Eugene Manlove Rhodes collection
Collection
Identifier: Ms-0003
Scope and Contents
The Eugene Manlove Rhodes Collection spans the years 1900 to the 1990s. It includes items relating to Eugene Manlove Rhodes, his wife May, and son, Alan. There is also a large series of materials related to the life and work of Rhodes collected by a variety of different people. The collection is arranged by series which include manuscripts of books, stories, essays, book reviews, poems, personal papers, research notes, correspondence, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, autographed book covers, published materials, and photographs. Also included is handwritten manuscripts, correspondence both to and from Rhodes, research notebooks and papers, published writings, scrapbooks, and photographs The papers are most often arranged chronologically or alphabetically by subject. Some items from the collection have been dispersed and a list of these is included.
This collection was originally processed in 1976. Dates and notes were apparently written on some of the materials by those responsible for processing the collection or perhaps by the donors themselves. Researchers should use caution in relying on both the accuracy and content of those notes, as the identity of who completed them has not been authenticated.
Dates
- 1900-1990
Biographical / Historical
Eugene Manlove Rhodes was the author of many western books and stories about New Mexico. He believed that the story of his life appeared in his work. In 1928, he wrote the following autobiography in a booklet for the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad:
Eugene Manlove Rhodes came to New Mexico in 1881, as a boy of twelve. From 1881 to 1886 he worked for several cattle outfits, known respectively as the KY, KIM, John Cross, Bar Cross, and 7TX - longest for the Bar Cross on the Jornada del Muerto. In earlier days did a little mining and freighting; later set up a ranch of his own in the San Andres. Held four acres in El Paso, 1893; in Organ, N.M., 1896; in New York, 1908. Held straight flush in New York, 1913.
“Mr. Rhodes wrote his first stories for Out West in 1902 and 1904. He went East in 1906 to write more stories. Arrived in New York with a guitar, a scrapbook and $3.50 in cash, with indebtedness of $2500. Returned to New Mexico in 1926 with three scrapbooks and a family, the guitar being broken. In the interim, wrote seven books and about a hundred short stories, all except five of the stories dealing with New Mexico and New Mexicans.”
Rhodes was born in Tecumseh, Nebraska, on January 19, 1869 to Colonel Hinman Rhodes and Julia Manlove Rhodes. He had a brother, Clarence Edgar Rhodes and a sister, Helen Mabel Rhodes. His boyhood was spent in Kansas, his formal education ending at age ten. His mother’s home instruction provided him with a foundation for his literary knowledge. In 1881, Eugene and his father moved to establish a homestead in Engle, New Mexico. Rhodes referred to his arrival by stating, “I came to New Mexico the year that Billy the Kid was killed.” In 1882, after building a cabin and corrals the rest of the family joined them.
Eugene’s early jobs in New Mexico included stints as a horse wrangler, a well- digger, a miner, an army scout, a freighter, and a cowboy. Above all, Rhodes loved books and he is said to have read even on horseback. In 1883, Rhodes went to work for the Bar Cross Ranch and this experience would provide a lasting inspiration for his stories and books.
From 1888 to 1890 Rhodes attended the College of the Pacific. However, because of financial pressures he was unable to complete his education. When he returned to New Mexico in 1890 he taught school briefly, then built a ranch of about eighty acres with cattle and horses close to his family’s original homestead near Rhodes Pass in the San Andres Mountains. He developed a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Everybody seemed to know and have a story to tell about him and these friendships provided characters for his stories that endured for many years. Rhodes, inspired by his work as a cowhand and in ranching began to write about his experiences.
From about 1896 to 1902, Rhodes was involved in a long distance courtship with May Davidson Purple from Apalachin, New York. The tale of their meeting and subsequent marriage is recounted in W.H. Hutchinson’s book, A Bar Cross Man. The two were married on August 9, 1899. Rhodes returned to New Mexico to earn enough money to bring his family west. The family lived in Tularosa, New Mexico for two years where a son, Alan was born on June 12, 1901. May traveled home to Apalachin in 1902 to visit her parents and decided to remain, leaving Rhodes by himself from 1902 to 1906. During these lonely years he wrote at least ten stories. He visited friends, wrote, and read books. In 1904, a flood destroyed his ranch and corrals and by April of 1906 he had decided to join his family in New York.
