Loula Grace Erdman Collection

Biography

Loula Grace Erdman was born near Alma, Missouri, in 1898 to Augustus F. and Mollie (Maddox) Erdman. The farm where her parents lived had been owned by Erdman's family since her great-grandfather had homesteaded there. Erdman was the oldest of three children. During the 1920s some states did not require teachers to have bachelor's degrees, and Erdman taught for several years before completing her bachelor's degree in 1931 at Central Missouri State College (now Central Missouri State University). Erdman earned a master's degree from Columbia University in 1941.

As an undergraduate, Erdman roomed with a young woman from Amarillo, Texas. Erdman impressed her roommate's mother so much that the older woman helped her obtain employment as a teacher in Amarillo schools. She began as an elementary school teacher in 1926 and later taught junior high school. In 1945 she accepted employment as an assistant professor of English at West Texas State College (now West Texas A&M University) in Canyon, approximately 17 miles south of Amarillo. The teacher of popular creative writing classes later received a promotion to associate professor and Novelist in Residence.

Erdman developed an interest in creative writing very early in life. Her biographer, Ernestine P. Sewell, reports that at age four Erdman recited poetry (jingles) to her aunt, who wrote them down for her ¹. A scrapbook in the WTAMU Erdman Collection contains the first rejection letter the future author received in 1912. Her autobiography, A Time to Write⁽²⁾, states that she was "eight or so" years old at the time, but someone wrote "age 14" on the original letter. Although the editor did not publish Erdman's story, he wrote the precocious youngster a kind letter encouraging her to continue writing.

The year 1944 brought the publication of Erdman's first novel, Separate Star³, a career book aimed at young women interested in pursuing a career in teaching. The book received favorable reviews in publications throughout the country. Her second book, Fair is the Morning (1945)⁴, received considerable acclaim. Eleanor Roosevelt praised the book in a column she wrote for a New York newspaper. The Erdman Collection contains a copy of Mrs. Roosevelt's article. Erdman later sent Mrs. Roosevelt a copy of Separate Star, and the collection contains the original thank-you note written by the former First Lady.

Erdman's third novel brought her not only acclaim, but also a considerable amount of money. She received the biennial $10,000 Dodd, Mead-Redbook Award for her book, The Years of the Locust (1946)⁵. This novel, set in Missouri, is about a powerful, wise patriarch who touched many lives and whose death profoundly affects many friends, relatives, and acquaintances.

The Edge of Time (1950)⁶ was the first book Erdman wrote about the settlement of the Texas Panhandle. This novel often is called her best book and is her only work still in print today. (It was selected to be number 11 in the Texas Tradition Series of classic Texas novels reprinted by the Texas Christian University Press.) It involves a newly married couple who move from Missouri to the Texas Panhandle near Mobeetie, where they start their married life in a primitive dugout. Erdman meticulously researched the lives of these "nesters," and she received letters from surviving pioneers and their children praising her accuracy. Erdman reports in A Time to Write that one woman wrote to her, "You have told our story. It fits our lives like jelly poured into a glass" ⁷. Erdman later said she felt as though the pioneers were looking over her shoulder as she wrote, making sure she got the details right ⁸.

The Edge of Time generated considerable interest in Hollywood, but the project never got off the ground because Erdman refused to allow a range war between the ranchers and the nesters to be added. She knew from her careful research that range wars almost never occurred in the settlement of the Texas Panhandle. To add a range war, she told Sewell, would "do violence to the history of the region" ⁹.

Erdman later wrote a trilogy about the Pierces, a family of Texas Panhandle homesteaders. Each novel is the story of one of the family's three daughters. These books are The Wind Blows Free¹⁰, and The Wide Horizon¹¹, and The Good Land¹².

Another Texas Panhandle pioneer book, The Far Journey¹³, follows a young mother as she drives a covered wagon with her son from Missouri to Texas to join her husband. In Room to Grow¹⁴, a French family settles in the Texas Panhandle and learns the ways of their new country.

Erdman wrote 21 books during her career, but she first achieved success as a writer of short stories and articles. Her work appeared in national magazines such as Reader's Digest, Woman's Home Companion, Ladies' Home Journal, Christian Herald, American Girl, The Writer, Red Book, Woman's Day, Capper's Farmer, Progressive Farmer, and Country Home. She also published stories in anthologies and textbooks and articles in education journals such as The Instructor and English Journal. Sewell's Erdman biography, Loula Grace Erdman, contains a selected bibliography of Erdman's shorter works ¹⁵.

The versatile author won several awards in addition to the Dodd, Mead-Redbook Award for The Years of the Locust. She also won the Dodd, Mead-American Girl Award in 1952 for The Wind Blows Free. She won two Texas Institute of Letters Awards, one in 1962 for Room to Grow and the other in 1974 for A Bluebird Will Do. A Bluebird Will Do also won the Steck Vaughn Award in 1974.

Some of the standard reference works in which Erdman appears are Contemporary Authors, Something About the Author, American Novelists of Today, Texas Writers of Today, Authors of Books for Young People, and More Junior Authors. See the reference book listings and other sources Reference Sources page for complete information.

Erdman never married. She died in 1976 and was buried in Missouri. Survivors included her sister, her brother, two nieces, and one nephew.

