Call Number:

RG6.R3.005

Repository:

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College

Extent:

2.25 linear ft. (4 document boxes and 3 flat boxes)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item or series here], James A. Michener ('29) Papers, RG6/R3/005, Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College.

Date:

1890-2012 (inclusive)

Creator:

Michener, James A. (James Albert), 1907-1997 and Swarthmore College. Communications Office

Abstract:

James A. Michener (1907-1997, Swarthmore College class of 1929) was a bestselling American author of more than four dozen books. His first, Tales of the South Pacific and published when he was 40, won the Pulitzer Prize. The bulk of this collection is clippings about James A. Michener and foreign stamps collected by him.

James A. Michener (1907-1997) was a bestselling American author of more than four dozen books. His first, Tales of the South Pacific and published when he was 40, won the Pulitzer Prize. Michener received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and honorary doctorates in five fields.

Michener was born in New York City, but after being abandoned by his birth parents, he was adopted by a Quaker widow named Mabel Michener and raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

Michener attended Swarthmore College on a scholarship, graduating in 1929. He maintained a life-long relationship with the school and received an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Swarthmore in 1954. He was a generous donor to the College, donating approximately $7 million during his lifetime, in addition to leaving his estate and literary rights and royalties to Swarthmore.

The bulk of this collection is clippings about James A. Michener and stamps collected by him. The clippings document Michener's life and career, with a focus on his relationship to Swarthmore College, particularly several large donations he gave to the college. There are four albums and 25 loose pages of stamps collected by Michener from Australia, Hong Kong, Laos, Malaysia, Hungary, Japan, Pakistan, Wallis, and other locations. The international nature of the stamps likely reflects Michener's interests and travel, including to some of the locations featured in his books. Lastly, the collection contains a small amount of Swarthmore College correspondence by and about James A. Michener (primarily relating to his donations), and the text of a speech he delivered at the college about taxes and philanthropy.

Note that the Swarthmore College Rare Book Room also holds James Michener materials, which are stored separately and considered a separate collection.

The collection is organized into three series:

Series
1. Correspondence and Writings
2. Clippings
3. Stamp collection