Walter Van Tilburg Clark Papers

Walter Van Tilburg Clark (1909-1971) was a western author, the editor of the Alfred Doten journals, a 3-volume work published by the University of Nevada Press in 1973, a lecturer at the University of Nevada, Reno, and a writer-in-residence at the University of Nevada, Reno, between 1962 and 1971.

Clark may be best known for his first published novel, The Ox-Bow Incident, published by Random House in 1940, due to the fact that it was made into a feature film in 1943, starring Henry Fonda. However, many of his short stories, such as “Hook,” “The Buck in the Hills” and “The Wind and the Snow of Winter,” earned him respect nationally. In 1949, Random House again published another of his works, Track of the Cat, which was well received. Additional works, such as his novel, The City of Trembling Leaves, and a short story collection, The Watchful Gods and Other Stories, are also well known publications.

While Clark lived in Vermont, Maine, New York, New Mexico, California and Montana at various times during his life, he moved his family to Virginia City, Nevada in 1942, where he taught at the local high school for the 1950/1951 school year. In 1952, he accepted a half-time position at the University of Nevada, Reno, but resigned in protest in 1953 over a faculty and administration dispute. In 1954 he moved away but contracted to work on a Nevada-related topic, the Alfred Doten diaries editing project and biography. He published the 3-volume work The Journals of Alfred Doten, 1849-1903, in 1973 (University of Nevada Press). He moved to the San Francisco Bay area and taught creative writing at San Francisco State. By 1968, he and his wife had moved back to Virginia City, Nevada, and he remained there until his death on November 10, 1971.