Footnotes

1. Ernestine P. Sewell, "An interview with Loula Grace Erdman," Southwestern American Literature 2, no. 1 (1972): 33. Back to text ¹
2. Loula Grace Erdman. A Time to Write (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1969), 3. Back to text ²
3. Loula Grace Erdman. Separate Star (New York: Longmans, Green, 1944). Back to text ³
4. Loula Grace Erdman. Fair is the Morning (New York: Longmans, Green, 1945). Back to text ⁴
5. Loula Grace Erdman. The Years of the Locust (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1947). Back to text ⁵
6. Loula Grace Erdman. The Edge of Time (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1950). Back to text ⁶
7. Loula Grace Erdman. A Time to Write (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1969), 174. Back to text ⁷
8. Loula Grace Erdman. A Time to Write (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1969), 152. Back to text ⁸
9. Ernestine P. Sewell, "An interview with Loula Grace Erdman," Southwestern American Literature 2, no. 1 (1972): 36. Back to text ⁹
10. Loula Grace Erdman. The Wind Blows Free (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1952). Back to text ¹⁰
11. Loula Grace Erdman. The Wide Horizon (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1956), 152. Back to text ¹¹
12. Loula Grace Erdman. The Good Land (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1959). Back to text ¹²
13. Loula Grace Erdman. The Far Journey (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1955). Back to text ¹³
14. Loula Grace Erdman. Room to Grow (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1969), 152. Back to text ¹⁴
15. Ernestine P. Sewell. Loula Grace Erdman (Southwest Writers Series, 33) (Austin: Steck-Vaughn Co., 1970). Back to text ¹⁵

Interesting Tidbits

Erdman's autobiography, A Time to Write (1969), reveals that her prize-winning novel, The Years of the Locust, almost missed getting published. Her agent assigned an assistant to read the manuscript, and he reported that it was without merit and should be rewritten before being shown to any publisher. However, Erdman made no changes, neatly tucked the manuscript into a men's underwear box she obtained at the general store in her tiny hometown, and mailed it in for consideration for the $10,000 Dodd, Mead-Redbook novel competition. She won. (One may wonder what happened to the agent's assistant who first read the manuscript and deemed it worthless!)

People meeting Erdman often admired her personal charm. A writer for the Plainview Daily Herald at Plainview, Texas, attended an event at which Erdman spoke. The May 13, 1958, issue of that paper contained this description: "Miss Erdman spoke with vivacity and warmth that captivated her audience. Her down-to-earth simplicity and delightful wit turned at most unexpected moments, revealing a charming and sparkling personality as well as a skillful and brilliant writer." The Plainview Daily Herald; Plainview, Texas; (page number not available)

A student reporter who interviewed Erdman for the WTAMU campus newspaper, The Prairie, asked a friend on the faculty for information about the author in preparation for the interview. The article, which appeared in the November 19, 1946, issue reports that Erdman's colleague gave this vivid description: "Miss Erdman is a delightful and intelligent person--tall, handsome; has nice clothes and knows how to wear them. She will, no doubt, tell you what you want to know in a most enjoyable manner, and you will leave her, happy to have made her acquaintance.... She is a lively, humorous and most interesting person to know." The Prairie, vol. 28, issue 8, pg. 1.

Erdman's first Texas Panhandle pioneer novel, The Edge of Time, was selected to be number 11 in the prestigious Texas Tradition Series printed by the Texas Christian University Press.

Erdman was very active in the Panhandle Pen Women organization, which later became Panhandle Professional Writers. Established in 1920, it is one of the nation's oldest writing groups. On its "PPW History" page, Erdman is called a "great guiding light" for the organization.

Erdman was very active in the war effort during World War II, often working at the local USO. Her diaries for the war years describe her activities and observations.

In August 1938 Erdman went to an event at which Carl Sandburg read his poetry. Her diary gives her impressions: "He wore no tie nor coat--Sleeves rolled up, and collar open. Had a marvelous, poetic voice."

Erdman was a prolific, highly successful short story writer. Before she gained fame as a novelist, Erdman published a few anonymous stories in confession magazines to earn extra money. In fact one story won a $500 prize, but she was too embarrassed to tell her friends about her success in this genre. However, she did finally confess these writing endeavors in her autobiography, A Time To Write (1969).

Erdman recorded all her expenditures in her diaries. In 1947, the year Erdman won the $10,000 Dodd, Mead-Redbook prize for The Years of the Locust, her rent was only $35.00 per month. She had a dental appointment for $5.00 and a medical appointment for $2.00. She paid only $1.35 to have her lawn mowed.

Erdman's diary entry for the day she saw Lawrence Olivier on the New York stage seems lacking in enthusiasm. She wrote only: "His mannerisms seem to be the thing critics mention."

While touring England on assignment, Erdman attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, according to the August 12, 1953, Canyon News. She remarked during a speech to the Rotary Club that the English people criticized American television's handling of the event because commercials were included. Canyon News, no. 18, pg. 1.

Erdman started her book Many a Voyage about Senator and Mrs. Edmund Ross before John F. Kennedy started his book, Profiles in Courage, which includes Senator Ross. Erdman wanted to give up her book when she learned about Kennedy's project but continued at the insistence of her publisher. "As it turned out," she told her biographer, Ernestine P. Sewell, "the Kennedy profile is not accurate." She asked Ross' grandson if the "Kennedy men" visited Albuquerque to talk to them, and he answered, "No. They telephoned and used everything we told them exactly different." Sewell reported this incident in her article "An Interview with Loula Grace Erdman" that appeared in Southwestern American Literature, Spring 1972, vol. 2, no. 1., pp. 33-41.

Bibliography

The following presents the writings of Loula Grace Erdman, providing summaries and reviews.

Please note: Many of the following review excerpts were taken from clippings in Erdman's scrapbooks. She subscribed to a commercial clipping service, and the page numbers were not included in the clippings she received and preserved. Also, she did not include page numbers when she cut out articles and pasted them in her scrapbooks. Therefore, complete citation information was not available for all review excerpts.

• Separate Star (1944)
• Fair is the Morning (1945)
• The Years of the Locust (1946)
• Lonely Passage (1948)
• The Edge of Time (1950)
• The Wind Blows Free (1952)
• My Sky is Blue (1953)
• Three at the Wedding (1953)
• The Far Journey (1955)
• The Wide Horizon (1956)
• The Short Summer (1958)
• The Good Land (1959)
• Many a Voyage (1960; revised edition 1967)
• The Man Who Told the Truth (1962)
• Room to Grow (1962)
• Life was Simpler Then (1963)
• A Wonderful Thing, and Other Stories (1964)
• Another Spring (1966)
• A Time to Write (1969)
• A Bluebird Will Do (1973)
• Save Weeping for the Night (1975)

Separate Star (1944)

Summary

Separate Star, a career novel for aspiring teachers, was Erdman's first book-length work. It received favorable reviews and garnered considerable attention in the education world. Gail Warren is an idealistic new teacher fresh out of college. She accepts a position in a small school with a number of problems. Gail works to resolve each problem and makes a real difference in the lives of the people of the community.