For the next twenty years Rhodes lived and wrote in New York. This period is often referred to as his “years of exile.” It was in New York that he reconstructed his beloved New Mexico in fictional tales and essays. His work was published in the Saturday Evening Post, in Out West, and in other magazines. He would also publish six books during this period. During this time, his young daughter, Barbara, only twenty months old, died. It was her death that inspired the story, “The Brave Adventure.” By 1926, Rhodes’ health had deteriorated and he longed to return to New Mexico.
In September of 1917, Gene and May moved to New Mexico. They settled in Alamogordo where they were joined by their son, Alan. Soon after, a long time friend, Albert Fall, allowed them to live in the “Rock House” on his ranch until 1929. Failing health necessitated another move to a different climate. The Rhodes family moved to California in 1931 where they lived near the ocean between La Jolla and San Diego. Here Rhodes wrote, corresponded with old friends, played baseball, and enjoyed his later years. He died on June 27, 1934 and at his request was buried in New Mexico close to his original ranch headquarters at Rhodes Pass in the San Andres Mountains.
References
Hutchinson, W.H. A Bar Cross Man. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956. Rhodes, May. The Hired Man on Horseback. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1938. Townsend, David. “A Man To Take Along.” Eugene Manlove Rhodes Collection. Ms 0003, Archives and Special Collections, New Mexico State University Library.
Eugene Manlove Rhodes came to New Mexico in 1881, as a boy of twelve. From 1881 to 1886 he worked for several cattle outfits, known respectively as the KY, KIM, John Cross, Bar Cross, and 7TX - longest for the Bar Cross on the Jornada del Muerto. In earlier days did a little mining and freighting; later set up a ranch of his own in the San Andres. Held four acres in El Paso, 1893; in Organ, N.M., 1896; in New York, 1908. Held straight flush in New York, 1913.
“Mr. Rhodes wrote his first stories for Out West in 1902 and 1904. He went East in 1906 to write more stories. Arrived in New York with a guitar, a scrapbook and $3.50 in cash, with indebtedness of $2500. Returned to New Mexico in 1926 with three scrapbooks and a family, the guitar being broken. In the interim, wrote seven books and about a hundred short stories, all except five of the stories dealing with New Mexico and New Mexicans.”
Rhodes was born in Tecumseh, Nebraska, on January 19, 1869 to Colonel Hinman Rhodes and Julia Manlove Rhodes. He had a brother, Clarence Edgar Rhodes and a sister, Helen Mabel Rhodes. His boyhood was spent in Kansas, his formal education ending at age ten. His mother’s home instruction provided him with a foundation for his literary knowledge. In 1881, Eugene and his father moved to establish a homestead in Engle, New Mexico. Rhodes referred to his arrival by stating, “I came to New Mexico the year that Billy the Kid was killed.” In 1882, after building a cabin and corrals the rest of the family joined them.
Eugene’s early jobs in New Mexico included stints as a horse wrangler, a well- digger, a miner, an army scout, a freighter, and a cowboy. Above all, Rhodes loved books and he is said to have read even on horseback. In 1883, Rhodes went to work for the Bar Cross Ranch and this experience would provide a lasting inspiration for his stories and books.
From 1888 to 1890 Rhodes attended the College of the Pacific. However, because of financial pressures he was unable to complete his education. When he returned to New Mexico in 1890 he taught school briefly, then built a ranch of about eighty acres with cattle and horses close to his family’s original homestead near Rhodes Pass in the San Andres Mountains. He developed a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. Everybody seemed to know and have a story to tell about him and these friendships provided characters for his stories that endured for many years. Rhodes, inspired by his work as a cowhand and in ranching began to write about his experiences.
