Howard Fast Papers Ms
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Howard Fast papers Ms. Coll. 1205 Finding aid prepared by John F. Anderies. Last updated on April 14, 2017. University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts 2016 May 16 Howard Fast papers Table of Contents Summary Information....................................................................................................................................3 Biography/History..........................................................................................................................................4 Scope and Contents....................................................................................................................................... 9 Administrative Information......................................................................................................................... 11 Related Materials......................................................................................................................................... 12 Controlled Access Headings........................................................................................................................13 Collection Inventory.................................................................................................................................... 15 Correspondence......................................................................................................................................15 Journals, appointment books, address books, financials.......................................................................43 Writings..................................................................................................................................................47 Promotion and reviews of Howard Fast's works.................................................................................. 89 Scrapbooks............................................................................................................................................. 92 Biographies, profiles, chronologies, bibliographies, interviews........................................................... 95 Governmental and political files........................................................................................................... 98 Vital records, personal documents, awards...........................................................................................99 Photographs and artwork.....................................................................................................................100 Audiovisual materials [RESTRICTED].............................................................................................. 106 - Page 2 - Howard Fast papers Summary Information Repository University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Creator Fast, Howard, 1914-2003 Title Howard Fast papers Call number Ms. Coll. 1205 Date [bulk] 1931-2003 Date [inclusive] 1903-2006 Extent 41 linear feet ((105 boxes, 1 oversized folder)) Language English Language Note Materials are primarily in English with several in Russian and a very few in Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Yiddish. Abstract Howard Melvin Fast (1914-2003) was a best-selling and prolific American author of historical fiction, mysteries, and science fiction, known for his books on themes of patriotism, social justice, and the immigrant experience. He wrote nearly 100 books and more than 150 short stories, as well as numerous screenplays, stage plays, and newspaper columns. The Howard Fast papers include correspondence, journals, appointment books, address books, financials, writings, promotion and reviews, scrapbooks, biographies, profiles, chronologies, bibliographies, interviews, governmental and political files, vital records, personal documents, awards, photographs, artwork, and audiovisual materials. The - Page 3 - Howard Fast papers papers were deposited at the University of Pennsylvania over the course of 45 years and represent nearly all facets of the writer's life. Cite as: Howard Fast papers, 1903-2006 (Bulk: 1931-2003), Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania Biography/History Howard Melvin Fast (1914-2003) was a best-selling and prolific American author of historical fiction, mysteries, and science fiction, known for his books on themes of patriotism, social justice, and the immigrant experience. He wrote nearly 100 books and more than 150 short stories, as well as numerous screenplays, stage plays, and newspaper columns. He was a member of the Communist Party of the United State of America (CPUSA) from 1944 to 1956 and was forced to testify before the House Un- American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1946 and the McCarthy Hearings (Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI)) in 1953. He spent three months in prison in 1950 for Contempt of Congress and was blacklisted from publishing in the United States during the late 1940s through the 1950s. He renounced his Communist Party membership in 1957 and was able to publish again, continuing to write well into his 80s. Howard Fast was born November 11, 1914 in New York City, the fourth of five children of Barney and Ida Fast. Barney Fast came to the United States at the age of nine in 1878 from the Ukrainian town of Fastov, which immigration officials shortened to become the surname Fast. Ida Miller was of Lithuanian descent and grew up in England. She came to the United States at the age of fifteen in 1897, her passage paid for by Barney, who had fallen in love with her through a photograph. Their five children included one girl and four boys: Rena, Arthur (who died, age six, in 1912), Jerome, Howard, and Julius. When Howard was only eight years old his mother Ida died of pernicious anemia. The family lived in severe poverty in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. Barney held a series of low-paying jobs including iron worker, cable car motorman, tin worker, and garment worker, but frequently he was on strike or unemployed. Howard remembered, "So profound and so complete was the poverty of my childhood, that to this day I can recall it only with feelings of utmost terror and sorrow." Fast's older sister Rena left home to marry when Howard was just ten, leaving Barney to raise his boys alone. Julius was sent to live with his maternal grandmother, and Howard and Jerome took to stealing bread, dairy products, and clothing from neighbors to get by. - Page 4 - Howard Fast papers Beginning at the ages of ten and eleven, the two boys worked as daily newspaper delivery boys, while continuing to attend school. Other jobs followed for the young Howard, including stints working for a butcher shop, cigar factory, hat maker, and dress factory. Then he landed a job as a page in the Harlem branch of the New York Public Library. There he discovered the writings of Jack London ( The Iron Heel) and George Bernard Shaw ( The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism), two works which would become important in the development of his beliefs in socialism and communism. Graduating from George Washington High School (P.S. 46) in 1931, Howard continued to work to help support Jerome's attendance at college, and spent a year on scholarship at the National Academy of Design in New York City. By this time Howard had begun writing in earnest, the family agreeing to rent a typewriter for him for $1.75 a month. Three months later he had his first story, "The Wrath of the Purple," a science fiction piece published in the magazine Amazing Stories. It was also around this time that he met a young Communist leader named Sarah Kunitz. Howard fell hard for her, but she rebuffed him, and discouraged him from joining the party at such a young age. After only a year at the Academy, and feeling rejected by Sarah, Howard with his friend Devery Freeman embarked on a "walking tour" of the South. The young men worked a string of odd jobs such as laundryman, delivery boy, and construction worker to get from one economically depressed town to the next. During this time many of Howard's political ideas continued to form and he decided to become a full-time writer when he returned to New York City. Fast's first two novels, Two Valleys (1933) and Strange Yesterday (1934) were published in quick succession, but they were barely noticed by the critics. Sarah Kunitz's response, however, was devastating. She characterized them as escapist fairy tales not worthy of his own working-class background, and she challenged him to use his own experiences to write in support of the people. Fast's first big break was his short story, "The Children," which was published in the prestigious Story magazine in 1937. It contains Fast's harrowing memory from childhood of a Halloween lynching of a black boy by other children. The story was a sensation and was banned in seven New England cities including Boston, ensuring even greater notoriety. Also in 1937, Fast married Bette Cohen (1917-1994), having met on a blind date two years earlier. Cohen was originally from Bayonne, New Jersey, and attended the Parsons School of Fine Art where she studied drawing and sculpture. Additional successes followed. In 1939, Fast published Conceived in Liberty, his first important and successful book. Taking place at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778, it depicts the American Revolution at its lowest point, and was inspired by