Portrait photograph of Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair

About the Collection

Author and activist Upton Sinclair is best known today for his books The Jungle (1906) and Oil! (1927). But he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for one of his best-selling Lanny Budd novels, Dragon's Teeth (1943). He ran for governor of California in 1934 on the End Poverty in California (EPIC) platform, was an avid tennis player, and corresponded with many interesting authors, politicians, and other prominent (and less prominent) people.

The bulk of his writings and personal correspondence are found in the Sinclair mss., but many other collections include his writings and those of his wives and friends. 

Hundreds of Sinclair's books are listed in IUCAT, including first editions and numerous translations.

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Portrait of Upton Sinclair
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Upton Sinclair papers

A massive collection with thousands and thousands of letters, writings, and speeches. Sinclair corresponded with other writers, artists, politicians, and activists-- and kept everything!

Photograph of Sergei Eisenstein and Upton Sinclair, 1931
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Que Viva Mexico

More than 1,500 photographs relating to the filming of Sergei Eisenstein's Que Viva Mexico, a never-completed project financed by Sinclair.

Photograph of Upton Sinclair selling the "fig-leaf" edition of his novel, Oil!
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Upton Sinclair - related manuscript collections

A list of the many manuscript collections related to Upton Sinclair, including collections relating to his writings, business affairs, political life, and socialism.