Research Guide for L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' and Related Works, Summaries of Literature

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The Wizard Behind Oz and Other Stories:

A Research Guide for L. Frank Baum

By:

Karla Lyles

October 2006

logical. The guide is divided into four main sections: (I) “Biographies and Bibliographies,” (II) “Primary Works and Archives,” (III) “Secondary Sources,” and (IV) “Survey of Bibliographical and Textual Scholarship.” The “Biographies and Bibliographies” section is separated into “Biographies,” “Bibliographies,” and “Reference Works.” The information included under those headings is then generally arranged according to the length of the material. The “Primary Works and Archives” section is sorted according to: “Series Books” (which is further divided by the names of the series), “Other Children’s Books,” “Miscellaneous Books,” “Magazines and Newspapers,” “Plays,” “Screenplays,” “Correspondence (Letters and a Poem),” and “Archives” (which is separated into contact information for both the main library and additional libraries). I have used chronological order for the second part of the guide, organizing the series books according to when the first book of each series was published. For those series in which the first books were published during the same year, I have arranged them alphabetically by the title of the series. I chose to do this in order to maintain the books with their respective series and to have a sensible order that the reader will be able to follow. Following the brief note regarding archival material, I have included contact information for several libraries that contain archival holdings. I tried to provide as much information as possible concerning the libraries, including names of directors and those individuals in other relevant positions whom the reader of this guide may want to contact. It is important to note that the accuracy of that information may and probably will change, however, as this guide becomes outdated. The “Secondary Sources” component of this guide is arranged according to “Dissertations and Abstracts,” “Articles,” “Books,” and information pertaining to The Baum Bugle, the official journal of the International Wizard of Oz Club. The “Bibliographical and Textual Scholarship” portion is divided according to “Descriptive Bibliographies” and “Material Concerning the Composition, Revision, Transmission, and Reception of the Works of Baum.” These headings are then further divided into “Books,” “Articles,” and “Essays.”

Due to the overwhelming popularity of The Wizard of Oz, there is an abundant and rich array of literary material that could be included in this guide. I have chosen to limit the sources I have included, however, as a result of time constraints and to prohibit this guide from overreaching its intended purpose, which is to provide a somewhat brief, but thorough, account of available materials that are relevant to Baum scholarship. I have provided in the headnotes to the various sections explanations of the criteria by which I limited my citations, so the reader should consult those notes to better understand the methods of my research and guide compilation. I have annotated whenever possible, but the time constraints under which I assembled this guide did not allow me to include brief summaries for all of the citations. I also did not annotate for those sources I was unable to personally review. The reader may choose to refer to the writings for which there are no annotations or to conduct Internet searches to gather information regarding those works on his/her own.

Section I: Biographies and Bibliographies

Born May 15, 1856, in Chittenango, New York, Lyman Frank Baum published more than fifty books throughout his lifetime, including a plethora of pseudonymously- written books for children. The popularity of his The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has prompted the writing of an abundance of material related to Baum and his work. Although having such a corpus of available information is advantageous to conducting research regarding Baum and his writings, it also requires examining an exhaustive array of books, articles, etc. to decipher which materials are more scholarly in nature. A consequence of wading through such a profound amount of material and attempting to compile a brief, but thorough research guide, is the necessity of excluding some works in order to include others.

To maintain brevity in the listings of biographies and bibliographies regarding Baum I have omitted writing aimed at more juvenile audiences, as well as material that is available in some form other than print or Internet, such as microfilm, audio, film, etc. I have referenced sources that feature brief mentions of Baum to demonstrate the range of material available, although I have limited the listing of those sources to include more academically substantive writings and information from The Baum Bugle, the official Oz journal that was originally published in 1957 and is still published three times a year. I found throughout my research a number of researchers who have written extensively on Baum, including Douglas G. Greene, Peter Hanff, Michael Patrick Hearn, Michael O. Riley, and others. I recommend consulting the writings of Hearn, in particular, as he is a leader in the production of material about L. Frank Baum.

The reader of this guide will notice that the format of this biographical and bibliographical section is divided into “Biographies” and “Bibliographies,” which are further subdivided into the captions “Books,” “Articles,” “Brief References,” and “Websites.” I chose to describe those materials that are five pages or fewer as brief references. Although there are a number of webpages that contain information related to Baum and his writings, I have restricted the entries for webpages to a select group of sources I feel are thorough and representative of the more academic scholarship available. Should the reader possess a need for further information about websites I suggest conducting a basic search about Baum or the particular material being sought through the search engine of the reader’s choice.

descriptions and plot summaries.