Review Excerpts

A lively, well-written career story with good characterizations and a touch of romance. Girls of junior and senior high school age will enjoy it.

There is nothing 'juvenile' about it. The characters are vitally alive and human and the way in which Gail Warren meets her teaching problems in a small town school carries help for any teacher who has ever faced her task with high ambition and ended in discouragement."

Miss Erdman, after getting off to a slow start, proves that she can write an interesting novel. In fact, such a story as hers might be used to advantage in a classroom in teaching the technique of the novel. Many students would probably be able to understand the initial incident, rising action, climax, and denouement more readily in Separate Star than in Silas Marner or some of the other old standbys. There are also some good characterizations, especially of some of the children, humor, pathos, local color, suspense, drama, and the necessary romance.

Fair is the Morning (1945)

Summary

Fair is the Morning is a companion book to Separate Star. It follows Connie Thurman, Gail Warren's roommate, during her first year of teaching. Connie accepts employment in a rural school and faces a set of problems different from those Gail faced. The Child Study Association, a national organization, selected this book as one of the outstanding works of 1945. Eleanor Roosevelt praised Fair is the Morning in her column in the New York World Telegram. A scrapbook in the WTAMU Erdman Collection contains a copy of Roosevelt's column.

Review Excerpts

Here, with a good story, is an interesting premise. It is that rural school teachers should be specially trained for their work, not merely learn their profession by progressing from country schools to schools in cities... . The story makes very good reading... . All the characterizations are good.

Loula Grace Erdman's new book Fair is the Morning tells a thrilling story of how a discouraged, apathetic, hopeless community was literally made over through the efforts of a courageous country schoolteacher who dared to defy custom and tradition for the sake of a group of fine girls and boys... . Miss Erdman tells of the remaking of Hickory Ridge with a warmth and a depth of sympathy rarely attained by those who write of rural schools.

The Years of the Locust (1946)

Summary

Erdman's first adult novel achieved spectacular success, winning the biennial Dodd, Mead-Redbook $10,000 prize. It is the story of how the death of Dade Kenzie, the wise, influential patriarch of a Missouri farming family, affects his family and acquaintances. The story is told through flashbacks in the minds of seven individuals whose lives were profoundly influenced by Kenzie. The action covers the time slightly before Dade's death until after his funeral.

Review Excerpts

Wholesome as the smell of home-made bread just out of the oven and warm as geraniums blooming in a kitchen window, the ninth winner of the Dodd, Mead-Redbook Prize Novel Award is an account of three days in the lives of a substantial family of Missouri farmers... . This is no novel for the super-sophisticated and cynical; it bears no trace of that curse of modern America, the fear of 'being a sucker' or 'sticking your neck out.' Here are the simple virtues, neighborliness, kindliness, domestic devotion, sturdy endurance.

The old man and his wife, both dead when the book begins but seen through the reminiscences, are the best characters. The method of presenting the story will discourage some readers, but it is satisfactory as light fiction.

Miss Erdman draws convincing pictures of all the women folk in the book. She has a knack of describing their foibles, their hopes and disillusionments and the workings of their minds with the accurateness of having lived all the experiences herself. It is another matter with the male characters. Miss Erdman is not quite so convincing in her character analysis of Old Dade's sons, grandsons and other male relatives.

Lonely Passage (1948)

Summary

Lonely Passage is about a girl, Thurley Renfro. She does not seem to fit in with the boisterous clan of Pembertons (her mother's family) into which she had been born. She loses the young man she loves but finds peace and fulfillment after turning to another young man who loves her. Erdman named Lonely Passage as one of her personal favorites among her novels even though her publisher called it "a sad little book" ⁽¹⁾.

Footnotes

1. Loula Grace Erdman. A Time to Write (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1969), 137.

Review Excerpts

Lonely Passage, a pleasing story set in rural Missouri, is more than apt to be ranked well ahead of The Years of the Locust... . Lonely Passage is a down-to-earth, human story of ordinary folks in rural Missouri... . The story is a quiet one. No blood and thunder. No machine-gun action. It is more a story of the heart."

A sensitive and searching study of a proud clan in a small Missouri town... . But Miss Erdman is in no real sense a 'regional' novelist. As the very title of her second novel shows, she is concerned with universal truths and, more precisely, with a certain lyric appreciation and understanding of life.

The Edge of Time (1950)

Summary

In researching Erdman, one often encounters this quote spoken by Aunt Clara in The Edge of Time: "Never was a man yet who didn't fancy himself running right alongside Daniel Boone and maybe even a step or two ahead of him. What I've always wanted to look at is Mrs. Daniel Boone's diary" ⁽¹⁾. This novel, often considered Erdman's best book, looked into the lives of the "nester" women who helped settle the Texas Panhandle. The Edge of Time tells the story of Wade and Bethany Cameron, a young Missouri couple who set out in a covered wagon right after their wedding ceremony in 1885 to homestead in the Texas Panhandle. Wade married Bethany "on the rebound" after his intended bride, Bethany's beautiful cousin Rosemary, married a rich banker. Bethany, who had always secretly loved Wade, cannot help wondering if she is second in her husband's heart. The story follows the young couple as they deal with the hardships of life in the sparsely settled Texas Panhandle of the 1880s. The Family Reading Club chose The Edge of Time as the October 1950 selection. A proposed movie project failed because Erdman refused to allow the addition of a range war. She knew from her meticulous research that such events almost never occurred in the settlement of the Texas Panhandle.

Footnotes

1. Loula Grace Erdman. The Edge of Time (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1950), 25-26.

Review Excerpts

Primarily it is a story of women--the women who took the long wagon journey with their husbands into a country of stark newness; who faced the ever-present threat of droughts and blizzards and the terrible prairie grass fires; who planted rose bushes and bore children, and then saw to it that their children had good homes and schools and churches.

