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Baynard Hardwick Kendrick collection, 1915-1972, bulk 1930-1972

 

Summary

Creator:
Kendrick, Baynard (1894-1977)
Abstract:
This collection contains manuscripts of most of Kendrick's writings, including his detective stories, histories, and other novels. It also contains materials on Kendrick's work with the blind, including the Blinded Veterans Association and the American Association for Workers for the Blind, as well as newspaper clippings, correspondence, photos, scrapbooks, items concerning Cuban refugees, interview transcripts, and phonograph dictation records.
Extent:
8.27 Linear Feet
18 boxes
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Baynard Hardwick Kendrick Collection, USF Libraries - Tampa Special Collections, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.

Background

Scope and content:

Kendrick's correspondence spans 1934-1972, with his writing contracts and accounting records covering the same years.

Biographical / historical:

Baynard Kendrick was perhaps best well known for his detective novels and his character Captain Duncan Maclain, the blind detective. Kendrick was the first American citizen to enlist in the Canadian army in WWI, and following his experience during that war, became involved with services to those who had been blinded. One experience that must have had an impact on Kendrick was encountering a British soldier who had been blinded who was able to tell him the history of his military service and every unit he'd served with, simply by feeling Kendrick's buttons, uniform, and insignia. Due to the extent on his research with the blind while creating Cpt. Maclain, the U. S. Army asked Kendrick to serve as a consultant on the rehabilitation of the blind during WWII, which became the basis for his novel Lights Out. Kendrick spent years traveling Florida as a salesman during the interwar years, which gave him an intimate knowledge of Florida history and geography. He later went on to write local history, including topics such as Florida's highway system, lumber industry (which was published posthumously in 2007), and a series of articles entitled Florida's Fabulous Past, some of which detail his own experiences in Florida throughout the years.

Note written by Justin M. White

Acquisition information:
Donation.
Processing information:

processed

Arrangement:

Generally, the collection is arranged with Kendrick's mystery novels first, followed by his histories, then several boxes of correspondence, personal records, and newspaper clippings. The final few boxes contain his dictation records, Florida's Fabulous Past series, Cousin Lotta, A Novel manuscripts, with the last two boxes containing scrapbooks and research materials for Flight from a Firing Wall.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Terms of access:

None.  The contents of the collection may be subject to copyright.  Visit the United States Copyright Office's website at http://www.copyright.gov/ for more information.

Preferred citation:

Baynard Hardwick Kendrick Collection, USF Libraries - Tampa Special Collections, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL.

Location of this collection:
The University of South Florida, Tampa Campus
4202 East Fowler Ave. LIB122
Tampa
FL
33620-5400
USA