Erle Stanley Gardner:
An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center
| Creator: | Gardner, Erle Stanley, 1889-1970 | |
| Title: | Erle Stanley Gardner Papers | |
| Dates: | 1838; 1925-1972, undated | |
| Extent: | 222 document boxes (93.24 linear feet), 3 oversize folders (osf), 159 galley folders (gf) | |
| Abstract: | The papers of American lawyer and author Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970) include manuscripts for hundreds of works by the creator best known for his Perry Mason series of detective stories. In addition to Gardner’s outgoing and incoming business and personal letters are extensive correspondence and documents from the Court of Last Resort legal project, as well works and/or correspondence by and between third parties. These papers are dominated by Gardner’s literary output, but also reflect his legal activities for the Court of Last Resort documenting crime, justice, law enforcement, prisons, and prisoners, as well as Gardner’s personal enthusiasms for Baja, California, Mexico, camping, and travel and exploration. | |
| Call Number: | Manuscript Collection MS-01530 | |
| Language: | English |
| Access: | Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials. | |
| Use Policies: | Ransom Center collections may contain material with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in the collections without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Ransom Center and The University of Texas at Austin assume no responsibility. | |
| Restrictions on Use: | Authorization for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the owner of the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Ransom Center's Open Access and Use Policies. |
Administrative Information
| Preferred Citation: | Erle Stanley Gardner Papers (Manuscript Collection MS-01530). Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin.> | |
| Acquisition: | Purchases and gifts, 1960-1977. | |
| Processed by: | Joan Sibley, 2022 |
| Repository: |
Scope and Contents
| The papers of American lawyer and author Erle Stanley Gardner (1889–1970) include manuscripts for hundreds of works by the creator best known for his Perry Mason series of detective stories. In addition to Gardner’s outgoing and incoming business and personal letters are extensive correspondence and documents from the Court of Last Resort legal project, as well works and/or correspondence by and between third parties. These papers are dominated by Gardner’s literary output, but also reflect his legal activities for the Court of Last Resort documenting crime, justice, law enforcement, prisons, and prisoners, as well as Gardner’s personal enthusiasms for Baja, California, Mexico, camping, and travel and exploration. | ||
| The Gardner papers that were acquired by the Ransom Center between 1960 and 1977 were originally described in a card catalog and were organized into four series: I. Works; II. Letters (outgoing correspondence); III. Recipient (incoming correspondence); and IV. Miscellaneous (third-party works and correspondence). See the explanatory note at the end of this finding aid for further information regarding the arrangement of the manuscripts as well as the abbreviations commonly used in card catalog descriptions | ||
| Series I., Works, 1925-1973 (142 boxes) encompasses alphabetically-arranged typescripts, galley proofs, and page proofs for numerous novels (especially the Perry Mason series), travel books, short stories, articles and other writings such as opinion pieces, reviews, and speeches. Gardner frequently dictated his first drafts, a number of which are available in the Ransom Center Sound Recordings collection. Some of the works also respresent Gardner’s writing for or about the Court of Last Resort, which reviewed cases against criminal defendants believed to have been wrongfully convicted. Over the years, Gardner wrote under several pseudonyms represented in these papers. Dominant are works by A. A. Fair (Cool and Lam series), with additional works attributed to Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Grant Holiday, and Charles J. Kenny. See the Index of Works in this finding aid for a complete list of titles present. | ||
