The Agnes Newton Keith Papers (1913-1985, bulk 1939-1975) include drafts, diaries, correspondence, speech notes, research
materials, and clippings, mostly related to Keith's literary work.
Agnes Jones Goodwillie Newton Keith (1901-1982) was an American author, known for her autobiographical accounts of her family's
experiences in Borneo, the Philippines, and Libya. Keith was born in Oak Park, Illinois, to an American mother and a British
father. The family moved to California early in Keith's childhood. Keith graduated from the University of California, Berkeley
in 1924, and worked for the San Francisco Examiner. Her career as a journalist came to an abrupt end in 1925, when a man
convinced that the newspaper was persecuting him through Krazy Kat cartoons attacked her outside the Examiner offices. Keith
suffered memory and vision loss as a result of this assault, but eventually recovered. In 1934 Keith married Henry G. (Harry)
Keith, an Englishman, who was a family friend and who had studied forestry at Berkeley. Keith followed her new husband to
his current posting as Conservator of Forests and Director of Agriculture in North Borneo, where she became deeply interested
in the region and its people. Keith's first book, Land Below the Wind (1939), describes her early Borneo experiences.
21.25 linear feet
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