Hart Stilwell Papers
1963-1975,
n.d.
2
boxes (1 linear foot) plus artifacts
Click here for complete
inventory
Access:
Direct inquiries to Archivist,
Southwestern Writers Collection, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas,
78666-4604.
Processed
by: Jennifer B. Patterson, May 1994; Inventory revised by Brandy Harris, 2005.
BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH
Hart Stilwell was born in 1902 in Yoakum, Texas. When he was two,
his large family relocated to the Rio Grande Valley, an area they would roam
throughout StilwellÕs childhood as his father sought undeveloped farmland and
the freedom of the frontier. StilwellÕs upbringing was marked by psychological
and physical conflict with his father, a former Texas Ranger prone to sudden
mood-swings and threats of violence.
At the age of seventeen Stilwell entered The University of Texas
at Austin, where he worked for The Daily Texan and graduated with a degree
in journalism in 1924. One of his first jobs was as a reporter for The
Brownsville Herald, a paper he also edited for two years. In the late 1920s Stilwell
lost interest in working full-time and turned to free-lance writing, although
for the rest of his life he regularly contributed articles to newspapers across
Texas, including The San Antonio Light, The Houston Chronicle, and The Austin
American-Statesman.
StilwellÕs first novel was published in 1945. An indictment of
race relations in the Rio Grande Valley, Border Town was narrated by a cynical
reporter in love with a Mexican woman who had been raped by a wealthy Anglo
businessman. Two years later, Stilwell published his most critically acclaimed
novel, Uncovered Wagon, which included a thinly fictionalized account of StilwellÕs
relationship with his father, called ÒThe Old ManÓ in the book. Uncovered
Wagon was
named one of the fifty best books of Texas by A.C. Greene, who wrote Òyou donÕt
find many Texas writers who can face the bitter reality of rural poverty in a
changing society as Stilwell does.Ó Stilwell published a third novel, Campus
Town, which
was less successful than the others. All of his novels draw heavily from
personal experience (StilwellÕs daughter called Uncovered Wagon an ÒautobiographyÓ and said
that Stilwell changed names and place names only after his mother objected to
the harshness of his narrative) and are marked by a fierce liberalism and hatred
of intolerance.
Stilwell was also known for his nonfiction. He collaborated with
Slats Rogers on RogersÕ autobiography and helped write a book on neglected
children, titled The Child Who Walks Alone, with his social worker wife, Anne Stilwell. He
was an avid sportsman and published two well-known books on hunting and fishing
in Texas and Mexico. Field and Stream, Outdoor, Hunting Yearbook, and other outdoor sports
magazines also published articles by Stilwell. In the early 1970s he began work
on a full-length book on human interference in the natural world; he was
particularly concerned about the domestication of wild animals and the
increasing use of biological engineering on animals and plants consumed by
humans. Stilwell was working on this book, tentatively titled The Great
White Immaculate Bird and Other Toys, along with a manuscript on fishing, a childrenÕs book on wolves,
and a number of short essays when he died on May 13, 1975 in Austin.
Stilwell married twice and had two children. His daughter, Mary
Gray Hughes, is also a writer.
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
Two boxes of manuscripts, clippings, published articles, programs,
correspondence, photographs, and artifacts (1963-1975, n.d.), contain the books
and essays that Stilwell was working on at his death as well as related
materials donated by his widow and daughter. The collection has been arranged
into three series: Works, (1963-1975, n.d.), Personal Materials (1967, 1971,
1975, n.d.), and Photographs (n.d.).
See also gifts of
Anne Stilwell Strong, Mary Gray Hughes, Jean Lee, and Wilfred and Bridget Webb
for books by Hart Stilwell. The Russell Lee Collection contains photographs of
Hart Stilwell. The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of
Texas at Austin has 23 letters from Stilwell to J. Frank Dobie in the Dobie
Collection.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
SERIES
1: WORKS, 1963-1975, n.d.
Boxes 1-2
The
body of this series contains the manuscripts that were unpublished at StilwellÕs
death. Three book drafts are represented. Glory of the Silver King is a manuscript about tarpon
fishing in Texas and Mexico and Old Two Toes is a story about the hunt
for a disabled wolf who is hunting sheep. The largest draft is The Great
White Immaculate Bird and Other Toys, a series of essays criticizing human efforts to change animals
for commercial purposes. There are three drafts of this typescript, all of
which contain handwritten emendations. A number of short essays by Stilwell
written for newspapers and magazines are also found in this series; many of these
essays cover topics found in The Great White Immaculate Bird, but others discuss such
subjects as feminism, football at The University of Texas, and the loss of the
Southern dialect. One folder contains a few published articles by Stilwell,
generally focussing on food but also covering such topics as javelin hunting,
the demise of the jalape–o, and the death of outlaw Sam Bass. The
correspondence in this series consists of two rejection letters.
SERIES
2: PERSONAL MATERIALS, 1967, 1971, 1975, n.d.
Box 2
Within
this series are clippings, programs, promotional pamphlets, and artifacts
belonging or related to Hart Stilwell. Separation sheets for the artifacts in
the Stilwell Collection like his typewriter and camera are included in this
series.
SERIES
3: PHOTOGRAPHS, n.d.
Box 2
This
series contains photographs of Stilwell, the majority of which were taken by
his good friend, photographer Russell Lee. Stilwell is featured with his wife,
Anne, in many of the photographs, but there is one photograph of Stilwell with
J. Frank Dobie. Also found in this series are publicity photographs and one
Russell Lee photograph that was used on the cover of StilwellÕs 1972
co-authored book, The Child Who Walks Alone.
Click here for complete
inventory