From about 1896 to 1902, Rhodes was involved in a long distance courtship with May Davidson Purple from Apalachin, New York. The tale of their meeting and subsequent marriage is recounted in W.H. Hutchinson’s book, A Bar Cross Man. The two were married on August 9, 1899. Rhodes returned to New Mexico to earn enough money to bring his family west. The family lived in Tularosa, New Mexico for two years where a son, Alan was born on June 12, 1901. May traveled home to Apalachin in 1902 to visit her parents and decided to remain, leaving Rhodes by himself from 1902 to 1906. During these lonely years he wrote at least ten stories. He visited friends, wrote, and read books. In 1904, a flood destroyed his ranch and corrals and by April of 1906 he had decided to join his family in New York.
For the next twenty years Rhodes lived and wrote in New York. This period is often referred to as his “years of exile.” It was in New York that he reconstructed his beloved New Mexico in fictional tales and essays. His work was published in the Saturday Evening Post, in Out West, and in other magazines. He would also publish six books during this period. During this time, his young daughter, Barbara, only twenty months old, died. It was her death that inspired the story, “The Brave Adventure.” By 1926, Rhodes’ health had deteriorated and he longed to return to New Mexico.
In September of 1917, Gene and May moved to New Mexico. They settled in Alamogordo where they were joined by their son, Alan. Soon after, a long time friend, Albert Fall, allowed them to live in the “Rock House” on his ranch until 1929. Failing health necessitated another move to a different climate. The Rhodes family moved to California in 1931 where they lived near the ocean between La Jolla and San Diego. Here Rhodes wrote, corresponded with old friends, played baseball, and enjoyed his later years. He died on June 27, 1934 and at his request was buried in New Mexico close to his original ranch headquarters at Rhodes Pass in the San Andres Mountains.
References
Hutchinson, W.H. A Bar Cross Man. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956. Rhodes, May. The Hired Man on Horseback. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1938. Townsend, David. “A Man To Take Along.” Eugene Manlove Rhodes Collection. Ms 0003, Archives and Special Collections, New Mexico State University Library.
Extent
25 Linear Feet (22 Boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Eugene Manlove Rhodes collection consists of manuscripts of books, essays, articles, poetry, book reviews, and short stories. Also included are items from Rhodes’ wife, May Davidson Rhodes, and a variety of material related to the life and work of Rhodes.
General
Items sent to Special Collections:
Hutchinson, W.H. A Bar Cross Man. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956.----- A Bar Cross Liar. Stillwater, OK: Redlands Press, 1959.
Appendix A: Rhodes materials in Special Collections
The items listed below can be found in Special Collections in the New Mexico State University Library. This list includes, books and articles of Rhodes publications and other publications related to Rhodes. Multiple copies may exist of an edition but it has only been listed once. Copies of the items listed may be available in the circulating collection of the NMSU Library.
Coan, Otis W. America in fiction; an annotated list of novels that interpret aspects of life in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Palo Alto, Calif., Pacific Books, 1967.
Cunningham, Eugene. Triggernometry; a gallery of gunfighters. With technical notes on leather slapping as a fine art, gathered from many a loose holstered expert over the years. With a foreword by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. New York, The Press of the Pioneers, 1934.
Cunningham, Eugene. Triggernometry: a gallery of gunfighters: with technical notes on leather slapping as a fine art, gathered from many a loose holstered expert over the years. With a foreword by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1956, c1941.
Cunningham, Eugene. Triggernometry: a gallery of gunfighters. With technical notes on leather slapping as a fine art, gathered from many a loose holstered expert over the years. With a foreword by Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Printers, 1975, c1941.
Dearing, Frank V. ed. The Best Novels and Stories of Eugene Manlove Rhodes. With an introduction by J. Frank Dobie. Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1949.
________. Sunset land: the best novels of Eugene Manlove Rhodes. New York, N.Y.: Dell Pub. Co., [1955], c1949.
Eidenbach, Peter L. A poetical key to Eugene Manlove Rhodes' Bransford in Arcadia or The Little Eohippus. [New Mexico]: [s.n.], 2001.
