Guide to the Leland D. Baldwin Papers c1930-1981
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Leland D. Baldwin Papers
- Creator
- Baldwin, Leland D.
- Collection Number
- MSS 028
- Extent
- 2.0 linear feet (4 boxes)
- Date
- c1930-1981
- Abstract
- Leland Dewitt Baldwin was a western Pennsylvania native and professor at the University of Pittsburgh who wrote numerous books about the history of western Pennsylvania and the city of Pittsburgh. The Leland D. Baldwin Papers consist almost exclusively of single draft manuscript copies of unpublished works written by Baldwin, most of which is historical fiction.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This collection has been made accessible as part of an NHPRC-funded Basic Processing grant.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
History
Leland D. Baldwin was born in Fairchance, Fayette County, Pennsylvania on November 23, 1897. Baldwin attended Greenville College where he earned his B.A. degree and then moved on to the University of Michigan where he obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. in American history. He started his academic career as a high school history teacher at Crafton High School in Pittsburgh. In 1932, he became involved in the Western Pennsylvania Historical Survey, which was sponsored by the Buhl Foundation and undertaken by the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. While working on the project, the survey produced ten books in the late 1920s and 1930s on the history of the Pittsburgh region. Baldwin continued to write books throughout the rest of his life including Pittsburgh: the Story of a City (1937), Whiskey Rebels: The Story of a Frontier Uprising (1938), and Reframing the Constitution: An Imperative for Modern America (1972). By 1935, Baldwin was a lecturer at the University of Pittsburgh in the history department. He acted as the University librarian from 1940-1942, but left during World War II when he joined the United States Air Force, earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After the war, he returned to the University of Pittsburgh as an associate professor. Baldwin gained full professorship in 1955 and would continue to teach at Pittsburgh until 1961 when he earned the title of emeritus professor. After his retirement, he and his wife, Ruth Glosser Baldwin, moved to southern California, where he continued to lecture as a visiting professor at the University of California - Santa Barbara. Baldwin died on March 9, 1981 in Santa Barbara, California.
Scope and Content Notes
The Leland D. Baldwin Papers consist almost exclusively of single draft manuscript copies of unpublished works written by Baldwin, most of which is historical fiction. Works of fiction and non-fiction have been separated, with the fiction arranged first. Box 1 contains biographical materials and the manuscripts of The Lightning and the Sceptre, The Drums Draw Near, and The Fourteenth Fire. Box 2 contains the manuscripts of The Delectable Country (both long and short versions) and Greenbay or the Reivers. The short and long version of The Delectable Country are screenplay adaptations of the published novel. Box 3 contains A Gentleman of No Consequence and Staff Captains Never Die as well as the nonfiction work The Old Northwest. Box 4 contains The Tides of Modern Civilization as well as other miscellaneous materials dating from 1933-1939 such as transcripts of radio addresses given by Baldwin in the 1930s, "Does History have a Value to the Community?" and "the Role of the Whiskey Insurrection in National History."
Conditions Governing Access
None.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift from Estate of Leland Baldwin in 1981.
Archives accession # 1981.xxxx
Preferred Citation
Leland D. Baldwin Papers, c1930-1981, MSS 028 , Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
Preliminary processing by Meghan Hall on 02/07/2013.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Subjects
- Baldwin, Leland D.
- Franklin, Benjamin
- Historians -- Pennsylvania –- Pittsburgh
- Historical fiction -- Pennsylvania -- Pittsburgh
- Historical fiction -- World War, 1939-1945
- Pittsburgh (Pa.) -- History -- Fiction