Archives West Finding Aid

Bowman's colorful and wide-ranging career as an author and, briefly, as a politician, are documented in articles and clippings about him. The series includes both loose clippings and clippings assembled into two scrapbooks (Box 1, Folders 16-18). The "Treasure Scrapbook" is devoted principally to Bowman's legislative service (1915) and his dispatches from the Mexican border (1916); the other scrapbook mainly to his World War I fundraising and his literary career. The 1920 interview in The Red Chevron (Box 1, Folder 10) is rich in early biographical detail, and, as a veterans magazine, recounts in particular his war work on the Liberty Loan and war savings stamp campaigns. Much of the material in this series is in photocopy form. Originals have been preserved elsewhere in the collection. Quite a few of the papers have been annotated by Bowman's daughter Gladys Bowman Knight. More photos of Bowman are located in Series 9, Oversize.

Not much of Bowman's correspondence has been preserved, save for approximately 80 typewritten letters he wrote between 1917 and 1926 to fellow writer Agnes Just Reid in Shelley, Idaho. He addressed her as "Range Cayuse" - from the title of her first book of poems - and signed his letters "Ramblin' Kid." Written from Boise, New York, Arizona, southern California, and Tacoma, Washington, Bowman's letters include descriptions of his activities as publicity director for Idaho's World War I bond campaign, life and work in Greenwich Village and his neighborhood just off Washington Square, work on The Ramblin' Kid in New York and Idaho, interactions with publishers, later writing in California, and the making of his stories into movies. He occasionally mentions his New York friends, Rose Pastor Stokes and her husband James Graham Phelps Stokes, and Methodist minister and Golden Trail contributor J.D. Gillilan. And although there are no letters from Agnes Just Reid in the collection, Bowman often comments on her work and activities.

These files contain examples of Bowman's writings for newspapers. Most of the editorials in Folder 30 are unsigned and unidentified, but Gladys Bowman Knight attributes them to her father and says they came from the Advance, in Council Idaho. This series contains several of Bowman's dispatches from the Mexican border in 1916; many other articles can be found in his Treasure Scrapbook (Box 1, Folders 16 and 17).

This series contains Bowman's stories featuring the characters Solemn Johnson and Dirty Shirt Smith, two old Western prospectors, in both typescript and published form. Titles represented by typescripts are so indicated; published articles are indicated by the name of the magazine and the date of publication. Because of the fragility of the original papers, these are photocopies; originals are preserved elsewhere in the collection.

Like the Solemn Johnson and Dirty Shirt Smith stories, both typescripts and photocopies of published versions of these stories are present in this series.

Bowman mentions his "Papa Goose" rhymes (Folder 51) occasionally in his letters to Agnes Just Reid. They evidently were published in a number of newspapers across the country.

In 1938 and 1939, Earl Wayland Bowman compiled life histories and stories for the Folklore Project of the Federal Writers' Project (U.S. Work Projects Administration). These are typescripts of two sets of stories; one set narrated by Harry Reece, the other by William D. Naylor. Bowman headed the stories "American Folkstuff." Bowman apparently was in New York at the time, for his informants were New Yorkers and he records his address as 86 West 12th St., New York. The Library of Congress has published versions of most of these stories, along with biographical information about Reece and Naylor not found in the collection, on their American Memory website, American Life Histories: Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940. (Search for Bowman).

Reece's stories were of Uncle Steve Robertson's experiences in the Idaho outback. Documents at the Library of Congress filed by Bowman along with the interviews identify Reece as a native of Illinois, about 55 years of age, who spent time in the West around cowboys and was at the time of Bowman's interviews the operator of a bookstore at 63 Washington Square South. Bowman says he had known him for about ten years. He indentifies William D. Naylor as a New York native who traveled with Doc Porter's Kickapoo Indian Medicine Show on the carnival circuit in the 1890s. Naylor's stories are of his experiences with the show.

The Library of Congress website also reproduces several interviews by Bowman with other persons not represented in the collection at Boise State.

Earl Wayland Bowman wrote at least four novels, two of which were published: The Ramblin' Kid (Bobbs-Merrill, 1920) and Solemn Johnson Plus (Grosset and Dunlap, 1928). Both are represented here in typescript. In addition, this series contains copies of the serialized version of The Ramblin' Kid as well as reviews and publicity. Copies of Bowman's two published novels as well as Arrowrock, the collection of his verse and stories published by Caxton Printers in 1931, have been cataloged separately for the book collection of the Special Collections Department. Additional materials relating to The Ramblin' Kid can be found in Series 9, Oversize items.

Two unpublished novels are found in Box 5. They are quite unlike Bowman's usual work. He described "Issmir Will Sing Again" as an "American romance novel." It is the story of a young child stolen by Gypsies from her Southern home. "Autobiography of a Worm" is a whimsical vehicle Bowman used to explore philosophical and religious themes and notions of civilization. Neither typescript is dated, though Bowman gave his address on the title pages of both as Los Angeles.

This series contains the original magazines in which many of Earl Wayland Bowman's stories and poems were published. Most of the issues are here in full; but many are represented only by their covers and the pages with Earl Wayland Bowman's stories, which Gladys Bowman Knight extracted from the magazine. Photocopies of these stories can be found in Series 4 and 5.