________. The Best Novels and Stories of Eugene Manlove Rhodes. With an introduction by J. Frank Dobie. Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press, 1987, c1949.
French, William. Some recollections of a western ranchman: New Mexico, 1883-1889. New York: Frederick A. Stokes [1928]
Greer, Hilton Ross. “The star of empire.” Best Short Stories from the Southwest. Dallas: Southwest Press, 1928.
Hutchinson, W. H. ed. The Line of Least Resistance. Chico, Calif.: Hurst & Yount, 1958. ________. The Rhodes reader: stories of virgins, villains, and varmints. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press, 1975.
Hyams, Jay. The life and times of the western movie. New York City: Gallery Books, c1983.
Keleher, Julia. “Los Paisanos.” New Mexico Quarterly Review. (Winter, 1946): 528-531.
Michael D. Heaston Company. Americana IV. Austin, Tex.: The Company, [1984?]
Phillips, Henry Wallace. "A Touch of Nature." Red Saunder's pets, and other critters. New York: Doubleday, Page, 1910, c1906.
Rhodes, Eugene Manlove. “Are Americans People? A symposium.” Story World v. 4, no. 10. (April 1923): 59-64.
________. “A Ballade of Wild Bees.” Out West v. 16, no. 3, (March, 1902.)
________. “A Ballade of Wild Bees.” Out West v. 16, no. 3 (Mar. 1902).
________. The Bar Cross Liar. New York: Harper, 1985.
________. The Bar Cross Liar. San Diego: Hutchison & Hutchison, 1982.
________. A Bar Cross Man; the life & personal writings of Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [1956]
________. “A Beggar on Horseback.” Out West. v. 27, no. 5 (Nov. 1907).
________. “Bell-the-cat.” Zane Grey's Western Magazine. vol. 1, no. 10 (Dec. 1947): 160-166.
________. The Best Novels and Stories of Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1949.
________. “Beyond the Desert.” In Great tales of American West, ed. Harry E. Maule, 78-99. New York : Modern Library, c1945.
________. Beyond the Desert. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1934.
________. “Beyond the Desert.” Saturday Evening Post. v. 206, no. 48-50 (May 26, June 2,
June 9, 1934)
________. Beyond the Desert. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, [1967, c1934] ________. Beyond the Desert. New York : Grosset & Dunlap, [1936], c1934. ________. “The Bird in the Bush.” American West in fiction (1982): 159-186. ________. “The Blunderer's Mark.” Out West. v. 19, no. 5 (Nov. 1903): 514-520.
________. Bransford in Arcadia. or, The Little Eohippus. New York: H. Holt, 1914. ________. Bransford in Arcadia. or, The Little Eohippus. Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, c1975.
________. Bransford of Rainbow Range. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, c1914.
________. Bransford of Rainbow Range. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, c1920.
________. The Brave Adventure. Clarendon, Texas: Clarendon Press, 1971.
________. “The Captain of the Gate.” Out West. v. 16, no. 4 (Apr. 1902): 391-396.
________. “The Civilized Minority.” Southwest Review. vol. 12, no. 1 (Oct. 1926): 70-71.
________. “Consider the Lizard.” Saturday Evening Post. (1954): 143-156.
________. Copper Streak Trail. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1922.
________. Copper Streak Trail. New York, Grosset & Dunlap, c1922.
________. Copper Streak Trail. New York: Hillman Periodicals, c1922.
________. Copper Streak Trail. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, c1970.
________. The Desire of the Moth: and The Come On. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, c1920.
________. “The Desire of the Moth.” Out West. v. 17, no. 4 (Oct. 1902): 446-456.
________. The Desire of the Moth. New York: H. Holt, 1916.
________. “The Early Works of Eugene Manlove Rhodes.” Out West. [S.l.: s.n., 190--?]
________. “Engle Ferry.” New Mexico Magazine (Oct., 1929).
________. Eugene Manlove Rhodes. [S.l. : s.n., 19--?]
________. Falsche Freunde: ein klassischer Western-Roman. München: W. Heyne Verlag, c1979.
________. Flucht nach Nevada: ein klassischer Western-Roman. München : W. Heyne Verlag, c1977.
________. “The Fool's Heart.” In Saturday Evening Post Reader of Western Stories, 211-236. New York : Popular Library, 1960.