This excellent homesteading chronicle brings a young couple, Wade and Bethany Cameron, to the Texas Panhandle in the 1880s. The long wagon journey from Missouri, the dugout home, the few neighbors are as authentic as photographs in an album, and Miss Erdman views them with sympathy and pride. The slight plot is sustained. The style is keyed to the woman's viewpoint which dominates the story. A well-made old-fashioned novel, as good to own as one of Bethany's quilts.

The Edge of Time brings an appealingly romantic story and with it insight into one of the kinds of pioneering that has gone to make the nation.

The Wind Blows Free (1952)

Summary

The Wind Blows Free is the first book in Erdman's trilogy about the Pierce family of "nesters" who homesteaded in the Texas Panhandle in the 1890s. The novel follows their difficulties as they try to wrench a living from the dry land. The Pierce family has three daughters, and the first novel tells the story of the oldest daughter, 14-year-old Melinda. This novel won the Dodd, Mead-American Girl Award as the best family book.

Review Excerpts

Here is a book, while intended for older girls, that should prove interesting to young people of either sex. It is another of those absorbing, well-written and easy-to-read stories by Loula Grace Erdman... .

...an exceptionally fine story for older girls... . we feel the authenticity of the background and the material, and the story shows Loula Erdman's sympathy and understanding of the incredible hardships that the young women, especially, were faced with when they first settled in the Texas Panhandle.

My Sky is Blue (1953)

Summary

A clipping from Junior Reviewer in one of Erdman's scrapbooks provides a summary of My Sky is Blue:

Jinny Craig finds herself teaching in a one-room schoolhouse in New Mexico after a broken romance back in Missouri. She has to live in an adobe house with an almost strange woman, after making an enemy of her landlord for reasons she can't fathom. Her big teaching problem is racial prejudice--Mexicans aren't welcome in the community. For having the courage to stay when she wants to run home, and for being resourceful, she finds an answer to each of her problems--including her romantic one.

Review Excerpts

A nice, refreshing story well told, with plenty of atmosphere and lots of suspense.

It is that rare book for the teenager, a good story with suspense, romance and humor and not too goody-goody... . My Sky is Blue is a good wholesome but not insipid story for young readers.

The plotting... is far above average for intricacy, cohesiveness, and movement. Each character is a vital individual... . It is fine to have in a teenage romance a hero and heroine who are both young and intelligent, and who see their love as a serious and permanent thing of much happiness and just as much responsibility.

Three at the Wedding (1953)

Summary

Three at the Wedding starts and ends with a wedding, the same wedding. The story takes place chiefly in the thoughts and memories of three women watching the ceremony who played key roles in the lives of the couple getting married. Erdman said of this novel: "Even now, I still think it was one of the best books I have done--that it went more deeply into the minds and hearts of my characters than I have ever done before or since" ⁽¹⁾.

Footnotes

1. Loula Grace Erdman. A Time to Write (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1969), 200.

Review Excerpts

This romantic novel will move quickly off the shelves of circulating libraries and give the kind of satisfying return the reader looks for when she asks for a 'good story.' And she it will be, for this is a woman's tale to be enjoyed vicariously and to be examined with feminine delight in every romantic detail the author supplies so knowingly.

Three at the Wedding is a quietly and simply written novel, with so sure a grasp of both subject matter and organization that only in retrospect does one realize the very considerable technical achievement of its six chapters.

This book is outstanding because of Miss Erdman's understanding of human nature as revealed in the lives of these three very different types of women. Besides being a good story it will be helpful to those contemplating matrimony.

The Far Journey (1955)

Summary

Catherine Delaney's plans to travel from Missouri with her uncle and son to join her husband on their Texas Panhandle homestead go awry when her uncle is killed enroute. Catherine decides to go on alone and faces many hardships and harrowing experiences on the trail to Texas.

Review Excerpts

This is a mildly adventuresome, mildly romantic historical novel which is well written and minus the pornographic filth which so many historical novelists seem to feel is an essential part of the history.

Loula Grace Erdman, who is as well known for her excellent juvenile stories as for her novels, here achieves a book of strength and inspiration that will hold every adult reader but that observes the decencies so that it will be one to recommend to young people making the transition from teenage books to adult books. We foresee that it will be a favorite in the 'young adult' room of libraries and will make its way into the recommended lists for schools.

It takes a homely, simple story like this to remind Americans of the heroism of our own great-grandmothers, and our great-greats, who crossed the plains in covered wagons, forded rivers, fought off Indians, braved dust storms, wild animals, blizzards and bad men in order that America might live.

The Wide Horizon (1956)

Summary

The Wide Horizon continues the story of the Pierce family who homesteaded in the Texas Panhandle. This novel revolves around Katie, the second daughter. Katie is an artistic, sensitive, dreamer who lives for the day she can go back to East Texas to live with her grandmother and attend a girls' academy. However, the grandmother's ill health forces Katie's mother to return to East Texas immediately, leaving the inexperienced Katie in charge of the household. The novel shows Katie increasing in maturity and judgment as she takes responsibility for the family home. Erdman's niece, Elizabeth Erdman, designed the original book jacket.

Review Excerpts

Like Miss Erdman's previous works, The Wide Horizon covers a sweeping canvas, and her story moves with warmth and with controlled drama. One of our most sensitive novelists, the Texas writer goes far beneath surfaces; her characters breathe and laugh and grow. The lovely story is recommended for all young ladies.

Although The Wide Horizon is primarily written for older girls, the story's appeal is much wider. Miss Erdman's insight into human emotions, especially where they concern the hidden fears and apprehensions of her characters, is at its best in her latest novel, and offers a depth not ordinarily found in books designed for a particular age group.

The Short Summer (1958)

Summary

A clipping from an Erdman scrapbook summarized The Short Summer:

The time is the summer of 1914--in the prosperous, complacent, smug, tremendously naive period just before the assassination of an Austrian archduke at Sarajevo set off the first world war. The theme is an exploration of the question, 'Is it possible for people to be untouched by what happens to other people?'

