O Henry 150th Birthday Crawl Event O. Henry The Austin History Center, part of the Austin Public Library, is the home of a significant collection of materials relating to the popular writer O. Henry, who lived in Austin, still using his given name of William Sydney Porter, from 1885 to 1894. The O. Henry Resources of the Austin History Center are comprised primarily of materials donated by Judge Trueman E. O'Quinn and augmented by items acquired from Jenny Lind Porter, Ethel Hofer, the Maddox family, the Austin Heritage Society, and the Austin History Center Association. These resources include original typescripts, first edition books, periodicals, correspondence, manuscripts, autograph albums, photographs, sketches, maps, paintings, and furniture. Researchers will be delighted to find two autograph albums that contain whimsical sketches and poems, one of which was written to Porter's future wife, Athol Estes. The collection includes letters written by Will Porter to associates, many involving requests for financial loans or advances. Nearly 400 periodicals, ranging in date from 1897 through 1983, and featuring illustrated stories by O. Henry, are part of the collection. There are extensive holdings of Ainslee's, Everybody's Magazine, McClure's, The Golden Book Magazine, Bunker's Texas Monthly, and The Munsey. In addition, the History Center houses 360 books containing stories by O. Henry, some being first editions, and many bound in distinguished sets. The more than sixty O. Henry reference works at the History Center include a transcript of Will Porter's embezzlement trial and a complete O. Henry bibliography. In addition, researchers will find a robust clippings file containing articles about O. Henry, his family, and associated people and events. Photographs in the History Center's collection depict O. Henry and his environment during his life in Austin. A complete annotated list of O. Henry items found here at the Austin History Center is available in pdf format. You need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view PDF files. Follow the instructions to download and install the free Reader, then return to this page. Find out how to donate local history materials to the Austin History Center. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