________. “The Fool's Heart.” In Saturday Evening Post Reader of Western Stories, 206-231. New York : Popular Library, 1962.
________. “Four stories.” Saturday Evening Post. (1930-1939.) [S.l. : s.n., 19--?] ________. Das geheimnis der Kupfermine: ein klassischer Western-Roman. München: W.
Heyne Verlag, c1980.
________. “Gene Rhodes on Armed thugs, beer and civil war: foibles, fictions and facts of the moment as the most confirmed living westerner views them.” Touring Topics. vol. 24, no. 12 (Dec. 1932): 17, 39-40.
________. “Gene Rhodes on Bunk Holidays.” Touring Topics. vol. 25, no. 7 (June, 1933): 19, 36.
________. “Gene Rhodes on Geographical Inhumanities, etc.: foibles, fictions and facts of the moment as the most confirmed living westerner views them.” Touring Topics. vol. 25, no. 1 (Jan. 1933): 15, 37.
________. “Gene Rhodes on Hoi Polloi and the Hoity-Toity: praise and blame for the young intellectuals. I. Praise.” Touring Topics. vol. 25, no. 2 (Feb. 1933): 19, 32-33.
________. “Gene Rhodes on Hoi Polloi and the Hoity-Toity: praise and blame for the young intellectuals; II. The scorpion on the hearth.” Touring Topics. vol. 25, no. 3 (Mar. 1933): 17, 36.
________. “Gene Rhodes on The Great Tradition: foibles, fiction and facts of the moment as the most confirmed living westerner views them.” Touring Topics. vol. 25, no. 5 (Apr. 1933):
________. “Gene Rhodes on The Great Tradition: foibles, fiction and facts of the moment as the most confirmed living westerner views them.” Touring Topics. vol. 25, no. 6 (May, 1933): 23, 39.
________. Good Men and True. New York, H. Holt, 1910.
________. Good Men and True. New York: H. Holt, 1914, c1910.
________. Good Men and True; and, Hit the Line Hard. London; New York: Hodder and Stoughton, [1923]
________. Good Men and True: and, Hit the Line Hard. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, c1920. ________. “He'll make a hand!” Sunset. vol. 58, no. 6 (June 1927): 23, 89-91.
________. “His Father's Flag.” McClure's Magazine. vol. 19, no. 6 (Oct. 1902): 492-496. ________. “The Hour and the Man.” Out West. vol. 16, no. 1 (Jan. 1902): 43-52.
________. “In defense of Pat Garrett.” Sunset. vol. 59, no. 3 (Sept., 1927): 26-27, 85-91. ________. “The Line of Least Resistance.” Out West. vol. 27, no. 2 (Aug. 1907): 135-141. ________. The Little World Waddies. [El Paso, Tex., Texas Western Press?, 1946] ________. “The Long Shift.” McClure's Magazine. vol. 29, no. 4 (Aug. 1907): 384-389. ________. “Love I not honor more.” Out West. vol. 18, no. 2 (Feb. 1903): 187-195. ________. “Lubly Ge-ge and Gruffangrim.” Out West, vol. 16, no. 2, (Feb., 1902.): 166-172. ________. “Neglecting fractions.” In They know New Mexico, ed. W.J. Black, 29-31, 1928.
________. “The Numismatist: possession is nine points of the law, self-possession the tenth.” In Trolley folly, ed. Henry Wallace Phillips, 32-60. Indianapolis : Bobbs-Merrill Co., c1909.
________. Once in the Saddle, and Pasó por Aquí. Boston, Houghton Mifflin, 1927. ________. Pasó Por Aquí. Alamogordo, N. M.: Alamogordo Printing Co., 1963. ________. Pasó Por Aquí. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1973. ________. Penalosa. Santa Fe, N.M.: Writers' Editions, c1934.