Review Excerpts

Modest in scope and emotional range, 'The Short Summer' achieves the status of a tranquilizer rather than a stimulant. Graceful and unpretentious, its appeal is directed chiefly to those who can recall the pre-war era of which Miss Erdman writes. To these, her scenes and characters will have all the validity of a cherished daguerreotype... .

The Good Land (1959)

Summary

The Good Land is the last in the trilogy of the Pierce family of Panhandle homesteaders. It belongs to the youngest daughter, Carolyn, now 15. She experiences some of the difficulties of growing up as "the baby of the family." Also, Carolyn rescues her sister Katie's floundering romance and helps an immigrant family new to the Panhandle.

Review Excerpts

It is a story of family life, of neighborliness and of a girl in adolescence--the baby of the family yearning to be treated as an adult--that comes alive in Miss Erdman's book. She convincingly describes the girl's feelings and relationships with her relatives and beau... . Beyond the principle narrative lies the story of a family managing to live a full life with meager trimmings. This is a family who stuck it out on the plains.

Many a Voyage (1960; revised edition 1967)

Summary

Many a Voyage is the story of Fannie Ross, the wife of Senator Edmund Ross, the man whose vote saved President Andrew Johnson from conviction during the historic impeachment trial. The book jacket explains:

... the remarkable story of one woman's odyssey in following her husband through the most taxing years of America's past. In telling it, Loula Grace Erdman gives a memorable portrait of the half-century that encompassed the bitter anti-slavery struggle, the Civil War and its chaotic aftermath in the Reconstruction era.

Review Excerpts

[Erdman] chronicles the life of Edmund G. Ross, the Kansas senator whose deciding vote saved Andrew Johnson from impeachment. Events are seen through the eyes of his wife Fannie... . Chief appeal for women readers.

The Man Who Told the Truth (1962)

Summary

From book jacket:

The novel and the stories in this volume are varied in mood and theme, but they all reveal Miss Erdman's skill in getting below the surface of everyday life. The novel, The Man Who Told the Truth, is about a stranger in a Texas town. Oddly reticent about his own past, his personal observations about other peoples' lives brought understanding and help to some, love to others. Then ... the townspeople learned his secret.

Review Excerpts

If you're looking for light reading, or pleasant short stories with happy endings, this book is for you. Miss Erdman is a skillful story teller who gets beneath the surface in the lives of her characters.

This book contains a short novel and six short stories. Each piece is written with a sort of small-town, old-fashioned charm. The way of life which forms the author's point of view is not really a thing of the past, but because so much fiction of today concerns a faster paced, less settled sort of life, it is rather pleasant to dip into this volume and see life moving more slowly and thoughtfully.

Room to Grow (1962)

Summary

A clipping from Erdman's scrapbook contains this summary of Room to Grow:

In 1901 the French Danton family came to America to settle in the Texas Panhandle. There Celeste, Michele and Mamma sometimes were homesick, but that never lasted long. Soon all of the Dantons participate in existing events, such as the pie supper for which Papa auctions off the pies. Another is when Pierre and Celeste go alone to the roundup to claim their cattle. Almost before they realized it, the Dantons were Americans. Ages 8-12.

Review Excerpts

It is a lively and beguiling account with accent on the not often stressed French heritage in Texas. Most heartily recommended.

Life was Simpler Then (1963)

Summary

Life was Simpler Then contains articles and essays that portray life as it was during Erdman's youth in rural Missouri.

Review Excerpts

[Life was Simpler Then] is sure to strike a nostalgic chord in the memory of anyone over 40 who remembers a middle class upbringing in the country or a small town in the late teens or early 20s... . Readers of her fiction will find... a key to many of the ideas and attitudes reflected in her earlier books.

Life was Simpler Then is divided into four seasons, and it unerringly sets down dear, and for the most part, departed domestic rites and festivals which engrossed a family of children 30 or 40 years ago... . There's hardly anything in the book which you don't wish had been preserved and brought along into the now of the twentieth century.

A Wonderful Thing, and Other Stories (1964)

Summary

This book is a collection of 14 short stories for young people. It contains both fiction and non-fiction.

Review Excerpts

As always, Miss Erdman's writing is tailor-made for her audience, a fact which has endeared her to librarians and teachers. And young people are sure to enjoy her crisp, clear, fast-paced style and will best appreciate her knack, acquired from years of teaching, for young characters believable to others. There is great variety in the stories and enough romance in them to suit young sentimentalists.

...a collection of short stories written to the youngsters' tastes, tangy and bittersweet, full of fully realized characters, any story of which might be a contender for place in an adult collection of best stories of the year.

Another Spring (1966)

Summary

Another Spring depicts the misery of dislocation visited upon thousands of Missourians in 1863 as a result of the infamous military Order Number Eleven. As the book jacket explains:

... the military order was posted in four western counties of Missouri, banishing by federal edict all inhabitants, sympathizers of the Union as well as the Confederacy. Harried by roaming hostile bands, their homes burned, thousands fled the proscribed areas. Erdman's novel follows two families as they struggle to survive.

Review Excerpts

Not a story of battlefield glory and horror, this is a novel of the helplessness of innocent persons displaced by the absurdities of war. Miss Erdman is at her best when writing as she has done before, of Missouri, and her knowledge of the region and its people and her research of the era contribute much. Another Spring is for all libraries wishing to add good historical fiction of the Civil War period.

A well-told novel of regional history, of special interest to Kansans and Missourians.

A Time to Write (1969)

Summary

A Time to Write is Erdman's autobiography. It focuses more on her writing life than on her personal life and contains much good, practical advice for aspiring writers. Erdman's tone is humorous, self-effacing, and engaging. Her clear writing style draws the reader effortlessly through the book. Persons interested in Erdman's life may wish to visit the Cornette Library Erdman Collection and read her personal journals (1936 to 1976).

