Includes: 18 typed letters from Ansel Adams to Wallace Stegner. 16 of these are signed, and many also have additions, corrections and flourishes in his hand. Of the unsigned letters, one is initialed by Adams’ secretary, and the other is possibly a partial letter, missing the second, signed sheet. Two of the letters are on postcards, one with envelope. * Collection of material relating to the New York Graphic Society book Ansel Adams Images 1923-1974, which contained a foreword by Stegner. The collection includes two typed letters to Stegner, signed by Adams; two typed letters to Stegner signed by Nancy Newhall and a typed note signed by Beaumont Newhall; the typed manuscript of the foreword with ink corrections (13 of the 18 pages only are present); and a carbon of the typed foreword, all 18 pages, with just one ink correction. * Material relating to a “joint appearance” by Ansel Adams and Wallace Stegner at Stanford University in the fall of 1982, where they conversed on conservation, politics, and artistic expression. There are four typed letters signed from Adams to Stegner, plus lists of questions and topics to be discussed, and a few related items.
Important archive of correspondence and related materials between these two giant figures, the master of landscape photography and the groundbreaking novelist and man of letters, both ardent conservationists. The letters from Ansel Adams to Wallace Stegner demonstrate both warmth and respect, and an intimacy borne of common views on the protection of nature and the evolving political climate in California and the United States. In the first letter (dated January 6th, 1862, but undoubtedly 1963), Adams congratulates Stegner on Wolf Willow, which he has just been reading, “twice, in fact! It is an absolutely supurb [sic] job! For some reason which I – as a non-critic and non-literatuer, - may dare to say, I think this is your greatest work…” On December 19th, 1964, he turns to matters concerning the Sierra Club, “I am frankly disturbed about the Sierra Club and the general attitude and ‘habits’ of the senior conservation groups. The Save-the-Redwoods League has let Russell Butcher go – too imaginative, I guess, - and we were not able to manage a job for him in the Sierra Club…” In August of 1976, having just returned from Europe, Adams’ thoughts turn to politics, “I come home to a Bicentennial hangover which is a little shameful. Also a political situation which seems to be unique to a non-historian. Carter seems the only possible answer. I would not feel too crushed if Ford got in because I think he is, at least, of honest intention. Reagan would be a catastrophe. In Scotland we spoke of the Loch Ness Reagan! The Parks are in limbo; there has to be a major overhaul there. Great concepts go begging. STEGNER FOR PRESIDENT!” Six years later, in April of 1982, his concerns continue, “This is a crucial year for Environmentalism and Environmentalists… We MUST achieve a strong majority in both Houses of Congress if there is to be any hope of controlling our President and his Gang of Four (plus)…” The materials relating to the Stegner foreword to Ansel Adams Images are significant, showing the working partnership of the two in the process of publication. And the final archive, surrounding their appearance at Stanford, is highly revealing, demonstrating the mature reasoning and temperament of the two, each a genius in his field, as they consider issues ranging from photographic and literary techniques to conservation and political expression.