________. “A Pink Trip Slip.” Out West. vol. 26, no. (Jan. 1907): 50-55. ________. The Proud Sheriff. New York: Dell Pub. Co., [1953], c1935. ________. The Proud Sheriff. London: Wright & Brown, [1935?] ________. The Proud Sheriff. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1937], c1935. ________. The Proud Sheriff. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1935.
________. The Proud Sheriff. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press [1968]
________. “The punishment and the crime: the too humorous propensities of Burt Mossman and others.” In Trolley Folly, ed. Henry Wallace Phillips, 135-164. Indianapolis : Bobbs- Merrill Co., c1909.
________. 33.
________. the
________.
________.
________.
“Putting the Westerner into Fiction.” Photodramatist. vol. 4, no. 7 (Dec. 1922): 7-8, Recognition: the poems of Eugene Manlove Rhodes. Alamogordo, N.M. : Friends of
Library, Alamogordo Public Library, c1997.
“A Reversion To Type.” Sunset. vol. 30, no. 6 (June, 1913): 749-758
“Rule-o'-thumb.” Out West. vol. 26, no. 6 (June 1907): 552-557.
Say Now Shibboleth. Little Bookfellow Series. Chicago, Bookfellows, 1921.
“Say Now Shibboleth.” In Present-day essays ed. Edwin Van B. Knickerbocker, 236-261. New York : H. Holt, c1923.
________. “Sealed orders.” Out West. vol. 25, no. 1 (July, 1906): 67-72.
________. “Slaves of the Ring.” Out West. vol. 18, no. 6 (June 1903): 722-731.
________. “Sons of the Soil.” Out West. vol. 23, no. 5 (Nov. 1905): 474-485.
________. Stepsons of Light. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1921.
________. Stepsons of Light. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press [1969, c1920]
________. “Sticky Pierce, diplomat.” Out West. vol. 25, no. 4 (Oct. 1906): 359-368.
________. Der stolze Sheriff: ein klassischer Western-Roman. München: W. Heyne Verlag, c1978.
________. “Stories of Eugene Manlove Rhodes.” Saturday Evening Post. (1910-1929).
________. “Talks In El Palacio.” Palacio. vol. 22, no. 13 (Mar. 26, 1927)
________. “Te Deum Laudamus.” Land of sunshine : the magazine of California and the West. vol. 14, no. 1 (Jan. 1901): 55.
________. “The Torch.” Out West. vol. 29, no. 2 (Aug. 1908): 128-139.
________. “A Touch of Nature.” Out West. vol. 29, no. 1 (July 1908): 70-80.
________. “The Trouble Man.” In Great Western Short Stories, ed. J. Golden Taylor, 279-299. Palo Alto, Calif. : American West Pub. Co., 1967.
________. “The Trouble Man.” In Arbor House Treasury of Great Western stories, 124-140. New York: Arbor House, c1982.
________.
________. The Trusty Knaves. New York: Editions for the Armed Services, 1933. ________. The Trusty Knaves. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1933.
________. The Trusty Knaves. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1935.
________. The Trusty Knaves. Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1971. ________. West is West. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, [1920], 1917.
________. West is West. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1917. ________. West is West. New York: H.K. Fly, 1917.
________. The Works of Eugene Manlove Rhodes. [S.l.: s.n., 19--?]
Rhodes, Eugene Manlove and Laurence Yates. A Ragtime Lady. In Today's Short Stories Analyzed ed. Neal, Robert Wilson, 67-98. New York : Oxford University Press, 1918.
Processing Information
Greg L. Beene, July 1976.
Leslie Bergloff, (reprocessed) March 2003
- Title
- Guide to the Eugene Manlove Rhodes collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Greg L. Beene, July 1976. Leslie Bergloff, (reprocessed) March 2003
- Date
- March 2003
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the New Mexico State University Library Archives and Special Collections Repository