Review Excerpts

This is more than a how-to book--although many readers will find interesting her counsel on finding and organizing material. Her writing-reminiscences fill many of her most enjoyable pages; she writes with an easy charm... . A warm, informal book, not 'literary' but unpretentious and easy to take.

Now in A Time to Write this Texan by adoption writes informally (and always interestingly) about writing and research, her own career, her relations with publishers, and the rewards--and frustrations--of a writer's life. Necessarily autobiographical, her engaging story is both modestly and honestly written. She records her disappointments as well as her triumphs.

A Bluebird Will Do (1973)

Summary

From book jacket:

Nancy Sullivan was only sixteen, but already she'd had adventures to last a lifetime. Her family had made the trip overland by wagon train from Illinois when everyone had 'gold fever.' Papa never made it to San Francisco, but Nancy and her mother buckled down and made a living there by serving meals. And then her mother died, and Nancy was faced with a decision: to carry on alone, or try to hunt up Cousin Matilda in New Orleans. Veiled threats headed her back East, and this is the colorful story of her return trip across the Isthmus of Panama.

Review Excerpts

The engaging story is probably true to the times, but the characters are insufficiently developed. Grades 5-9.

Save Weeping for the Night (1975)

Summary

Save Weeping for the Night is based on the true story of Erdman's fellow Missourian Bettie Shelby, wife of Confederate general Joseph Shelby. The novel portrays their meeting and follows the couple's lives both before and after the war. Cornette Library's Erdman Collection has a typescript of this novel as well as correspondence between Erdman and her publisher about it.

Review Excerpts

In this fictionalized biography, Bettie Shelby comes across as an echo of her husband, a man who consistently chose the losing side. Rather than swear allegiance to a Carpetbagger government in Missouri, Confederate General Jo Shelby accepted a land grant from Maximillian in Mexico. After the triumph of Benito Juarez, Shelby and his followers were forced to leave the country. Bettie carried their five children from one disaster to another to the next and, according to Erdman, never complained or criticized and literally could not live without her husband, dying only a few months after him. The author, a Missourian who grew up near the Shelby home, is biased toward the Southern cause... .

Holdings

Provenance

Donated to the Friends of the Cornette Library organization in October 1991 by the family of Loula Grace Erdman.

Access

The Loula Grace Erdman collection is stored in the Frank M. Blackburn Reading Room in Special Collections. Patrons wanting to use materials from the Erdman Collection will be asked to do so in a designated secure reading room within Special Collections. These materials are not available for loan and may not be removed from this area. Staff will make photocopies of Erdman Collection materials for patrons for a fee when the condition of the item permits, based on the judgment of the Special Collections Librarian and staff. Patrons should check the hours Special Collections is open and allow time to read policies and fill out required forms during their visits. Please call (806)651-2208 or send us an e-mail (sjohnson@wtamu.edu) for further information.

Arrangement

A section of shelving in the Blackburn Reading Room is devoted to the Erdman Collection, and no elaborate system of arrangement is needed due to the small size of the collection. The diaries (1936-1976), three scrapbooks, Erdman's personal copies of her books (first edition publishers' presentation copies), other books donated along with the collection, and an "Album of Remembrances" are on the shelf and are easily retrievable. The shelf also holds a small box that contains a typescript of the novel Save Weeping for the Night, a typescript entitled Impressions of the Panhandle, two file folders of correspondence generated mostly in 1974 and 1975, 49 photographs, and a book contract. The WTAMU Archives contains three file folders of newspaper clippings, each with an index.

Biographical Note

Loula Grace Erdman was born in 1898 near Alma, Missouri, the daughter of Augustus F. and Mollie (Maddox) Erdman. She earned a bachelor's degree in 1931 from Central Missouri State College (now Central Missouri State University) and a master's degree in 1941 from Columbia University. She taught in elementary and junior high schools in Amarillo, Texas, before accepting employment at West Texas State College (now West Texas A&M University) in Canyon in 1945 as a teacher of creative writing and assistant professor of English.

Already the author of numerous short stories and articles, Erdman took a friend's advice and tried her hand at writing a "career book." She produced Separate Star (1944), a novel aimed at young women aspiring to become teachers. She followed up with a second career novel for young potential teachers, Fair is the Morning (1945). These popular novels received favorable reviews, and Eleanor Roosevelt praised Fair is the Morning in her newspaper column, "This is My Day." Erdman next tried her hand at writing an adult novel, The Years of the Locust (1946). This novel won the biennial $10,000 Dodd, Mead-Redbook prize.

Next came Lonely Passage (1948), a novel that Erdman liked better at the time than her other books. She believed it was the least favorite of everyone else. Erdman's next offering was one of her best: The Edge of Time, (1950), an adult novel about newlyweds Wade and Bethany Cameron, who left the comforts of their native Missouri on their wedding day in 1885 to homestead in the barren Texas Panhandle. This novel is often considered her best work. Erdman also wrote a popular Panhandle trilogy about the Pierce family of homesteaders. These books were The Wind Blows Free (1952), The Wide Horizon (1956), and The Good Land (1959). The Far Journey (1955) told the story of a young wife who drove a covered wagon from Missouri to Texas with her son to join her husband there. Room to Grow (1962) concerned the "Americanization" of a French family who moved to the Texas Panhandle. The Panhandle pioneer novels covered the years from 1885 through the early part of the twentieth century.

Erdman is perhaps best known and remembered for her Panhandle novels, even though she wrote a total of 21 books, for both adults and juveniles, in the course of a long, distinguished career as a novelist. The Texas Panhandle novels are almost unique because they present the experience of the homesteaders rather than the ranchers and because Erdman focuses on the experience of the women pioneers.

Erdman also wrote many shorter works. In addition to contributing short stories to anthologies and English textbooks, she contributed short stories and articles to popular magazines such as Reader's Digest, Woman's Home Companion, Ladies' Home Journal, Christian Herald, American Girl, and Country Home. Erdman also published several articles in education journals such as Today's Education, English Journal, and Instructor.

