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John Ahouse-Upton Sinclair Collection

 Collection
Identifier: SPC-2013-001

Scope and Content

This collection consists of 400 books, 12 linear feet of archival items and resource material about Upton Sinclair collected by bibliographer John Ahouse. Included are Upton Sinclair books, pamphlets, newspaper articles, publications, circular letters, manuscripts, and a few personal letters. Also included are a wide variety of subject files, scholarly or popular articles about Sinclair, videos, recordings, and manuscripts for Sinclair biographies. Included are Upton Sinclair’s A Monthly Magazine, EPIC Newspapers and the Upton Sinclair Quarterly Newsletters.

The book collection contains close to 400 titles by, about or related to Upton Sinclair. The collection also contains a good number of entire magazine issues with Sinclair materials, but also tear sheets and photocopies of many articles. Manuscript/typescript of Sinclair’s Zillions of Dollars and Doctor Fist: A Drama in Three Acts are included.

Dates

  • 1895-2014

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection material is primarily in English.

Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Biography

Upton Beall Sinclair (September 20, 1878-November 25, 1968) is best known for his “muckraking” novel, The Jungle, but he wrote close to 100 books in his lifetime and scores of articles in a variety of genres. These included novels, non-fiction journalism, poetry, plays and others. His topics ranged from the meat-packing industry to journalism, from telepathy to the Spanish Civil War. A famous socialist, Sinclair appeared in the news often and was part of protests against Rockefeller Mines in Colorado in 1913, the protest on Liberty Hill in San Pedro in 1923 that led to his arrest and the founding of the ACLU in Southern California, and his 1934 run for governor of California.

Born 1935 in New York City, John Ahouse attended Columbia University, with a major in German. The decade following was spent for the most part in Berlin, as a student, with the US military, and then as translator for a German pharmaceuticals firm. Masters degrees in linguistics (Univ. of Texas) and librarianship (Univ. of Southern California) brought him to California State University in Long Beach for a dozen years, where he served as archivist and developed his interest in Upton Sinclair. Subsequently, as co-head of Special Collections at Doheny Library (University of Southern California), he published his bibliography of Sinclair in 1993. Since retirement in 2005, Ahouse has been associated with the Wende Museum in Culver City, California. He has published not only on Sinclair but also on composer Hector Berlioz, novelist Hamlin Garland, and on the postwar division of Germany.

Extent

12 boxes (12 boxes; plus 400 books)

Abstract

This collection consists of 400 books, 12 linear feet of archival items and resource material about Upton Sinclair collected by bibliographer John Ahouse, author of Upton Sinclair, A Descriptive Annotated Bibliography. Included are Upton Sinclair books, pamphlets, newspaper articles, publications, circular letters, manuscripts, and a few personal letters. Also included are a wide variety of subject files, scholarly or popular articles about Sinclair, videos, recordings, and manuscripts for Sinclair biographies. Included are Upton Sinclair’s A Monthly Magazine, EPIC Newspapers and the Upton Sinclair Quarterly Newsletters.

Arrangement

Arranged in 4 series:

  1. Series I. Publications
  2. Series II. Subject Files
  3. Series III. Circular Letters/Flyers
  4. Series IV. Books/Pamphlets

Acquisition Information

This collection was donated by John Ahouse to the Archives and Special Collections at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH) in 2013 and 2014.

Related Material

Sinclair (Upton) Oral History Interview, 1963. Recording of interview of Upton Sinclair with Judson Grenier. CSUDH Collection A 50.

General

  1. The Jungle
  2. Oil!
  3. Brass Check
  4. The Wet Parade
  5. World’s End

Processing Information

Materials were processed and arranged by Greg Williams in 2013-2014.

Title
Inventory of the John Ahouse-Upton Sinclair Collection
Status
Partial
Author
Finding aid prepared by Greg Williams
Date
2014-06
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the California State University Dominguez Hills, Gerth Archives and Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University Library South -5039 (Fifth Floor)
1000 E. Victoria St.
Carson CA 90747
310-243-3895