James C. Malin Collection, 1916-1973Manuscript Collection no. 183IntroductionThe papers of James C. Malin, professor of history at the University of Kansas from 1921 to 1963, were given to the Manuscripts Department of the Kansas State Historical Society in two parts on two separate occasions. Dr. Malin himself gave a portion of his papers to the Society in 1965. The rest were donated by Malin’s widow, Pearl, in fiscal year 1986. Biographical SketchJames Claude Malin was born Feb. 8, 1893, in Edgley, North Dakota, the son of Jared Nelson Malin and Emma Jane McChristy Malin. In 1903, he moved with his parents to Edwards County, Kansas. He received his A.B. degree from Baker University in 1914 and his M. A. from Kansas University in 1916. After interrupting his education for service in World War I and to teach in Oklahoma City high schools, he completed his Ph. D. at the University of Kansas in 1921. He immediately joined the history faculty there and remained until forced to retire in 1963 due to his age. During this time he developed a reputation as a prolific author and a leading historian of his era. In addition to teaching, Malin participated in the activities of a number of academic and historical associations. He served terms as president of the Agricultural History Society, the Kansas State Historical Society, and the Kansas History Teachers Association (twice). He was associate editor of the Kansas Historical Quarterly; a member of the Editorial Board of the Mississippi Valley Historical Review; a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Science; and a committee member in the American Historical Association, the American Association of Geographers, and the American Studies Association. As a writer, Malin published such noted works as John Brown and the Legend of Fifty-Six and The Grassland of North America. He was a pioneer in combining the subject matter of history with other disciplines and had a great interest in the effect of the climate and the overall environment on human endeavors. Malin considered objectivity a necessity for historians and took a firm stand against relativism. In many cases, he created controversy by exposing what he viewed as flaws in the works of other historians. Malin died on Jan. 26, 1979, in Lawrence, Kansas. He was survived by his wife, Pearl Keene Malin and a daughter, Jane Wofford Malin. Scope and ContentThe largest portion of Malin’s papers is correspondence, consisting of letters he received and copies of letters he wrote. These letters date from 1916 to 1976. A few letters in the collection are copies that Malin had of correspondence to and from other people. The letters he received are arranged alphabetically by the name of the correspondent. The letters written to others by others are filed with these. The letters Malin wrote are arranged chronologically. These have been microfilmed (rolls MF 6304-MR 6308), and the microfilm is available through interlibrary loan; see the Container List for specific roll numbers. Most of the correspondents are other historians. George Anderson, who was also a member of the University of Kansas history faculty, was the historian Malin corresponded with most frequently. Other regular correspondents who were historians include Lee Benson, Allan Bogue, Avery Craven, Earle DeLay, Larry Gara, Fulmer Mood, Frank Hodder, Hans Jenny, and W. T. Root. Malin also corresponded frequently with editors and publishers, particularly with Lawrence Romaine of Weathercock House in Middleboro, Massachusetts. Other correspondents include relatives of people on whom Malin did research. Chief among these are the children and grandchildren of Eugene Ware. Malin also corresponded frequently with employees of the Kansas State Historical Society. Kirke Mechem and Nyle Miller, both of whom served as secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society at different times, are the most frequent of these correspondents. Miller, in fact, is the one person from whom Malin received more letters than anyone else. A few letters in the collection are letters Malin wrote to and received from his own relatives. The most notable of Malin’s relatives is his uncle, James F. Malin, who served a number of years as a representative in the Kansas Legislature. A few infrequent, but famous, correspondents include William Allen White, Henry Kissinger, William F. Buckley, and former Kansas Governor George Docking. A small part of Malin’s collection consists of his own autobiographical notes, composed in 1969. These include genealogical information on his parents, their siblings, and his grandparents as well as his own life story. Accompanying this information is the transcript of an interview with Malin conducted by Gould Colman of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. The collection also contains material from Malin’s days as a
graduate student at the University of Kansas. Most of this material
is notes Malin took from American history outlines drawn up by Malin’s
adviser, Frank Heywood Hodder. This series also includes transcripts
of Malin’s grades and a United States atlas published by Hodder
