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Gallery VIII
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things were fundamentally important to Ernest Haycox when he wrote about
the West. The first was familiarity with the real-life areas he used
as settings for his stories. He would visit a place, absorb the details
of the topography and ambience, and translate this information into
his story. The second was historical accuracy. In the 1920s, Haycox
published a story about the Revolutionary War and included descriptions
of the soldiers' uniforms. When he received a letter from a reader,
he was appalled to find that his description was not accurate. At this
early point in his career, Haycox began purchasing books on the West,
developing his own personal research library. Over the years that collection
grew to over 2,000 books and periodicals, many of which are rare or
scarce. Among the gems are the 1880 photographic Panorama of Portland,
taken by Albert Wulzen, Joseph Gaston's Portland: Its History and
Builders (1911); Clinton Snowden's History of Washington
(1909); Theodore Winthrop's The Canoe and the Saddle (1913);
Andy Adams' The Log of a Cowboy: The Narrative of the Old Trail Days
(1931); Frances Fuller Victor's The River of the West (1870);
and Thomas L. McKenney's multi-volume History of the Indian Tribes
of North America (1870).
In 1960 Jill Haycox, the widow of Ernest, offered the collection as
a gift to the University Library, and arrangements were made to create
a special room to house the collection, which is formally called the
"Ernest Haycox Memorial Library." The collection receives consistent
use each year by scholars. As a part of the holdings in the Division
of Special Collections and University Archives, the collection is
non-circulating and receives special care, including storage in
climate-controlled stacks.
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