James Edward Sisson III was born August 16, 1916 in Vernon, Alabama to Daniel W. and Susie Brown Sisson. Sisson graduated from Lamar County High School as valedictorian in 1935, and a year later enrolled in Florence State College. In 1939 Sisson graduated with at B.A., and worked for two years as a teacher in Jackson County, Alabama. After the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor, Sisson served in the US Army from 1941 to 1945 as a cryptographic technician in the Signal Intelligence Unit, in both New Guinea and the Philippines. Once the war had ended, Sisson enrolled at Auburn University, Alabama to study English and by 1947 Sisson had earned a second B.A. and a M.A. Thereafter, Sisson taught at Mississippi State University and Georgia Tech before enrolling in Duke University in 1953 to further his studies. During this time Sisson was diagnosed as having both tuberculosis and a form of skin cancer on his face, which later disfigured him. In 1957 Sisson enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley for a Ph.D. in English, studying under Professor James D. Hart. From 1967 to 1969 Sisson worked as a library assistant at The Bancroft Library. In 1970 Sisson became actively involved in researching and writing about Jack London. Discovering an unpublished literary work of London’s housed at the Library of Congress, Sisson had London’s Gold published by the Holmes Book Company in 1972. Sisson soon earned a reputation that led him to be one of the nation’s leading Jack London research scholars. Over time Sisson became internationally known for his abilities to aid researchers seeking information on Jack London. Some of his recognized works include The Fiction of Jack London: A Chronological Bibliography (1972), Jack London: First Editions (1979), and Jack London’s Articles and Short Stories in ‘The Aegis’ (1981). Sisson died in the 1986.
Source: Collection Mss 290: Box 1, Fd 1.
Provenance Note:
The papers of James Sisson were donated to USU Special Collections & Archives in 2004 by Helen Abbot, the granddaughter-inlaw of Jack London.
Scope & Content Note:
This collection contains the personal and professional papers of James Edward Sisson III. This ten box collection contains biographical information on Sisson in the form of personal papers and personal correspondence, but the bulk of the collection contains materials relevant to those conducting research on Jack London. Those desiring to use this collection for research on Jack London can primarily find information on him in the form of (1) Sisson’s research papers (2) incoming correspondence from both domestic and foreign Jack London researchers, (3) a collection of unpublished poems by numerous authors about Jack London, (4) and rare newspaper clippings and articles by and about Jack London.
Box 1 contains Sisson’s personal papers and papers concerning his research on Jack London. These papers consist of biographical information on Sisson, his graduate school papers, his address books, and some bibliographical notes on Jack London and London’s father.
Boxes 2—8 contain Sisson’s personal and professional incoming and outgoing correspondence. Outgoing correspondence is organized chronologically and incoming correspondence is organized alphabetically, then chronologically. Letters of correspondence were placed in separate folders when a single author sent more than ten letters, or if the letters were sent by Sisson’s family. Some of Sisson’s personal letters, such as letters from let his mother can be found in Boxes 6 and 7, while letters from his sister can be found in Box 5, Fd 2. Special interest letters, such as the seven incoming letters from Becky London Fleming (Jack London’s daughter) are located in Box 3, Fd 6. Many letters, which comprise the bulk of this collection, are from domestic Jack London researchers. Numerous incoming letters from international researchers, such as from Sakae Fujiwara (from Japan, working on translating London’s writing into Japanese), Eiji Tsujii (another researcher from Japan), and Jean Louis Postif (a London researcher from France, whose letters are written in French) comprise a sample of the materials in this collection.
Box 9 contains typescripts of Jack and Charmian London correspondence, Sisson’s research papers on Jack London, over two-hundred unpublished poems about Jack London, and a variety of hard-to-come-by publications about Jack London. Folder 1 contains reproductions of three Jack London letters, a photocopy of a book announcement by Jack London, and a reproduced letter of Charmian London. Folder 3 contains photocopies of a government file concerning the desire of officials to censor Jack London’s socialist writings. The poems have been organized in the order they were received, in an attempt to preserve Sisson’s desire to have them published. This box also contains two newsletters, one of which contains an article on Jack London’s popularity in Russian literary circles.
Box 9 and 10 contain a wide variety of reproduced rare newspaper articles by and about Jack London, such as one article in Russian and one article in German. These newspaper articles are primarily from California newspapers, but a substantial number come from Midwest and New England newspapers. Of particular interest is a set of newspaper articles from The Socialist, of Melbourne, Australia a journal in which Jack London was especially active.
