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Leslie Hunter Whitten Papers
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Held at: Lehigh University Special Collections [Contact Us] Lehigh University, Linderman Library, 30 Library Drive, Bethlehem, PA 18045
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Lehigh University Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Born on February 21, 1928 in Jacksonville Florida, Leslie Hunter Whitten was a Hearst newspaper reporter for the Washington Post, an associate on Jack Anderson's newspaper column, and accomplished novelist. He graduated from Lehigh University in 1950.
Letters, documents, notes, photographs, etc. relating to Les Whitten's early years, schooling, and work as a Hearst reporter, Jack Anderson associate, and novelist. Includes correspondence with parents through college and military service, and letters to his family. Also material relating to novel writing, including drafts, research notes, and correspondence with publishers; to work with the Hearst newspapers, including reporter's notes, clippings, and research materials; and to work with columnist Jack Anderson, including research material, column offprints, and documents released under Freedom of Information Act by FBI and CIA.
The materials of this collection are arranged chronologically in publication order.
SERIES I; PERSONAL: 10 Boxes
This series includes family correspondence, early school report cards, many photographs, articles, reviews of his books, scrapbooks of articles he wrote, and other miscellaneous personal material from Whitten's youth up to the present time.
SERIES II; BOOKS, POETRY, and SHORT STORIES: 41 Boxes
This series includes research material, drafts, typescripts and galleys, mostly of Whitten's novels, but including some short stories and poetry, arranged in publication order.
SERIES III; REPORTER: 65 Boxes
This material is mostly clippings of articles Whitten wrote for the Heart newspapers, plus some research material he saved.
This material includes many documents listed under the same headings used by Whitten, plus a complete set of "Merry-Go-Round" columns written during the years that he was employed by Jack Anderson. Categories include Accuracy in Media; American Association of Retired Persons; Banks; Consumers; Animals; Crime; Department of Defense; Drugs; Energy; Farms; Guns; Foreign; Health; Indians; Insurance; Intelligence Agencies; Oil; Patents; Payola; Pensions; Payoffs; People; Politics; Pollution; Power; Prisons; Radiation; Religion; Stocks; Smithsonian Institution; Miscellaneous; and Whitten.
SERIES IV: 1991 additions Mostly literary mansucripts
SERIES V: 2009 additions Mostly literary manuscripts
Gift of Leslie Whitten, 1990. 1 carton (turned into 3 manuscript boxes) added 2/4/2009, donated by Les Whitten.
Library also has copies of Whitten's published novels and poetry, cataloged separately, including review copies and translations.
Documents and a set of slides (photographer H. Scott Heist) related to events he attended at Lehigh University. The Lehigh material removed and cataloged separately.
People
- Anderson, Jack, 1922-2005
- Lauder, Ronald S.
- Highwater, Jamake
- Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994
- Thurnbull, Bill
Organization
Subject
Place
Occupation
- Publisher
- Lehigh University Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid created in December 2, 1996 -- ArchivesSpace migration by Amanda Anglemeyer, September 2017.
- Access Restrictions
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Collection housed remotely. Users need to contact 24 hours in advance.
- Please inquire about copyright information.
- Use Restrictions
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Collection is open for research.
Collection Inventory
Three early manuscripts of Terror at Morning Tide.
This story became Moon of the Wolf.
(These are original research files as Whitten kept them, using his headings; 2 boxes).
These are original research files as Whitten kept them, using his headings. Box 2 of 2 on the same subject.
Early titles for The Alchemist
This is the first title of Conflict of Interest.
The first title of Sometimes A Hero.
(According to Whitten, although this book's author is given as Ronald S. Lauder, much of it was written by Les Whitten, and he was paid $32,000 for the writing that he did.)
(The material in the following boxes is arranged using the same terms Whitten used. There is no date order in this material, although some of the correspondence is dated.)
(This box contains material pertaining to a man named Jamake. Highwater, alias Gregory Marks Markopoulos, an actor and writer.).
(Includes printed reports from the Office of Research and Develop- ment.)
(These clippings are not in date order and are in very fragile condition.)
Additional material was donated by Mr. Whitten in February 1991. It includes personal correspondence, mentions, articles, etc. (Boxes 117, 118); three drafts of A Killing Pace, published in 1983 (Boxes 119-121); and eight drafts of The Lost Disciple: The Book of Demas, published in 1989 (Boxes 122-128).
Following material sent by Les Whitten in February 4, 2009, and consists mostly of book reviews, manuscripts, and drafts of publications; and documents and a set of slides related to events he attended at Lehigh University. The Lehigh material removed and cataloged separately.