Gertrude Stein and Conference Press Collection
The Conference Press was the creation of three UCLA students, Hal Levy, Gilbert A. Harrison, and William Bayard Okie. The collection consists of the publishers' archive for Gertrude Stein's book, What Are Masterpieces? (Los Angeles: Conference Press, 1940), as well as several Stein manuscript fragments and notes, offprints, reviews, and other Stein ephemera, mostly related to her 1934-1935 American tour.
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Summary Information
- Repository
- Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives
- Title
- Gertrude Stein and Conference Press Collection
- Creator
- Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946
- Date
- 1896-1970 (inclusive)
- Extent
- 1.68 linear feet / 4 document boxes
- ID
- MS586
Biographical and Historical Note
The Conference Press was the creation of three UCLA students, Hal Levy, Gilbert A. Harrison, and William Bayard Okie. The three were writers for the college newspaper The Daily Bruin, and they formed the press after a visit to Hollywood writer William Saroyan. Harrison had begun corresponding with Gertrude Stein in 1933, met her in Pasadena during her 1934-1935 American tour, and visited Stein and Alice B. Toklas in Paris in 1937. This relationship led to the publication of Stein's work What Are Masterpieces? by the Conference Press in 1940. Harrison went on to become editor-in-chief of The New Republic magazine. He also wrote and edited books on literature, among them Gertrude Stein's America and Staying on Alone: Letters of Alice B. Toklas.
UCLA faculty member and Stein bibliographer Robert Bartlett Haas wrote the introduction to Stein's book and seems to have been involved in the publication and distribution process. Book designer Ward Ritchie was a major figure in the fine printing movement in California.
Collection Overview
The collection consists of the publishers' archive for Gertrude Stein's What Are Masterpieces? (Los Angeles: Conference Press, 1940). It includes the original typescript, various galley proofs and production materials, and a few letters of correspondence between Stein, Alice B. Toklas, and publishers Hal Levy, Gilbert Harrison, and William Bayard Okie; and material from Stein bibliographer Robert Bartlett Haas. The collection also includes several Stein manuscript fragments and notes, offprints, reviews, and other Stein ephemera, mostly related to her 1934-1935 American tour. Other materials include Conference Press correspondence from 1936-1946, relating to Stein's book, William Saroyan's Three Times Three, and other publications.
Collection Arrangement
The collection is arranged into four series: Series 1. Conference Press correspondence; Series 2. Conference Press purchase orders; Series 3. Publishers' archives, What Are Masterpieces?; Series 4. Review clippings; and Series 5. Stein, Gertrude, writings and related materials.
Controlled Access Headings
Corporate Names
Personal Names
- Haas, Robert Bartlett
- Harrison, Gilbert A.
- Levy, Hal, 1916-1970
- Okie, William Bayard
- Ritchie, Ward, 1905-1996
- Saroyan, William, 1908-1981
- Stein, Gertrude, 1874-1946
- Toklas, Alice B.
Subjects
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Finding aid prepared by Processed and encoded by Megan Mulder, 2009
- Revision Description
- Revised by Stephanie Bennett, 2019
- Access Restrictions
- Collection is open for researchers.
- Copyright Notice
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Gertrude Stein and Conference Press Collection (MS586), Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.