Rogers, Katharine M. L. Frank Baum: Creator of Oz. New York, NY: St. Martin’s, 2002. [ABELL, WorldCat]

In this book Rogers discusses Baum’s life and career, from his beginnings through the later years in which he had established himself as a famous writer of literature for children. Included among the subjects she addresses are Baum’s education, hobbies, marriage, family life, and various writings.

Wagenknecht, Edward. Utopia Americana. Seattle: U of Washington Bookstore, 1929. [LibCat, WorldCat]

In this book Wagenknecht provides some biographical information related to Baum, including his start as a writer, his publication history, and his views toward writing. He also includes details regarding characters in the various Oz stories and draws symbolic connections between Oz and America.

Articles:

Attebery, Brian. “Oz.” The Fantasy Tradition in American Literature: From Irving to Le Guin. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1980. 83-108. [WorldCat]

Although this essay tends to focus predominantly on an analysis of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it also includes some biographical material about Baum and information about his influences and writing style.

Billman, Carol. “L. Frank Baum: The Wizard Behind Oz.” American History Illustrated 20.5 (Sept. 1985): 42-48. [Wilson]

In this article Billman discusses the life and career of Baum, beginning with his childhood and progressing to his interests, later marriage to Maud Gage, family, professions, publication history, perceptions of his work (particularly The Wonderful Wizard of Oz), and the cultural impact of his writing.

Chapman, Stepan. “The Man Who Built Half of Oz.” SF Eye 14 (1996): 61-66. [ABELL]

Franklin, Jerry. “The Wizard of Children’s Books.” Firsts: Collecting Modern First Editions 3.12 (1993): 28-35. [MLAIB]

Gardner, Martin. “The Royal Historian of Oz.” The Wizard of Oz & Who He Was. By Gardner and Russel B. Nye. East Lansing: Michigan State UP, 1957. 19-45. [ABELL,WorldCat]

In this essay Gardner provides biographical and bibliographical information regarding Baum, including discussion of Baum’s foray into cinematic productions and his appreciation of and participation in theater.

Hanff, Peter E. “L. Frank Baum: Success and Frustration.” Baum Bugle: A Journal of Oz 21.3 (1977): 25-30. [MLAIB]

As the title suggests, Hanff focuses this article on the success of Baum’s career and the more frustrated moments in Baum’s struggle as an author. He comments particularly on the relationship between Baum and Emerson Hough, with whom Baum collaborated for some of his books. Hanff also discusses and reproduces some of the letters that Baum and Hough exchanged.

Hearn, Michael Patrick. Introduction. The Annotated Wizard of Oz: Centennial Edition: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. By L. Frank Baum. New York: Potter, 2000. xiii- cii. [WorldCat]

In this introductory material Hearn discusses Baum’s life and career, beginning with his childhood and continuing until his death in 1919. He mentions Baum’s family life, business associations, professions, publication history, etc. Hearn also includes multiple pictures, ranging from photographs to stills from cinematic productions of some of Baum’s works.

• • -. “L. Frank Baum.” Dictionary of Literary Biography: American Writers for Children: 1900-1960. Ed. John Cech. Vol. 22. New York: Gale, 1983. 13-36. [DLB, LibCat]

In this source of fairly extensive information Hearn provides biographical details regarding such aspects of Baum’s life as his childhood, professions, and family. He also includes a listing of Baum’s writings and discusses components of those writings, such as characters, plots, and the success/failure of certain stories in the literary market.

• • -. “L. Frank Baum: Amateur Printer.” Baum Bugle 30.1 (1986): 11-18. [MLAIB]

Hearn explores in this article the early writing and printing efforts of Baum, focusing particularly on Baum’s newspaper, The Rose Lawn Home Journal. He provides descriptions of the newspaper and photocopies of some of the pages for reference. Hearn also discusses the contributions of Baum’s family to writing for the paper and the continued interest of Baum in journalism and printing even after he ceased publishing The Rose Lawn Home Journal (examples of personal printing efforts include Saturday Pioneer, The Show Window, and By the Candelabra’s Glare).