| Series II. Letters, 1940-1969 (outgoing correspondence, 13 boxes) and III. Recipients, 1940-1968 (incoming correspondence, 37 boxes) document Gardner’s literary, legal, and personal activities. Among his correspondents are other attorneys, authors, family, fans, friends, publishers, and staff members, such as Merle Armitage, F. Lee Bailey, Melvin Belli, Jean Bethell, Thayer Hobson, Sam Hicks, J. Edgar Hoover, Gene Lowall, Ruth "Honey" Moore, Gene Roddenberry, Evelyn Waugh, and William Morrow & Company, Inc. The Court of Last Resort project is also well-represented by correspondence to and from the team members, including Alex Gregory (polygraph expert), William A. Gilbert (prison chaplain), Marshall Houts (lawyer, author), Gene Lowall (crime reporter). Raymond Schindler (detective), Clark Sellers (handwriting expert), Tom Smith (retired prision warden and his former assistant, Bob Rhay), LeMoyne Snyder (doctor and attorney), Harry Steeger (publisher of Argosy magazine), and Park Street (attorney). Much of the correspondence concerns their work on numerous cases, the best-represented of which are those of Marion I. Bowling, John Brite, E. L "Lefty" Fowler, Vance Hardy, Sam Sheppard, and the Wilson brothers (Turman and Utah). Much correspondence from those convicted and their families is also present. See the separate Indexes of Letters and Recipients for names of all identified individual and corporate body correspondents. | ||
| Series IV., Miscellaneous, 1838; 1931-1972 (30 boxes), is made up of works by and correspondence between third-parties, plus Gardner material not considered to be works or correspondence by him. There are, however, a number of Gardner works-related lists and notes, such as character lists, plot outlines, legal references, fact lists, photo captions, etc., as well as general Gardner notes and Gardner staff interoffice memos, lists, and notes. A fair number of letters written by or to Jean Bethell (Gardner’s secretary who became his wife in 1968) are also present. A large segment of the series is correspondence and documents concerning Court of Last Resort cases as well as internal documentation for the Court, including articles of incorporation and by-laws. An early document dating from 1838 concerns Joseph Pitt (1759–1842; a British lawyer who prospered as a property speculator) and the sale of some land in Cheltenham, England. See the Index of Miscellaneous, which includes detailed descriptions from the card catalog for materials in this series. | ||
Related Material
See additional Erle Stanley Gardner materials in the following Ransom Center collections:
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Separated Material
| Elsewhere in the Ransom Center are other Gardner-related, art, books, moving images, additional papers, personal effects, photographs, sound recordings, and verticial file materials: | ||
| Art: 322 items; mainly depictions of Gardner’s characters and stories; described in an online finding aid. | ||
| Books: approximately 3,300 first editions, reprints, and translations of Gardner works plus serials containing Gardner works are searchable in the University of Texas Library Catalog; also approximately 2,000 volumes from Gardner’s legal library (uncataloged). | ||
| Moving images: 92 items; 8mm and 16mm home and travel movies, commercial films, and television broadcasts (including The Court of Last Resort); searchable in the Moving images database available onsite at the Ransom Center. Most items have been digitized and may be viewed onsite. | ||
| Papers: an additional 710 boxes; includes numerous scripts for the Perry Mason radio and television shows; extensive general correspondence files; Court of Last Resort files and television scripts; Paisano Productions files; travel files; magazine files; Thayer Hobson papers and related William Morrow and Company correspondence files; plot notebooks; reference files; and miscellaneous legal cases. Other materials are present, including about twenty fiction and nonfiction works by Gardner, plus a number of works by other writers, either about Gardner or based on Gardner’s writings; described in a separate online finding aid. | ||
| Personal effects: 826 items plus an additional 106 items formerly located in an exhibition that recreated Gardner’s writing cabin; searchable in an online database. | ||
| Photographs: 40,000 items (58 boxes, 13 cartons, 16 albums); includes documentation of Gardner’s extensive travel, images taken for and used in travel publications, images that were part of criminal case research material, and other materials; described in an online finding aid. | ||
| Sound recordings: 1,206 items; includes recordings of Gardner drafting and editing his writings and dictating correspondence, legal recordings related to The Court of Last Resort, and dialog from the Perry Mason radio show; searchable in an online database. A majority of the recordings have been digitized and may be listened to onsite. | ||
| Vertical file: 10 boxes and 100 scrapbooks; mainly clippings and printed ephemera removed from books and papers, most about Gardner works and Court of Last Resort or other legal cases, also advertisements and publicity materials, and scrapbooks on Gardner works and Court cases, but also on travel, radio, lectures, television, prisoners’ writings, and Perry Mason comic strips; searchable in the Vertical file database available onsite at the Ransom Center. | ||
HRC Guide Headings
| Costumes/Personal Effects | ||
| Detective, Fantasy, and Science Fiction | ||
| Film & Television | ||
| Human Rights | ||
| Lesbian, Gay, Transgender, Bisexual, and Queer Studies |