that Malin used and in which he wrote notes. Another part of Malin’s collection consists mainly of notes pertaining to his research. Most of this series is handwritten notes that have no discernible arrangement, but some parts can be divided into subseries that have a definite arrangement. Malin took detailed notes from federal and state census lists on crops grown in various Kansas counties from 1860 to 1930. These notes can be found in this series, arranged alphabetically by county and chronologically within each county. Another subseries consists of copies of letters written by people important to Kansas history of the nineteenth century. These letters are arranged alphabetically by author. The few original letters in this group are filed here. One of these is a letter written and signed by General William Tecumseh Sherman in 1869. Some of the notes are copies of newspaper articles written before 1900. These are arranged chronologically if the date is indicated. Otherwise, there is no discernible arrangement. Material dealing with Malin as a writer makes up a large series in the collection. Most of this series consists of articles, book reviews, chapters of books, and essays written by Malin. Some are in manuscript form and others are published copies. These are arranged alphabetically by title. When no title is given, they are arranged chronologically if a date is given. Otherwise, there is no discernible arrangement. A much smaller subseries within this series consists of various types of documents dealing with Malin’s writings. These papers are divided into twelve small units. The first unit consists of invoices for royalty payments and payments of printing costs, arranged chronologically. The second unit is made up of Malin’s copyright certificates, also arranged chronologically. The third of these units contains printing orders that include price estimates. This unit is also in chronological in order. The fourth unit, also chronologically arranged, consists of contracts for writing reviews and articles. The fifth unit, consisting of mailing lists for copies of Malin’s writings, is arranged alphabetically by the title of the work to be mailed. The sixth unit consists simply of lists of Malin’s writings and is arranged chronologically. The seventh unit consists of general lists of works that include writings by Malin. The papers here are arranged alphabetically by the title of the Malin work listed. Lists that include more than one Malin work have no discernible arrangement. The eighth of the units is made up of acknowledgements of receipt of copies of Malin’s works. These papers are arranged alphabetically by the title of the work. When more than one acknowledgement of the same work is included, the arrangement is chronological. The ninth unit consists of papers dealing with Malin’s efforts to have some of his works published. These papers are arranged chronologically. The tenth unit consists of only one document—a certificate of merit Malin received from the American Association for State and Local History for his book, The Nebraska Question, 1852-1854. The eleventh unit is arranged alphabetically and suggestions and guidelines sent to Malin by various publishers for articles he had contracted to write. The twelfth unit consists of a few miscellaneous papers that relate to Malin’s writings. This unit has no discernible arrangement. A number of writings by others appear in Malin’s collection.
Some of these are published and others are copies of unpublished manuscripts.
Papers handed in to Malin by his students are not included here. They
are found in the series on Malin’s teaching career. The writings
in this series are arranged alphabetically by author. Writings that
do not identify an author are arranged alphabetically by title. In some
cases, writings are only excerpts that do not give a title or an author.
These are filed at the end with no discernible arrangement. Many of
these items are reviews of Malin’s books. These writings make
up the largest of two subseries in this series. The last of the large series consists of papers relating to organizations to which Malin belonged and conferences he either attended or from which he received materials. These papers are arranged alphabetically by the name of the organization or conference. Within the file for each organization or conference, materials are arranged chronologically. Papers dealing with matters concerning the University of Kansas and the History Department make up a small series. These papers are arranged chronologically when a date is given. Undated papers are arranged alphabetically by topic when a topic is clearly indicated. The final series consists of miscellaneous papers not related to Malin’s career as a teacher and a writer. Included are papers on his time in the army, auto repair bills, train ticket stubs, and other miscellaneous information. The papers that are dated are arranged chronologically. The undated papers have no discernible arrangement. Researchers interested in a large number of topics might turn to this collection. Malin’s own research notes contain much information on Kansas history. Agriculture is one of the main subjects. He also did work on several individuals, among them John Brown and Eugene Ware. Malin had a great interest in demography and population. The series on Malin’s teaching would be interesting to anyone wanting to study how history has been taught in colleges over the years. His student notes may be helpful here as well. Of course anyone interested in the genealogy of the Malin and McChristy families would want to see his genealogy notes. Persons researching the history of such organizations as the American Historical Association and the Agricultural History Society would wish to examine the series on organizations and conferences. Anyone interested in studying grasslands and how they developed would want to examine Malin’s research notes and his writings. This multi-faceted collection should be of interest to a variety of researchers. Richard Hite Series Descriptions and Container ListSeries Descriptions
Container ListIn this list the designation 183.1.1 refers to ms. collection 183, box 1, folder 1 I. Correspondence
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