Introduction | Biographical Sketch | Transfers | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

Introduction

Dee Brown is an author of western novels and American history. The manuscripts and research notes for Yellowhorse form the core of the collection.

In 1969, Brown transferred the manuscript for Yellowhorse to the Browne Popular Culture Library, Bowling Green State University. The collection is open for research; however, the photocopying of manuscripts must comply with applicable copyright laws.

Biographical Sketch

Dorris Alexander “Dee” Brown was born on February 28, 1908, in Alberta, Louisiana. His father died when he was five and at a young age, his family, (mother, brother, two sisters) moved to the town of Stephens, where his mother became the postmaster. In 1924, the family moved to Little Rock, where Brown attended high school. After graduating from high school in 1927, Brown got a job as a printer for the Harrison Daily Times and became a journalist.

In 1928, realizing he did not know enough to be a reporter, Brown went to Arkansas State Teachers College (ASTC), now the University of Central Arkansas (UCA), in Conway, graduating in 1931 with a Bachelor of Arts and Education degree with a major in history.

He married Sally Stroud, of Wilson, Mississippi, in 1934; when they were both students at Arkansas. They had two children. Browne earned a BLS (Bachelor of Library Science) degree in 1935 from George Washington University and received a Master of Science in 1952, from the University of Illinois.

From 1948-1972, he was librarian of agriculture at the University of Illinois, Urbana.

Brown's grandmother remembered the California gold rush, had driven ox wagons, and could recall the Civil War in detail. She spiked his interest as a youth and consequently all of Brown's nineteen books have modern day settings and are rooted in the American frontier. His best known work is Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Brown's legacy includes an award in his name presented to an Arkansas historian in the early stages of his or her career whose work focuses on Indians, women, or other groups underrepresented in books about the American West.

Brown was a member of the American Library Association, Western Writers of America, and Organization of American Historians.

Dee Brown died on December 12, 2002, at the age of ninety-four at his home in Little Rock. A memorial service was held at the main library of the Central Arkansas Library System, which has a branch library in Little Rock named for Brown. His remains are interred in Urbana, Illinois.

Transfers

The following books have been transferred from the collection to the Browne Popular Culture Library main stacks area. Call numbers for these book's may be found in the BGSU Libraries Catalog.

• Action at Beecher Island
• Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

Scope and Content

The Dee Brown Collection houses three manuscripts for the book Yellowhorse. Included are related materials such as research notes, galley sheets, published correspondence, and a partial book jacket.

Researchers interested in the modern day, American frontier will find this manuscript valuable.

Series Description

CORRESPONDENCE

Series

LITERARY CORRESPONDENCE

1956

Arranged Chronologically

This series includes correspondence with Austin Olney.

LITERARY PRODUCTIONS

Series

RESEARCH NOTES

n.d.

This series includes handwritten notes for Yellowhorse.

MANUSCRIPTS (LITERARY)

1956

This series includes handwritten, typed, and printer's manuscripts for Yellowhorse. Included are related materials such as galley sheets and a partial book jacket.

Inventory

This register was compiled by Nancy White Lee, Associate II, May, 1986
Revised by Mary Zuzik, Library Associate II, July 2007.

Back to A-Z Listing of Manuscript Collections