• • -. “When L. Frank Baum was ‘Laura Bancroft.’” American Book Collector 8.5 (1987):

[ABELL,WorldCat]

In this essay Nye includes biographical information about Baum, tracing the career of Baum through his early endeavors to his later works. The essay also describes Baum’s use of satire and humor and provides a critical analysis of the value of Baum’s literature for children.

Orestano, Francesca. “Searching for the Author in the Land of Utopia: L. Frank Baum, from the American Middlewest to the Emerald City of Oz.” Vite di Utopia. Ed. Vita Fortunati and Paola Spinozzi. Ravenna, It.: Longo, 2000. 179-185. [ABELL, MLAIB]

Richardson, Barbara. “L. Frank Baum and The Wizard of Oz .” Book and Magazine Collector 201 (2000): 46-61. [ABELL]

Sale, Roger. “L. Frank Baum and Oz.” Hudson Review 25.4 (1972): 571-592. [ABELL, MLAIB]

In this essay Sale discusses Baum’s professions, publication history, and writing techniques and objectives. He also mentions the illustrations found in Baum’s books, particularly the Oz series books, and the mass appeal of Baum.

St. John, Tom. “Lyman Frank Baum: Looking Back to the Promised Land.” Western Humanities Review 36.4 (1982): 349-359. [ABELL, MLAIB]

St. John includes information concerning the early years of Baum’s life, including education, professions, and the departure from Aberdeen for Chicago in 1891, in addition to Baum’s professional transition into an author of literature for children. He also analyzes The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in terms of the symbolism of characters and other elements, the influence of certain ethnic groups on features of Baum’s writing, and the inspirations Baum had for his writing.

Wagner, Sally Roesch. “The Wonderful Mother of Oz.” Baum Bugle 47.3 (2003): 7-13. [ABELL]

Watson, Bruce. “The Amazing Author of Oz.” Smithsonian 31.3 (2000): 112-120. [Wilson]

In this article Watson discusses the life and career of Baum, beginning with his childhood and continuing until his death in 1919. He includes information regarding such aspects of Baum’s life as his interest in acting, his introduction and later marriage to Maud Gage, and his writing of numerous books, primarily for children, but also for

young adults and adults.

Wolstenholme, Susan. “The Wonderful Wizards behind the Oz Wizard.” Syracuse University Library Associates Courier 32 (1997): 89-103. [MLAIB]

Although this article primarily discusses the collaboration between Frank Joslyn Baum and Russell P. MacFall in writing the book To Please a Child: A Biography of L. Frank Baum, Royal Historian of Oz, it also includes some minor biographical information about Baum.

Brief References:

Baum, Harry Neal. “My Father Was ‘The Wizard of Oz’: Memories and Anecdotes of a Famous Father.” The Baum Bugle 29.2 (1985): 6-10. [MLAIB]

In this article Harry Baum discusses the personality, publication history, and various professions of his father, L. Frank Baum. He also includes remembrances of sentimental moments with his father.

• • -. “My Father Was ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ II.” The Baum Bugle 29.3 (1985): 12-15. [MLAIB]

This sequel to Harry Baum’s earlier article begins with a description of life at the summer cottage the Baums purchased at Macatawa Park in Michigan. Baum then transitions into discussion of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the later move of the Baums to California, the composition process Baum used for his writings, and the writing approach and style L. Frank Baum used for writing his literature for children.

Benét, Laura. “Lyman Frank Baum. Famous Storytellers for Young People. New York: Dodd, 1968. 113-115. [LibCat, WorldCat]

This article contains information about Baum regarding such subjects as his marriage to Maud Gage, professions, and publication history.

Brown, Sonia. “Was This the Wizard Who Was the Wizard of Oz?” The Baum Bugle 28.1 (1984): 5-7. [MLAIB]

D’Amato, Barbara and Brian D’Amato. “L. Frank Baum in Macatawa.” Baum Bugle 46.3 (2002): 29-31. [ABELL]

Hearn, Michael Patrick. “L. Frank Baum: Chicken Fancier.” The Baum Bugle 30. (1986): 23-25. [MLAIB]

Bibliographies:

Articles and Books:

Bloom, Harold, ed. “L. Frank Baum.” Classic Fantasy Writers. New York: Chelsea,

1994. 1-13. [ABELL, LibCat, WorldCat]

This essay includes brief biographical information about Baum, followed by excerpts of criticisms of Baum and his writing by an anonymous author, Edward Wagenknecht, Marius Bewley, Fred Erisman, Roger Sale, Ben P. Indick, Brian Attebery, and William R. Leach.

