William Fifield Papers
Scope and Contents
The William Fifield papers contains publications, audio recordings, memorabilia, photographs, films and other materials from the collections of author William Fifield.
Dates
- Creation: 1925-2000
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Biographical Note
William Fifield was a noted author of both fiction and nonfiction. He won an O.Henry short-story prize in 1942, and published In Search of Genius, a collection of interviews with people he considered geniuses, including Picasso, Cocteau, Miro, Dali and Robert Graves, He also published The Devil's Marchioness, a novel based on the life of a notorious seventeenth-century poisoner, the Marquise de Brinvilliers; The Sign of Taurus, a novel set in Mexico about a Jewish refugee; Modigliani, a biography with interviews with members of the artist's family. He also recorded conversations with such luminaries as Marcel Marceau and famed French artist Jean Cocteau, and wrote extensively for publication in magazines such as Harpers. He also wrote about 130 radio and television plays.
Born in Chicago in 1916, Mr. Fifield was raised in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Seattle, Washington. He was a magna cum laude graduate of Whitman College in 1937, serving as student body president and he won honors in extemporaneous speaking. While working in Hollywood as a scriptwriter, he began publishing short stories in national magazines. In 1950, he moved to Europe to become a full-time writer, and lived there for nearly forty years. He died in 1987 at the age of 71.
Extent
.5 Linear Feet (1 document box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The William Fifield papers contains publications, audio recordings, memorabilia, photographs, films and other materials from the collections of author William Fifield '37.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated to the Whitman College and Northwest Archives by William Fifield in 1987 and Donnali Fifield in 2009. The accession number is 2009-001.
Topical
- Title
- Guide to the William Fifield Papers
- Author
- Christine Berg and Bill Huntington
- Date
- 2010
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Whitman College and Northwest Archives Repository