12
Authors Flourish
By Loretta O. Fisher,
Oregon State Library
The opinion has been given that
Oregon, and Portland in particular,
ranks high as a writing center. Some
authorities have estimated that, if such
statistics were abailable for compari
son, Oregon’s number of publishing
authors in proportion to the popula
tion would place it third or fourth in.
the nation.
Whatever the actual rank may be,
we at the State Library have been
amazed at the enormous number of
Oregon writers we have located, and
believe there are many more unknown
to us.
As a part of a project of the Pacific
Northwest Library Association for
gathering data on current Ñorthwea l
writers, the State Library has since
the first of May sent out 400 question
naires to Oregon authors known to
have had material published. To date
214 forms have been completed by the
writers and returned to the State L ib
rary which has been made the Oregon
center for collection and deposit of the
authors’ data. We have had excellent
cooperation from the writers on this
project and feel that eventually a large
portion of the completed question
naires w ill be returned to us.
Through the work of a committee, a
collection center was selected for each
state and province in the Pacific L ib
rary Association (Oregon, Washington,
Idaho, Montana and British Columbia)
and a questionnaire compiled to be
sent to all the authors. I The Oregon
State Library was issued 100 copies of
the questionnaire, but we immediately
realized that we would need many
more for our numerous authors.
Oregon State Library was the logical
collection center for Oregon, since this
library has for many years maintained
an Oregon author collection of books
and an index to available biagraphical
information. Too, the State Library
compiles the Who’s Who of Oregon
Authors for the Oregon Blue Book.
A ll completed questionnaires, photo
graphs and other material, submitted
by Oregon authors, w ill be kept on
file in the Orégon Statelfiÿyàry. How
ever, the name of each author, from
whom we have received a question
naire, w ill be sent to the Pacific
Northwest Bibliographic Center in
Seattle, so that there w ill be a record
of information available latæ M i center.
Three items on the questionnaire on
which librarians of the Northwest felt
special need for information, because
these things might well be reflected in
their writing, were birth place and
occupation of the authors and birth
place of their parents.
A good many of the authors, as in
dicated on the questionnaire, write
only as a hobby or to supplement their
income. But many report that writing
is their occupation. This includes au
thors whose works appear frequently
in national publications, such as Satur
day Evening Post, American Mercury,
American Magazine and Readers D i
gest. Among this group is Robert Or
mond Case, who has recently had a
serial in Saturday Evening Post; his
sister, Victoria I Case, the brothers
Hawkins, John and Ward; Steve Mc
Neil; Stewart Holbrook; Roderick Lull;
and Richard Neuberger, who is also a
state senator.
Several Oregon housewives have re
ceived national recognition for their
books. Ardyth Kennelly of Portland,
who is Mrs. Egon V. Ullman in private
life, wrote The Peaceable Kingdom
which appeared on the “ Best Sellers”
list of 1949. Her second novel, The
Spur, was published this spring.
Martha Ferguson McKeown, who
lives on a ranch near Hood River, has
reported the adventures of her “ Uncle
Mont” in Them W as the Days and The