In addition to the Dodd, Mead-Redbook cash prize, Erdman won the Dodd, Mead-American Girl Award in 1952, the Texas Institute of Letters Juvenile Book Award in 1962 and 1974, and the Steck Vaughn Award in 1974. Her novels were translated into many languages (German, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Indonesian, and Bengali) and were sold all over the world.

Information about Erdman appears in many standard reference works, such as Who's Who of American Women, Something About the Author, More Junior Authors, Authors of Books for Young People, Texas Writers of Today, American Novelists of Today, Twentieth Century Western Writers, and Contemporary Authors. Please see reference book listings and other sources for more information.

Loula Grace Erdman died on June 20, 1976, and was buried in her home state of Missouri. She never married. She was survived by her brother and sister, two nieces, and one nephew.

Scope and Comment Note

The Edge of Time is the only novel still in print in 2002. (It was selected to be number 11 in the Texas Tradition Series of classic Texas novels reprinted by the Texas Christian University Press.) However, Erdman books are widely available at libraries and from used book dealers. Consequently, the Erdman Collection contains no rare books. Researchers may find it more difficult to locate Erdman's articles and short stories. The WTAMU Erdman Collection and archives contain several of these items. Also, the reviews in minor publications that the Collection contains may be difficult to locate elsewhere. (The Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum Research Center, a 10-minute walk from Cornette Library on the WTAMU campus, also has two scrapbooks of clippings as well as other Erdman items, including manuscripts. PPHM Archives personnel may be contacted by calling (806)651-2261 or by emailing the PPHM Research Center.)

Erdman's personal, handwritten journals cover the years 1936 through 1976.

The folders in the collection's single box contain 49 photographs, correspondence, mostly from 1974 and 1975, primarily with her Dodd, Mead Company editor. The correspondence sheds light on the circumstances surrounding the writing of Erdman's last novel, Save Weeping for the Night. Two typescripts are included: Save Weeping for the Night and Impressions of the Panhandle.

Memorabilia is included in the collection, mostly in the scrapbooks, but the main item in this category is a small, pink fabric-covered book with a ceramic oval on the front that has Erdman's initials on it. This book, called an "Album of Remembrances" in the provenance document, was presented to her at a reception celebrating the publication of her autobiography, A Time to Write, in 1969. It contains many affectionate and personal messages from her family and many friends.

The Erdman Collection also contains publisher presentation copies of Erdman's books (first editions). These books are not available for checkout, but most of Erdman's novels are available in Cornette Library's loan collection.

Inventory

Correspondence, Photographs, and Other Items

Box 1

A set of small envelopes containing 49 photographs, mostly of Erdman alone or with other people.

FF1

• Correspondence with Dodd, Mead Company, 1969 (1), 1974, 1975 (Most items concern Save Weeping for the Night.)
• Letter from Lew Larkin, 8-30-75
• Letter to Marjorie Kinney, Kansas City (Missouri) Public Library, 9-7-75

FF2

Book contract with Dodd, Mead and Company (dated 5-6-74) for Story of Bettie Shelby, which later received the title Save Weeping for the Night

FF3

• Correspondence with Dodd, Mead and Company, 1969 (1), 1974, 1975. (Most items concern Save Weeping for the Night.)
• Book jacket from Save Weeping for the Night with note attached from Dodd, Mead and Company dated 12-12-74.
• Letter from Robert Burch dated 5-22-75
• Ordering blank from Neiman-Marcus InCircle

FF4

Undated typescript of Impressions of the Panhandle.

FF5

Undated typescript of Save Weeping for the Night.

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Personal Journals

One covering each year from 1936 to 1976. Year is printed on spine.

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Erdman's Personal Copies of Novels

• Another Spring
• A Bluebird Will Do
• The Edge of Time
• The Far Journey (2)
• The Good Land (2)
• Life was Simpler Then (2)
• Lonely Passage
• The Man Who Told the Truth
• Many a Voyage (2)
• Room to Grow
• Save Weeping for the Night
• The Short Summer
• Three at the Wedding (2)
• A Time to Write
• The Wide Horizon (2)
• The Wind Blows Free (2)
• A Wonderful Thing and Other Stories
• The Years of the Locust

Note: These first-edition books are half-leather with publisher's presentation binding, spine gilt extra, cloth or paper covers, and embellished with modest gilt rules. Some are first British editions.

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Scrapbooks

Maroon scrapbook

Items listed below are interspersed with newspaper clippings and book reviews. Reviews of the following books are contained in this scrapbook:

• Separate Star
• Fair is the Morning
• (The article by Eleanor Roosevelt about Fair is the Morning is included in this scrapbook.)
• Erdman poems, 1932, Kansas City Journal Post
• Postcard from Texas Writers of Today requesting information.
• Followup postcard from Texas Writers of Today.
• Remittance blank (acceptance slip) for first published article, "Good Match."
• Letter regarding the translation of The Years of the Locust into Arabic.
• Letter from agent about sale of a short story, "The House," to Capper's Farmer.
• Telegram from Helen Mildred Owen about use of "Roosevelt article."
• Letter from Country Home magazine about manuscript, 5-22-35.
• Letter of encouragement from Frank Clay Ross, 7-20-35.
• Letter from M. Bernice Wheeler of Country Home about correction of errors.
• Handmade flyer for public review by Erdman of Separate Star.
• Thank-you note from Eleanor Roosevelt for book Erdman sent her.
• Future Teachers of America program.
• Letter from PFC Carroll Miller about Separate Star.
• Longman's catalog (publisher of Separate Star).
• Handmade picture frame(?) representing Fair is the Morning.
• Letter from Longman's (publisher) with duplicate reviews.
• Program from Southwest Book Fair, Dallas, 1945.
• Letter from Eugene Field Society extending Erdman honorary membership.
• West Texas Wings flyer(?) with Erdman story, "...and Toward Men, Goodwill."
• Slide of house in the snow.
• Bookmark hand printed with the words "My Sky is Blue."
• Amarillo Business and Professional Women's meeting program.
• Slide of Erdman and friend(?).
• Small blue plastic holder, perhaps for slides.