Note to researcher:
Those desiring additional information on Jack London should see USU Special Collections & Archives: Collection Mss 10: The Papers of Jack & Charmian London.
Those desiring to view the photos of James E. Sisson III should inquire with the USU Special Collections & Archives Photograph Curator.
Those desiring to further research James E. Sisson III should see the collection housed at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Bancroft Library catalogued as: BANC MSS 87/167c, James E. Sisson Papers, (1950—1986).
Inventory:
Box 1: James Sisson Papers
Fd 1: Biographical materials.
Fd 2: Papers concerning Sisson’s grandfather who fought in the Civil War.
Fd 3: Membership and ID cards.
Fd 4: Graduate school papers.
Fd 5: Financial papers.
Fd 6: Address booklets (four).
Fd 7: Complied bibliographies (by Sisson) of Jack London’s works (one bibliography contains French publications of London’s work).
Fd 8: Bibliographies (compiled by Sisson) of W. H. Chaney (J. London’s biological father) and J. Reimers.
Fd 9: Papers concerning Gold, by Jack London, (edited by Sisson and performed by a high school drama club).
Fd 10: Compilation of Jack London’s travels.
Fd 11: Jack London Newsletter, 1973 (two issues).
Fd 12: Essays, concerning Jack London, edited by Sisson.
Fd 13: Notebooks, school notes for English courses, 1961—1963 (two items).
Fd 14: Notebooks, school notes for English courses, 1961—1963 (two items).
Fd 15: Notes, school notes for English courses 1961—1963 (loose).
Fd 16: Notes, school notes in French taken from a binder (loose).
Fd 17: Miscellaneous papers.
Box 2: Correspondence, outgoing (1963—1986) and incoming (A—C).
Fd 1: Outgoing, 1963—1979.
Fd 2: Outgoing, 1980—1986.
Fd 3: Incoming, A.
Fd 4: Incoming, B.
Fd 5: Incoming, Bates, Mike, (of Jack London Echoes).1981—1984.
Fd 6: Incoming, Tsujii, Eiji (London researcher from Japan), 1973—1980.
Box 8: Incoming correspondence, V—Z, unidentified senders, and third party correspondence concerning Sisson.
Fd 1: Incoming, Votaw, Homer C., 1982—1987.
Fd 2: Incoming, Weiderman, Richard (of Wolf Books and “The London Collector”) 1970—1977.
Fd 3: Incoming, Woodridge, Hensley, 1970—1972.
Fd 4: Incoming, Zamen, Mark E., 1983—1985.
Fd 5: Incoming, unidentified senders, 1959—1983.
Fd 6: Third party correspondence concerning Sisson.
Box 9: Sisson’s research papers on Jack London, and poems and publications about Jack London.
Fd 1: Jack and Charmian London correspondence (five letters):
J. London outgoing correspondence to Strunsky, Anna, [July 1902] (typescript).
J. London outgoing correspondence to Strunsky, Anna, 22 Jan. 1901 (typescript).
J. London incoming correspondence from ‘Blanche’, 20 March 1911 (typescript).
J. London personal endorsement of book to ‘Gram’, 6 June 1903 (photocopy).
C. London outgoing correspondence to Hervey, Mr., 21 Dec. 1920 (photocopy).
Fd 2: Four Yukon mining claims/deeds, 1897 (reproduction of original).
Fd 3: Government file, correspondence and papers concerning the government’s desire to censor Jack London’s socialist writings, and papers concerning a legal conflict over London’s article “A Good Soldier” (photocopies).
Fd 4: Complied collection of poems on Jack London.
Fd 5: Complied collection of poems on Jack London, continued.
Fd 6: Complied collection of poems on Jack London, continued.
Fd 7: Newspaper article on Jack London from Literatoopnaya Rossiya (the article is in Russian), 1971.
Fd 8: Newspaper article on Jack London from Literarisch-Musikalische (of Vienna), 1927.
Fd 9: The Chaney Chronicle, 1972.
Fd 10: Quarterly Newsletter of the San Francisco Book Club (contains an article on the popularity of Jack London’s writings in Russia), 1962.
Fd 11: Newspaper clippings about Jack London.
Box 10: Oversized newspaper articles by and about Jack London (loose).
