Archives of Harold Ober Associates, 1913-2002 (mostly 1968-2002)

Contents and Arrangement

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Collection Overview

Creator:

Harold Ober Associates

Title:

Archives of Harold Ober Associates

Repository:

Manuscripts Division

Permanent URL:

http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/b5644r569

Dates:

1913-2002 (mostly 1968-2002)

Size:

856 boxes and 400 linear feet

Storage Note:

This is stored in multiple locations.
ReCAP (scarcpxm): Boxes 1-29; 31; 33; 35-37; 39-56; 170-641; 681-819; 821-856; 170R; 171R; 172R; 173R; 174R; 175R; 176R; 177R; 178R; 179R; 180R; 181R; 182R; 183R; 184R; 185R; 186R; 187R; 188R; 189R; 190R; 191R; 192R; 193R; 194R; 195R; 196R; 197R; 198R; 199R; 200R; 201R; 202R; 203R; 204R; 205R; 206R; 207R; 208R
Firestone Library (scamss): Boxes 208, 30, 32, 34, 38, 57
location_under_review: Box 820

Language:

English

Abstract: This collection consists of correspondence of the New York City literary agency Harold Ober Associates, Inc. and its three London affiliates. Established by Harold Ober (1881-1959) in the 1920s, the agency quickly grew in size and reputation, and has been considered one of the leading representatives for American and British writers in the world. The correspondence includes letters between the agency or affiliates and clients, editors, publishers, and other agents. Also included are other organizational files, such as date books and financial ledgers.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of the Harold Ober Associates author files (1927-2002), organizational date books (1950-2017), financial and account ledgers (1935-2010), and files of the agency's three London affiliates: David Higham Associates (1965-1972), Bolt & Watson Limited (1971-1972), and Hughes Massie Limited (1968-1972).

The Harold Ober Associates author files contain correspondence with clients and with editors, publishers, and other agents concerning clients' work. Also included are occasional manuscripts of stories or poems, chapter outlines of novels, and revisions/insertions for clients' work, as well as copies of some contracts. The files of the London affiliate agencies generally contain inter-agency correspondence about clients' work, although letters directly from the authors frequently appear.

Authors with major files in the records include Richard Adams, William Barrett, Catherine Drinker Bowen, Pearl Buck, Walter Edmonds, John Gunther, Langston Hughes, John Bartlow Martin, Muriel Spark, and Philip Wylie. Literary estate correspondence for F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner is also sizable.

Arrangement

All the series are organized chronologically by year and then alphabetically by the correspondent's last name or by organization name, as appropriate.

The Author Files for the years 1973-1982 also contain material from the affiliate agencies.

Collection Creator Biography:

Harold Ober Associates

Harold Ober Associates, Inc., is a literary agency in New York City. Established by Harold Ober in the 1920s, it quickly grew in size and reputation and has been considered one of the leading representatives for American and British writers in the world.

Collection History

Acquisition:

Harold Ober and Associates made a gift of these materials to the Special Collections.

Appraisal

No appraisal information is available.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by numerous staff over the years as additions arrived. The finding aid was written by Karla Vecchia in 2002. This was updated by Traci Ballou in 2006. The finding aid was updated again in 2018 by Chloe Pfendler with the addition of AM 2019-34. Box and folder inventories prepared by Ben Roberts and Carlos Giron.

In 2022, restrictions on F. Scott Fitzgerald materials and on an Ernest Hemingway letter where researchers were required to use surrogates were lifted as part of a restrictions review project.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research use.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Archives of Harold Ober Associates; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:

http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/b5644r569

Location:

Manuscripts Division

Firestone Library

One Washington Road

Princeton, NJ 08544, USA

(609) 258-3184

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