Hearn, Michael Patrick, ed. The Wizard of Oz. By L. Frank Baum. New York: Shocken,

1983. [LibCat, WorldCat]

In this book Hearn provides a collection of essays under the headings of “Early Opinions,” “Librarians and Oz,” and “Current Criticism.” The essays are written by Russel B. Nye, Martin Gardner, Henry M. Littlefield, Ray Bradbury, Gore Vidal, and several others.

Rahn, Suzanne, ed. L. Frank Baum’s World of Oz: A Classic Series at 100. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2003. [ABELL, LibCat]

This book includes a varied range of material, incorporating essays of biographical significance in addition to scholarly criticisms. Rahn divides the book into three parts, “Origins of Oz,” “The World of Oz,” and “Oz on Stage and Screen,” enabling her to include information that provides a broader understanding of both Baum and his work.

Reference Works:

Books:

Snow, Jack. Who’s Who in Oz. 1954. New York: Bedrick, 1988. [WorldCat]

In this book Snow provides concise descriptions of more than six hundred Oz characters, including people, animals, and various creatures.

Articles:

Algeo, John. “The Names of Oz: Onomastics in the Fantasies of L. Frank Baum.” From Oz to the Onion Patch. Ed. Edward Callary. Dekalb, IL: North Central Name Soc.,

1986. 130-146. [MLAIB]

In this article Algeo discusses the various names that appear in the first six Oz books, explaining their origins and associations.

Eyles, Allen. “Profiles From the Land of Oz.” The World of Oz. Tucson, AZ: HPBooks,

1985. 10-33. [ABELL, British Library Catalogue, MLAIB]

In this part of the book Eyles describes the land of Oz and the characters found in it.

Gardner, Martin. “Word Play in the L. Frank Baum Fantasies.” Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics 31.2 (1998): 137-138. [MLAIB]

In this article Gardner examines the names of characters, locations, and objects Baum created for his writings, as well as the wordplay associated with those names.

Haff, James E. “The Man Nobody Knows.” Baum Bugle: A Journal of Oz 22.3 (1978): 2-

9. [MLAIB]

In this brief article Haff poses the question of who the character the Soldier with the Green Whiskers is? He attempts to explain who the character is by tracing the appearances of the character throughout Oz books and later identifies him as Omby Amby, the Captain-General of Ozma’s army.

Noot, Jim Vander. “Establishing Ozian Geography.” Baum Bugle 35.1 (1991): 13-15. [ABELL]

This article discusses the land of Oz, including a map of the land of Oz as well.

Pike, Judy. “A Map of the Wonder City of Oz.” Baum Bugle: A Journal of Oz 16. (1972): 5-10. [MLAIB]

In this article Pike discusses the descriptions of locations in the land of Oz and includes a map of the land.

Tobias, Jerry V. “Footnotes to Oz: Oz Etymology.” Baum Bugle: A Journal of Oz 16. (1972): 16-17. [MLAIB]

Tobias focuses this brief article on an examination of the names of characters in Oz books and also discusses two of the theories surrounding the naming of the land of Oz.

publication date of the first book in each series. Thus, the series are arranged according to the date of the publication of the first book in each series, rather than in an overall chronological order. This is the result of the overwhelming number of series books published and the desire to maintain the order of the books within their respective collections. For instances in which the first books of two or more series were published during the same year I have arranged those series according to alphabetical order. The books in each series are arranged chronologically by year and, similar to how I arranged series that printed books during the same year according to alphabetical order, I arranged those books printed in the same year in a particular series according to alphabetical order. Those writings that are not part of a series are arranged chronologically, and alphabetically in circumstances in which two works share the same year.

The reader will notice that I have listed the pseudonyms under which Baum wrote various series books beside the titles of the respective series that use those pseudonyms. Baum employed several pseudonyms when writing many of his non-Oz series books, and rather than organize this list of primary works according to those writings Baum acknowledged having written and those he wrote pseudonymously (which would probably create unnecessary confusion), I have chosen to simply organize all of the works with the understanding that Baum wrote them and to supply the pseudonyms in parentheses beside the series’ titles they accompany. This decision is an effort to provide recognition of the pseudonyms, but to avoid frustrating the reader in providing that information.

Series Books :

The Oz Series:

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Chicago: Hill, 1900.

The Marvelous Land of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1904.

Ozma of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1907.

Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1908.

The Road to Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1909.

