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Finding Aid for the Lately Thomas [Robert V. Steele] Collection, 1944-1975


MS-0831

University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN


Encoded by: Elizabeth Dunham, September 27, 2006.

Summary Information
Title: Lately Thomas [Robert V. Steele] Collection

Date/Date Range :   1944-1975

Extent: 2.0 linear feet

Abstract:
This collection houses correspondence, photographs, notebooks, and manuscripts documenting three of Lately Thomas' works: Storming Heaven (1970), A Pride of Lions (1971), and When Even Angels Wept: the Senator Joseph McCarthy affair (1973).

Call number: MS-0831

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Access and Use
Aquisition Information:
This collection is property of the University of Tennessee Special Collections Library.
Access Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Copyright:
The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of Item], Lately Thomas [Robert V. Steele] Collection, MS-0831. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Arrangement

Collection consists of two boxes divided into two series:

  1. Series I: Correspondence, Photographs, Notebooks
  2. Series II: Notebooks, Manuscripts, and Miscellaneous

Biography / History

Robert V. Steele was born in 1898 in Waterbury, Connecticut. His father was a Methodist minister and later a general church officer. Steele briefly served in the U.S. Marine Corps (1918-1919), but did not see overseas action. In 1955, he was employed by the Los Angeles Times. In this position he began investigating the career of Aimee Semple McPherson. The story of her 1926 "so-called kidnapping affair" was told in Steele's book The Vanishing Evangelist (1959). This publication also marked the first time Steele used the pseudonym "Lately Thomas."


Collection Scope and Content Note

This collection houses correspondence, photographs, notebooks, and manuscripts documenting three of Lately Thomas' works: Storming Heaven (1970), A Pride of Lions (1971), and When Even Angels Wept: the Senator Joseph McCarthy affair (1973).

Interested researchers may also wish to consult UTK-MS-0700: The Robert V. Steele / Lately Thomas Papers.

Subject Terms

  • Astor family.
  • McCarthy, Joseph, 1908-1957.
  • Thomas, Lately.
  • McPherson, Aimee Semple, 1890-1944.
  • Kennedy, Minnie, 1871-1947.
  • Authors, American -- Tennessee.
Contents List
   

Series I: Correspondence, Photographs, and Notebooks, 1962-1975
Box   1     Folder   1    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and M. F. K. Fisher, 1964-1969.
Box   1     Folder   2    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and M. F. K. Fisher, 1963 July 28-1964 June 10.
Box   1     Folder   3    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and M. F. K. Fisher, 1972 October 30-1970 March 20
Box   1     Folder   4    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and M. F. K. Fisher, 1972 April 28-1975 January 28
Box   1     Folder   5    
McCarthy Correspondence. General Correspondence between Lately Thomas and various publishers and people who read When Even Angels Wept , 1969 October 18-1973 September 7
Box   1     Folder   6    
Permissions to use copyrighted material from books already written on McCarthy Requests for permission made by Lately Thomas, 1972 February 15-1972 May 15
Box   1     Folder   7    
Rosaland Russell Correspondence. Correspondence between Lately Thomas and Rosaland Russell concerning Aimee Semple McPherson, 1969 April 10-1973 January 1
Box   1     Folder   8    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and Julia Ward Stickley, 1962 July 14-1968 November 13
Box   1     Folder   9    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and Julia Ward Stickley, 1962 March 5-1962 May 16
Box   1     Folder   10    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and Julia Ward Stickley, 1969 June 20-1975 February 1
Box   1     Folder   11    
Miscellaneous correspondence, 1973 January 31-1975 January 16
Box   1     Folder   12    
Houghton Miffin Co. Correspondence, 1969 September 18-1972 March 1
Box   1     Folder   13    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and Alden Whitman, 1971 September 17-1974 December 20
Box   1     Folder   14    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and Leonard C. Levinson, 1973 January 31-1974 December 22
Box   1     Folder   15    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and Wallace Hebbard, 1971 April 30-1974 May 13
Box   1     Folder   16    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and Ed Orloff, 1970 June 7-1970 January 2
Box   1     Folder   17    
Correspondence between Lately Thomas and Donna Shor, 1971 December 13-1974 January 28
Box   1     Folder   18    
Photographs of Aimee Semple McPherson, undated
Box   1     Folder   19    
Photographs of Aimee Semple McPherson, undated
Box   1     Folder   20    
Photographs of Aimee Semple McPherson, undated
Box   1     Folder   21    
Photographs from Debonair Scroundrel and The First President Johnson , undated
Box   1     Folder   22    
New York Times files on McCarthy, undated
Box   1     Folder   23    
McCarthy-Belmont Notes, undated
   

Series II: Notebooks, Manuscripts, and Miscellaneous, 1944-1975
Box   2     Folder   1    
Notes on Mayor Gaynor's Letters from the Municipal Archives, New York City, undated
Box   2     Folder   1a    
An oversize scrapbook of McCarthy newspaper clippings stored with oversize items, undated
Box   2     Folder   2    
A Pride of Lions, page 1-166, undated
Box   2     Folder   3    
A Pride of Lions, page 167-340, undated
Box   2     Folder   4    
A Pride of Lions, page 341-434, undated
Box   2     Folder   5    
A Pride of Lions, page-435-595, undated
Box   2     Folder   6    
A Pride of Lions, page 596-729A, undated
Box   2     Folder   7    
A Pride of Lions, page 730-924, undated
Box   2     Folder   8    
Samples of research passes and clippings or reviews to be entered into designated scrapbooks. (Both of these are in small envelopes), undated
Box   2     Folder   9    
Status Magazine (Thomas is not mentioned). Two posters announcing Lately Thomas' book, A Pride of Lions (1975 December); Maps of Chanlor's East Africa Travels (Viking Press, 1959); Spring List (2 copies, mentions Thomas). New York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, vol. XXVII, no. 1 (January 1944); Historical sketch of Christ Church, 1944-1975
Box   2     Folder   10    
Diary of Rev. Isaac Chanler. Belmont newspaper clippings. A set of recordings of When Even Angels Wept contained in a orange plastic film case and lying on top of the materials in this box, undated
Box   2     Folder   11    
Book Reviews, 1959-1969 July