Ray B. West papers
Scope and Contents
This sixty-nine box collection contains the papers of Ray B. West, Jr. spanning the time period of 1926 to 1990. His papers consist of correspondence, diaries, personal papers, professional papers, and both published and unpublished writings. This collection contains papers concerning West’s term as editor of the Western Review and correspondence with numerous literary figures. This collection also contains drafts of West’s 1,500 page unpublished autobiography entitled "My Share of the Twentieth Century." The researcher should also be aware that West’s ‘notebooks’ in Boxes 1-2a contain both writings and scattered diary entries, however the bulk of the materials in his notebooks are writings. The material in this collection has been organized topically and chronologically.
Inventory at a glance:
- Boxes 1-2a; Diaries, notebooks, and missionary papers.
- Boxes 3-14: Correspondence
- Boxes 15-54 Writings, poetry, and drafts.
- Boxes 55-58: Lecture notes and university papers.
- Boxes 59-63: Writings, poetry, drafts, Western Review papers, and other.
- Boxes 64-67: Drafts of autobiography.
Dates
- 1920-1965
Language of Materials
Material in English
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.
Conditions Governing Use
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Ray B. West Papers must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator and/or the Special Collections Department Head.
Biographical Note
Ray Benedict West, Jr. was born July 30, 1908 in Logan, Utah the son of Ray B. West, Sr. and Mary Selina Morrell West. In his youth he attended the common schools of the area and graduated from Logan High School in 1926. In 1927 West was called by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve as a missionary in Germany where he proselyted from 1927 to 1930. After completing his missionary service, West returned to Logan, Utah and enrolled in the Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University). From the USAC he received a B.S. in English in 1933 and he then enrolled in the University of Utah, earning a M.A. in English by 1935. In 1937 West took a teaching job at the College of Southern Utah where he taught English for three years. In 1941 he transferred to Weber College, Utah and taught English there for two years and during the 1943-1944 year he taught at the University of Montana. During this period West had been working toward earning a Ph.D. in English from the State University of Iowa and in 1945 he was awarded a Ph.D. West specialized in creative writing and Western literature.
After his graduation from the State University of Iowa, West taught English at the Utah State Agricultural College from 1945 to 1946, the University of Kansas from 1946 to 1949, the State University of Iowa from 1949 to 1959, and then at San Francisco State College from 1959 to 1973. During his career he also taught English as a visiting professor to numerous universities, some of which included University of Innsbruck, Austria, University of Ankara, Turkey, and Queens College, New York. West was the founder of The Western Review (also known as Intermountain Review, Rocky Mountain Reader, and Rocky Mountain Review) and served as its editor until from 1936 to 1959. He was also the author of many articles and a number of books. Some of his books include Rocky Mountain Stories (1941), The Art of Modern Fiction(1949), Essays in Modern Literary Criticism (1952), The Short Story in America (1952), Kingdom of the Saints (1957), and The Art of Writing Fiction (1967).
In 1974 West retired and returned to Logan, Utah where he lived for a short time until moving to Santaquin, Utah. West died on April 6, 1990 in Santaquin, Utah.
Extent
67 boxes (30 linear feet)
Abstract
Contains correspondence, diaries, personal papers, professional papers, and both published and unpublished writings.
Arrangement
Organized into three series: I. Biographical and personal material, including diaries, journals and class notebooks; II. Correspondence, both personal and professional; III. Drafts from novels and short stories.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The materials that comprise this collection were donated to USU Special Collections & Archives by Ray B. West, Jr. in 1982 and by the Ray B. West, Jr. family in 1991.
Processing Information
Processed in December of 2005.
- Title
- Guide to the Ray B. West papers 1920-1965
- Author
- Finding aid/Register created by Special Collections & Archives
- Date
- ©2011
- Description rules
- Finding Aid Based On Dacs (Describing Archives: A Content Standard, 2nd Edition)
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid encoded in English.
Revision Statements
- 2009: Template information was updated to reflect Archives West best practice guidelines.
Repository Details
Part of the Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives Repository
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
3000 Old Main Hill
Logan Utah 84322-3000 United States
435 797-8248
435 797-2880 (Fax)
scweb@usu.edu