Mildred Walker Manuscript Draft for If a Lion Could Talk

Mildred Walker Manuscript Draft for If a Lion Could Talk, circa 1969-1970

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Walker, Mildred, 1905-1998
Title: Mildred Walker Manuscript Draft for If a Lion Could Talk
Dates: circa 1969-1970
19691970
Quantity: .4 linear feet
Collection Number: Collection 965, MtBC, us (collection)
Summary: The Mildred Walker Manuscript Draft for If a Lion Could Talk consists of Walker's manuscript draft and galley proof for If A Lion Could Talk. This novel, which is a story about a young clergyman and his wife who travel to the upper Missouri River in Montana Territory to serve as missionaries to the Indians, was published in 1970 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Repository: Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions: This collection is open for research.
Languages: English
Sponsor: Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Mildred Walker was born on May 2, 1905, in Philadelphia, PA; daughter of Walter M. and Harriet (Merrifield) Walker. She graduated from Wells College, Aurora, New York in 1926 and earned a master's degree in English literature from the University of Michigan in 1934. She married a Great Falls, Montana physician, Ferdinand Ripley Schemm, on October 25, 1927. Following his death in 1955 she worked as a as a professor at Wells College and as a Fulbright lecturer in Kyoto, Japan. Walker wrote thirteen novels over the course of her career, most of which were intended for an adult audience; however, one of her novels was written for young adults. She was awarded the Avery Hopwood Award in 1934 for Fireweed. Her novel The Body of A Young Man was nominated for a National Book Award in 1960. She died in Vermont 1998.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

This collection consists of Walker's manuscript draft and galley proof for If A Lion Could Talk. This novel, which is a story about a young clergyman and his wife who travel to the upper Missouri River in Montana Territory to serve as missionaries to the Indians, was published in 1970 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Walker's novel was not received as well as she would have liked, suggesting that the additional material not included in the finished copy of the book would have improved it. Critics claimed that portions of the novel are similar in tone to Conrad's Heart of Darkness and are "perilously near a parody." The collection consists of Walker's manuscript typewritten draft of the novel, with extensive editorial markup annotations, and the galleys of the published work.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

A manuscript draft and galley of the novel If A Lion Could Talk were donated to Montana State University by Mildred Walker Schemm of Burlington, Vermont on September 5, 1971.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2009 August 27

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Container(s)	Description
Box/Folder
1/1-7	If A Lion Could Talk manuscript draft
Box
2	Galleys

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Missionaries-Montana-Fiction
Women authors, American

Geographical Names

Montana-Fiction

Form or Genre Terms

Galley proofs
Manuscripts for publication

Other Creators

Personal Names
- Walker, Mildred, 1905-1998-If a lion could talk (creator)

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