The Emerald City of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1910.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1913.

Tik-Tok of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1914.

The Scarecrow of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1915.

Rinkitink in Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1916.

According to Hearn the title of this book is Rinkitinkin in Oz, although that could be an error in the text.

The Lost Princess of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1917.

The Tin Woodman of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1918.

The Magic of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1919.

Glinda of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1920.

Baum did not complete this book prior to his death, so the finished work was the result of the efforts of one of his sons (24).

The Christmas Stocking Series:

The books listed below are collections of fairy tales, each of which includes an identical introduction written by Baum. Part of the introduction was reprinted in Land of Play: Verses, Rhymes and Stories, arranged by Sara Tawney Lefferts, and published in New York by Cupples & Leon in 1911 (35).

Introduction. Animal A. B. C. A Child’s Visit to the Zoo. Chicago: Reilly, 1905.

Introduction. Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty. Chicago: Reilly, 1905.

Introduction. Fairy Tales From Grimm. Chicago: Reilly, 1905.

Introduction. The Night Before Christmas. Chicago: Reilly, 1905.

Introduction. The Story of Little Black Sambo. Chicago: Reilly, 1905.

Introduction. Fairy Tales From Anderson. Chicago: Reilly, 1906.

The Aunt Jane’s Nieces Series (Published under the pseudonym Edith Van Dyne):

Aunt Jane’s Nieces. Chicago: Reilly, 1906.

Sugar-Loaf Mountain. Chicago: Reilly, 1906.

Twinkle’s Enchantment. Chicago: Reilly, 1906.

The Boy Fortune Hunters Series (Published under the pseudonym Floyd Akers):

As noted above, the first two books in this series are actually reprints of the two books initially published in the Sam Steele series (38).

The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska. Chicago: Reilly, 1908.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in Egypt. Chicago: Reilly, 1908.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in Panama. Chicago: Reilly, 1908.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in China. Chicago: Reilly, 1909.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in Yucatan. Chicago: Reilly, 1910.

The Boy Fortune Hunters in the South Seas. Chicago: Reilly, 1911.

The Daring Twins Series:

The Daring Twins. Chicago: Reilly, 1911.

Phoebe Daring. Chicago: Reilly, 1912.

The Flying Girls Series (Published under the pseudonym Edith Van Dyne):

The Flying Girl. Chicago: Reilly, 1911.

The Flying Girl and Her Chum. Chicago: Reilly, 1912.

The Little Wizard Series:

This series includes the six books listed below, although the publication information for the last book, The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, is not provided in Exhibition of Published Writings. It is not necessarily unreasonable to assume that the book was published in Chicago by Reilly & Britton, considering the frequency of this publication location and role of that publisher in printing Baum’s works. However, because I lack confirmation of such information I am not including it in the citation.

Readers of this guide will notice that the titles of the following books share connections to the Oz series in that they feature characters from the popular books about Oz. The following books were written for a younger audience than that of the Oz books, featuring some recognizable figures, but incorporating them into books of shorter length. The books were later gathered into a single volume, though they continued to be printed in separate books as well (39).

The Cowardly Lion and The Hungry Tiger. Chicago: Reilly, 1913.

Jack Pumpkinhead and The Sawhorse. Chicago: Reilly, 1913.

Little Dorothy and Toto. Chicago: Reilly, 1913.

Ozma and The Little Wizard. Chicago: Reilly, 1913.

The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman. N.p.: n.p., 1913.

Titktok and the Nome King. Chicago: Reilly, 1913.

Little Wizard Stories of Oz. Chicago: Reilly, 1914.

This book is a collection of the six stories that were individually published in the Little Wizard series (39).

The Mary Louise Series (Published under the pseudonym Edith Van Dyne):

This is a series of books published for girls, sometimes perceived as the follow-up series to Aunt Jane’s Nieces due to the fact that the first book in the series was published a year after the last book in the Aunt Jane’s Nieces series. Baum wrote the first five books of this series, though several others were published under the same pseudonym of Edith Van Dyne. The later books were written by Emma S. Sampson (40).

Mary Louise. Chicago: Reilly, 1916.

Mary Louise in the Country. Chicago: Reilly, 1916.

Mary Louise Solves a Mystery. Chicago: Reilly, 1917.

Mary Louise and the Liberty Girls. Chicago: Reilly, 1918.

Mary Louise Adopts a Soldier. Chicago: Reilly, 1919.