April 22, 2010, Filed Under: Authors, Research + TeachingCorporal Dashiell Hammett’s "The Battle of the Aleutians: A Graphic History, 1942–1943" A few weeks ago, the Ransom Center received as a gift an unusual volume to add to our holdings of hard-boiled detective writer Dashiell Hammett (1894–1961). Kevin Berger, a journalist from New York, donated this booklet, which Hammett wrote for the U.S. military while he was stationed in the Aleutian… read more
March 8, 2010, Filed Under: Authors, Books + ManuscriptsInfinite Possibilities: A first glimpse into David Foster Wallace’s library Approximately 200 books from David Foster Wallace’s library arrived at the Ransom Center with his papers. When the staff unpacked the collection to check its condition, we could see immediately that the library was not simply a supplement to the archive but an essential part of it. Wallace annotated many… read more
February 25, 2010, Filed Under: Authors, Research + TeachingJ. D. Salinger at the Harry Ransom Center When Jerome David Salinger died in January, he had been dodging fans and journalists for more than 40 years. Salinger rose to prominence in the mid-1950s, an era of media expansion in which writers became celebrities, and in which celebrity itself could shape an entire literary career. Like many young… read more
