Wallace's memoirs, and a small amount of personal correspondence.

Dates

  • Creation: 1934 - 1968

Creator

Language of Materials

The papers in this collection are in English, with the exception of the draft and proofs of Los Disconformes, the Spanish edition of The Square Peg.

Conditions Governing Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. Advance notice required for access.

Conditions Governing Use

The collection contains published materials; researchers are reminded of the copyright restrictions imposed by publishers on reusing their articles and parts of books. It is the responsibility of researchers to acquire permission from publishers when reusing such materials. The copyright to unpublished materials belongs to the heirs of the writers. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository and the copyright holder.

Biographical Note

Irving Wallace was born in 1916 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. He sold his first magazine story when he was 15. After dropping out of college to write for film, he met his wife Sylvia Kahn. In 1942, Wallace enlisted in the Air Force, where he was placed in the First Motion Picture Division. A year later, he was transferred to the Signal Corps Photographic Center, which stationed him first in Los Angeles and later in New York. Upon his discharge from the Air Force in 1946, he returned to free-lancing for periodicals but also started writing screenplays and treatments for movie studios. In 1953, he began writing book-length works. His first published work was The Fabulous Originals. Over the course of his career, he would go on to write sixteen novels and seventeen works of nonfiction, many of which became sensational best-sellers. Wallace died in 1990.

Extent

3.5 Linear Feet (3 boxes)

Abstract

This collection contains the papers of the screenwriter and novelist Irving Wallace (1916-1990). His papers include correspondence, research notes, proofs, and typescripts for some of his stories, screenplays, and novels.

Related Archival Materials

Special Collections at the Libraries of the Claremont Colleges has more of Wallace's papers in their Irving Wallace Archive.

Separated Materials

The books donated to USC with the Irving Wallace Papers have been cataloged as rare books in USC Libraries Special Collections.

Title
Finding Aid of the Irving Wallace papers
Status
Completed
Author
Rebecca Hirsch
Date
2010 July
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
The processing of this collection and the creation of this finding aid was funded by the generous support of the National Historic Publications and Records Commission.

Repository Details

Part of the USC Libraries Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Doheny Memorial Library 206
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0189 United States