Title: August W. Derleth Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1938-1954

Creator:

• Derleth, August, 1909-1971

Call Number: Local History Manuscript Collection 12

Quantity: 1.2 cubic ft. (2 boxes)

Repository:

Milwaukee Public Library, Frank P. Zeidler Room

Archival Location:

Milwaukee Public Library (Map)

Abstract:

August Derleth was a Wisconsin editor, poet and author. Contains clippings, photographs, and manuscripts.

Note:

To request materials from this collection, create/login to your Special Collections Account.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.mwpl-lhmc0012

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August William Derleth was born on February 24, 1909 in Sauk City, Wisconsin. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1930. Derleth was an editor, poet and a prolific writer. He began writing when he was 13 years old and wrote in several genres, including poetry, historical fiction, science fiction, detective fiction, and biography. He founded a publishing company called Arkham House in 1939 that exists today. Derleth was the literary editor and wrote for the Capital Times of Madison from 1941-1960. He married Sandra Winters in 1953; they had two children and divorced in 1959.

One of Derleth’s best known works is his series, Sac Prairie Saga. It is an anthology of fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and non-fiction naturalist works written to memorialize life in Wisconsin. After publication of his first Sac Prairie novel, Still is the Summer Night, in 1937 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1938 to continue the saga. His sponsors for the award were highly respected University of Wisconsin English Professor Helen C. White, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Sinclair Lewis, and poet Edgar Lee Masters. Over his lifetime he authored around 150 books and many more poems and short stories. August Derleth passed away July 4, 1971 in Sauk City, Wisconsin.

The contents include personal correspondence, illustrations, photographs and various draft copies of manuscripts. Also included are galley proofs, book cover art, newspaper clippings of Derleth’s 1953 marriage to Sandra Winters, and two small promotional artifacts from 1951.

The series are arranged alphabetically. Within each series, folders are arranged alphabetically and then chronologically within each folder.

Derleth, August, Papers, 1938-1954, Collection 12. Local History Manuscript Collections, Milwaukee Public Library, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

August Derleth

An August Derleth reader

Newsletter - August Derleth Society

Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials. The collection is open to all in accordance with state law. The public may view Local History Manuscript Collections by appointment at the Central Library. To request an in-person appointment, create/login to your Special Collections Account. If you have any questions, please contact the Archives and Special Collections Department at mplarchives@milwaukee.gov.

Use Restrictions

The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of libel, privacy, and copyright which may be involved in the use of this collection (Wisconsin Statutes 19.21-19.39).

Acquisition Information

No acquisition information is currently available. Materials were accessioned as Local History Manuscripts.

Processing Information

Inventory by Jeffrey K. Carlin-Bartel, Volunteer Archivist, 2012. Processing by Kimberly Howard, Archives Intern, 2013. Final arrangement/description by Casey Lapworth, 2018.

	Book covers
Box   1 Folder   1	undated
Box   2 Folder   1	"Bill’s Diary" - draft, 1945
Box   2 Folder   2	"Oliver, the Wayward Owl" - draft, 1945
Box   2 Folder   3	"Still is the Summer Night" - draft, undated
Box   1 Folder   2	Correspondence, 1952-1953
	Manuscripts
Box   1 Folder   3	"The Captive Island", circa 1951
Box   1 Folder   4	"Coincidence and Dr. Garner", circa 1951
Box   1 Folder   5	"The Country of the Hawk", 1952
Box   1 Folder   6	"In Re: Sherlock Holmes, The Adventures of Solar Pons" - Galley proofs, 1945
Box   1 Folder   7	"Rendezvous in a Landscape" – draft, undated
Box   1 Folder   8	"Rendezvous in a Landscape" - final draft with annotations by Helen C. White, 1949
Box   1 Folder   9	"Wind Over Wisconsin" - Galley proofs, 1938
Box   1 Folder   10	Newspaper clippings, 1953-1954
Box   1 Folder   11	Photographs and illustrations, 1952, undated
Box   1 Folder   12	Promotional materials, 1951, undated