Edward J. Nichols papers

Born in 1900 in Chicago Heights, Illinois, Edward J. Nichols spent most of his first twenty-six years in Whiting, Indiana, an oil refinery town near Chicago. Beginning in the summer of 1914 he worked on and off at the refinery while finishing high school. He attended De Pauw University for two years and received his bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago in 1925. Between 1920 and 1927 he held several jobs, including another stint in the oil refinery which financed a year at Columbia University, where he earned an M.A. in 1928. From Columbia he came to The Pennsylvania State University as an instructor in English Composition. In 1939 Penn State granted him the Ph.D. in English literature. He continued teaching fiction writing and technical writing until his retirement as professor emeritus of English Composition in 1964. Nichols wrote widely in a number of fields. His dissertation, "A Historical Dictionary of Baseball Terminology," was the basis for later articles on that topic. His extensive jazz record collection and interest in jazz provided materials for more articles. In 1943 Houghton Mifflin Company published his first novel, Danger! Keep Out! which grew out of his experience at the oil refinery. The same company published his second novel, Hunky Johnny, in 1945. The refinery again provides the setting for the second novel, which is a tribute to the Eastern European people Nichols worked with there. In the 1950s Nichols' interest in the Civil War resulted in the publication of a biography of General John F. Reynolds entitled Towards Gettysburg, published in 1958. It was the first monograph published by the newly established Pennsylvania State University Press. Another historical work by Nichols, Zach Taylor's Little Army, was published in 1963 by Doubleday. After his retirement Nichols moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.