Green scrapbook

Items listed below are interspersed with newspaper clippings and book reviews. Reviews of the following books are contained in this scrapbook:

• The Edge of Time
• The Wind Blows Free
• My Sky is Blue
• Three at the Wedding
• The Far Journey
• First rejection letter from the Higginsville Advance, dated 5-20-12.
• Two photographs or Erdman and friends(?)
• Letter (fan mail) from Annie M. Mt. Castle (sic)
• Letter from Dodd, Mead and Company about translations of The Years of the Locust.
• Book jacket from The Edge of Time.
• Family Reading Club News brochure about The Edge of Time.
• Subscriber letter from Redbook describing The Edge of Time.
• Engraved invitation to autograph party for Lonely Passage.
• Advertisement for autograph party.
• Telegram from Laura V. Hamner.
• Note from friend.
• Telegram from Alice Puckett.
• Miniature copy of The Edge of Time from Unity Study Club.
• Engraved invitation to autograph party for The Edge of Time.
• Letter from pioneer attesting to the realism of The Edge of Time.
• Letter from Anna E. Masterson.
• Letter from Elizabeth McMurray.
• Letter (fan mail) from Dorothy Elder.
• Letter (fan mail) from Laura G. Pendergast.
• Letter (fan mail) [signature illegible].
• Letter from "Mary" (friend).
• Letter from The Writer requesting an article.
• Invitation to cocktail party in New York City.
• Postcard from Mary Margaret [illegible].
• Description of The Edge of Time from the Dodd, Mead catalog.
• "End of a Good Era" article from Reader's Digest mentioning Erdman article.
• Bookmark of Perryton Sorosis Club dedicated to Guest Day with Erdman.
• Letter from Canyon High School Library Club.
• Engraved napkin ("Welcome, Miss Erdman").
• Postcard showing Erdman as guest speaker for unidentified event.
• Telegram from Bertha L. Gunterman.
• Telegram from "Lilian."
• Description of Three at the Wedding from Dodd, Mead catalog.
• Booklet featuring The Far Journey for book club (Sears, Roebuck).

Red scrapbook

Items listed below are interspersed with newspaper clippings and book reviews. Reviews of the following books are contained in this scrapbook:

• The Far Journey
• The Wide Horizon
• The Short Summer
• The Good Land
• Many a Voyage
• The Man Who Told the Truth
• Room to Grow
• Letter about translation of The Wind Blows Free into Arabic.
• Brochure about Franklin Publications, Inc. (published foreign versions).
• Book jacket for The Short Summer.
• Letter from biographer, Ernestine P. Sewell.
• Letter about translation of The Years of the Locust into Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Bengali, and Indonesian.
• Empty envelopes from Iraq.
• Program from Pen Women event in Washington, DC.
• Flyer for lecture series at New Mexico Highlands University.
• Ticket to "Citizens for Eisenhower Rally" at Madison Square Garden, 10-25-56.
• Letter from The New York Times about creative writing contest for children.
• Compiler's copy of information sent for publication in Who's Who of American Women.
• Letter from State Library Commission of North Dakota acknowledging receipt of copy of The Man Who Told the Truth.
• Engraved invitation to event honoring Erdman July 8, 1957.
• Customs dock pass for Loula Grace Erdman and Elizabeth Erdman.
• Invitation to meeting honoring Erdman.
• Letter from Texas Institute of Letters regarding award for Room to Grow.
• Postcard from Lucinda Parr Gould.
• Section of brochure from Family Bookshelf about Many a Voyage.
• Program for Kansas Association of School Librarians annual dinner meeting (Erdman was speaker).
• Program for Writers' Roundup, 1955.

Reference Resources

Reference Books

• Loula Grace Erdman. 1972. In American Authors and Books. 1640 to the present day. 3rd revised edition. 197.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1951. In American Novelists of Today. Reprinted 1976. 136.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1971. In Authors of Books for Young People. 2nd edition. 159.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1990. In Authors of Books for Young People. 3rd edition. 212.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1953. In Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. 2:299.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1965. In Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. 6:175.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1967. In Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. 7:201.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1973. In Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. 9:216.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1988. In Biography Index. A cumulative index to biographical material in books and magazines. 15:235.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1963. In Contemporary Authors. A bio-bibliographical guide to current authors and their works. 7-8:152.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1983. In Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields. 10:159.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1998. In Contemporary Authors, New Revision Series. A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields. 63:120-122.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1974. In Directory of American Scholars. 6th edition. 2:183.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1983. In Encyclopedia of Frontier and Western Fiction. 85-86.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1970. In Foremost Women in Communications. A biographical reference work on accomplished women in broadcasting, publishing, advertising, public relations, and allied professions. 193.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1970. In Index to Women of the World from Ancient to Modern Times. Biographies and portraits. 167.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1963. In More Junior Authors. 79-80.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1971. In Something about the Author. Facts and pictures about authors and illustrators of books for young people. 1:88-89.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1971. In Texas Writers of Today. 172.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1982. In Twentieth-Century Western Writers. 1st edition. 271.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1958. In Who's Who of American Women. 1st edition. 389.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1961. In Who's Who of American Women. 2nd edition. 304.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1963. In Who's Who of American Women. 3rd edition. 308.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1965. In Who's Who of American Women. 4th edition. 352-353.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1967. In Who's Who of American Women. 5th edition. 363.
• Loula Grace Erdman. 1971. In Who's Who of American Women. 7th edition. 254.

Other Sources

• Erdman, Loula Grace. 1969. A time To Write. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.
• Sewell, Ernestine P. 1970. Loula Grace Erdman. Southwest Writers Series, 33. Austin: Steck-Vaughn Co. (Contains selected bibliography that provides citations to her books, stories, articles, and essays.)
• Sewell, Ernestine P. 1972. An interview with Loula Grace Erdman. Southwestern American Literature 2(1): 33-41.
• Speer, Mary Thompson. 1959. Four women writers of the Southwest: Mary Hunter Austin, Dorothy Scarborough, Katherine Anne Porter, Loula Grace Erdman. Master's thesis, University of Texas at El Paso.