MSS 81
Shipman, Nell, 1892-1970.
- Papers, 1892-1971. Bulk 1925-1971.
- ca. 15 ft.
- Actress, filmmaker, and author; b. Helen Foster Barham. Star, director, and producer of numerous silent films.
- Biographical sketch and Finding Aid online
- See also the Tom Trusky papers (MSS 99). The library also holds the papers of Shipman's son, Barry Shipman (MSS 90).
Correspondence (chiefly after 1925) relating to literary projects, proposed film projects, and family and personal affairs; other papers from Shipman's post-silent film career, including mss. of novels, short stories, film scripts, story outlines, research notes, and clippings; and photos (ca. 1910-1925) from her silent film work in California, Washington, Idaho, and Canada. Includes press clipping book (1925-1936); journal (1926-1927) of years in Spain with artist C. H. Austin Ayers; typescript of an unpublished portion of Shipman's autobiographical novel, Abandoned Trails (1932); script of the motion picture, Wings in the Dark (1935); and typescript and screenplay adaptation of an anticommunist novel, The Fifth American (1955). Correspondents include Jesse H. Brown, James O. Curwood, Thomas Fulbright, Lincoln MacVeagh (Dial Press), Archibald Stone McColl, George Palmer Putnam, Amerigo Serrao (also known as Arthur Varney, Grover Lee, Peter Varney, and Peter Locke), Vincent Sorey, Gordon Sparling, Roi A. Uselton, Grenville Vernon (Dial Press), Joseph B. Walker, Ann Watkins, Shipman's sons Barry Shipman and Charles Douglas Ayers, and daughter Daphne Ayers Feldman.
Gifts of Barry Shipman, San Bernardino, Calif, 1988-1991.