Descriptive Summary
Lord, Walter, 1917-2002
Lord, Walter, archive
1957-1968
Materials are written in English.
2002-242
2 ft.
Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The
Manuscript, notes, correspondence,
newspaper clippings and research materials used by Walter Lord in writing A Time to Stand (1961).
Biographical Note
Walter Lord, popular historian and author, was born on October 8, 1917, the only son
of John Walterhouse and Henrietta (Hoffman) Lord. Raised in a suburb of Baltimore,
Maryland, Lord attended the Gilman School and later received a Bachelors degree in
history from Princeton University in 1939. During his time at Princeton, Lord
cultivated his interest in historical research and won the Joline American History
prize for excellence in his major subject.
While attending Yale Law School, World War II broke out and Lord went to work for the
Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency. At
the close of the war in 1945, Lord returned to Yale to complete his law degree but
decided against practicing law. From 1947 to 1950, Lord worked as an editor for the
Research Institute of America, publishing newsletters on legal subjects for
businessmen. He developed his writing skills during this period while writing books
such as,
Getting Military Work (1951) and How to Operate Under Wage and Salary Stabilization
(1951). From 1953-56, Lord worked as a copywriter for the J. Walter Thompson
advertising agency in New York City.
In 1954, while working for the advertising agency, Lord published
The Fremantle Diary in which he edited and annotated the
journal of Lt. Col. Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, an Englishman who toured the
southern part of the United States for three months during the Civil War. Lord’s
next book, A Night to Remember (1955), was prompted
by a life-long fascination with the 1912 sinking of the SS Titanic. This book was
revolutionary in that it incorporated interviews with Titanic survivors and provided
a minute-by-minute account of the events of that fateful night. The success and
popularity of A Night to Remember persuaded Lord to
quit his job at the advertising agency and become a fulltime writer.
Over the next three decades, Lord wrote a dozen more books covering a variety of
subjects. He examined topics such as artic exploration (
Peary
to the Pole (1963)), World War II (Day of
Infamy (1957), Incredible Victory (1967),
Miracle of Dunkirk (1982)), the War of 1812
(The Dawn’s Early Light (1972)), the two-week
siege of the Alamo (A Time to Stand (1961)) and a
follow-up to A Night to Remember entitled The Night Lives On (1987). Beginning withA Night to Remember, Lord’s writing style was
characterized by intensive research and exhaustive interviews. Combining historical
research with journalistic methods, Lord culled minute details and anecdotes from
interviews with participants and ancestors to create a living history or historical narrative
of an event. He used these details to compel the reader to feel that they were
present not just as a spectator.
In 1994, the Society of American Historians awarded Lord the Francis Parkman Prize in
recognition of his lifetime dedication to American history. He died of Parkinson’s
disease in his Manhattan apartment on May 19, 2002. Lord never married and left no
immediate survivors.
Scope and Contents
Manuscript, notes, correspondence, newspaper clippings and research materials used by
Walter Lord in writing
A Time to Stand (1961). The
majority of the documentation is located in the correspondence (1/2 ft.) and the
A Time to Stand research notes (1/2 ft.) series,
in which Lord’s organization has remained largely intact. Lord organized his
correspondence alphabetically by the respondent’s last name and sometimes included a
parenthetical note indicating the Alamo defender it regarded. The periodical
requests and general correspondence sub-series provide insight into Lord’s research
and writing process. These sub-series contain his letters to numerous periodicals,
requesting ads to be placed for information regarding Alamo defenders and the
responses he received from ancestors and interested individuals. Due to the breadth
of correspondence with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, Maury
Maverick, Jr., Charles Ramsdell, and Bertie Shelton separate sub-series exist for
these individuals. The A Time to Stand research notes
series maintains Lord’s grouping of documents into sub-series: Alamo Facts, Alamo
Extracts, and Alamo Personalities. Mainly handwritten, this series contains Lord’s
notes about various aspects, such as daily life and statistics, of the Battle of the
Alamo.
Printed materials include Photostats, typescripts, magazine articles, journal
reprints and brochures related to the Alamo. Lord diligently checked all of his
sources. The source lists series note references that require verification as well
as archives and newspapers that Lord wanted to visit. This series also includes
pamphlets and newspaper articles listing possible sources of more information (books
to read, lists of people to see while in Mexico, etc.).
The series entitled the Lucy Leigh Bowie papers contains Miss Bowie’s correspondence,
personal memos and newspaper clippings regarding James Bowie and the Bowie knife.
Benjamin D. Palmer, who received the material from Miss Bowie, provided these
documents to Lord to use while writing
A Time to
Stand.
The
A Time to Stand series contains illustration
ideas, book publicity, an undated manuscript of A Time to
Stand, and Lord’s handwritten outline for the book.
Arrangement
The collection is comprised of three main series.
- I. Correspondence, 1957-1962, arranged alphabetically
- II. Lucy L. Bowie Papers, 1902-1936
- III. A Time to Stand, 1957-1959, 1961-1962,
undated
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research use.
Use Restrictions
The donor retains copyright on the manuscript, A Time to
Stand, by the creator. Written permission must be obtained from copyright
holder in order to photocopy or publish from the collection.
Index Terms
Subjects (Persons)
Bowie, James, 1805-1836
Bowie, Lucy Leigh, 1872-1966
Lord, Walter, 1917-2002 -- Archives
Maverick, Maury, 1921-2003
Ramsdell, Charles W. (Charles William),
1877-1942
Shelton, Bertie
Subjects (Organizations)
Daughters of the Republic of Texas
Daughters of the Republic of Texas.Library
Yale Law School.
Subjects
Alamo (San Antonio, Tex.) Siege, 1836
American history and culture
Texas history
Places
Baltimore (Md.)
New York (N.Y.)
Preferred Citation
Walter Lord Archive, 1957-1968, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The
University of Texas at Austin.
Detailed Description of the Papers
Contact repository for inventory.