Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1445

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

21 linear feet (45 boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

William Steig papers, circa 1907-2002 (bulk: 1950s-2000), Ms. Coll. 1445, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

circa 1907-2002 (inclusive) and 1950-2000 (bulk)

Creator:

Steig, William

Form:

Correspondence, Writings (document genre), Drawings (visual works), Financial records, Promotional materials, Audiovisual materials, and Audiocassettes

Abstract:

William Steig (1907-2003) was an American cartoonist, illustrator, and writer of children's books. In 1930, Steig began a long and fruitful relationship with The New Yorker, for which he produced more than 2,600 drawings and 117 covers. When he was sixty-one, Steig began writing children's books, including Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969), Dominic (1972), Doctor De Soto (1982), and Shrek! (1990), the basis for the DreamWorks animated film of the same name. This collection includes 45 boxes of material, including correspondence; personal and professional records; drafts of Steig's writings; financial records; press, promotional material, and material from exhibits; awards Steig received; and original artwork, including original ink and watercolor drawings and work that would later appear in the New Yorker. There is also ephemera related to the movie Shrek, as well as personal artifacts, such as Steig's brushes and pens.

William Steig (1907-2003) was an American cartoonist, illustrator, and writer of children's books. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in the Bronx. His father, Joseph Steig, was a house painter, and his mother, Laura Ebel Steig was a seamstress; both Polish-Jewish immigrants from Austria and Socialists. His brother Irwin was a journalist and a painter, his brother Henry was a writer who painted and played the saxophone, and his brother Arthur was a writer and poet. Steig graduated from Townsend Harris High School at 15, but never completed college, sporadically attending City College of New York, the National Academy of Design, and the Yale School of Art. In 1930, Steig began a long and fruitful relationship with The New Yorker, for which he produced more than 2,600 drawings and 117 covers. When he was sixty-one, Steig began writing children's books. His third book, Sylvester and the Magic Pebble (1969) won the Caldecott Medal, and he continued writing into his nineties, producing more than thirty books, including Dominic (1972), Doctor De Soto (1982), and Shrek! (1990), the basis for the DreamWorks animated film of the same name.

Steig married four times and had three children. From 1936 to 1949, Steig was married to the educator and artist Elizabeth Mead Steig, with whom he had a son, Jeremy Steig, and a daughter Lucinda, before divorcing. He married Karl Homestead in 1950, with whom he had a daughter, Margit Laura (professionally known as Maggie Steig), before divorcing. He was married to Stephanie Healey from 1964 to 1966. His final marriage to Jeanne Doron lasted the rest of his life.

In addition to his artistic and literary work, for much of his adult life Steig was a devoted proponent of the work of Wilhelm Reich, the radical Austrian psychologist who believed in "orgone energy," a biological or cosmic energy which Reich claimed could solve health problems, including cancer. Steig wrote and illustrated material related to Reich's work, and although Reich was accused of fraud and later arrested, Steig continued to publicly support Reich and the concept of "orgone energy" throughout his life.

Steig died of old age in Boston, Massachusetts, on October 3, 2003, at the age of 95.

This collection contains a wide variety of material related to Steig's life and work, though it is weighted towards the professional side. It includes correspondence; notebooks; personal and professional records; drafts of Steig's writings; financial records; press, promotional material, and material from exhibits; awards Steig received; and original artwork, including original ink and watercolor drawings and work that would later appear in the New Yorker. There is also ephemera related to the movie Shrek, as well as personal artifacts, such as Steig's brushes and pens. Finally, there is an additional series of material not included in the original gift which was purchased to complement the archive, and which includes proof copies of some of Steig's books.

While the correspondence is primarily professional in nature, and not very personally revealing, the drafts of journal entries from Steig's life in the 1950s and 60s document a period of transition in his life and work and recollections from his childhood. In addition, the material related to Steig and his brother Arthur documents a close, intellectually intimate relationship. Of the greatest immediate interest, however, are the more than two thousand pieces of original artwork, which make up around a third of the collection material. In addition, the writings which Steig produced under the direction of Wilhelm Reich, the controversial (and later discredited) Austrian psychiatrist who Steig considered a visionary thinker, may be of interest to a researcher seeking to understand Reich's small but notable influence on American artistic and philosophical thought in the post-WWII era.

For more detailed information, see series notes.