Columnist Jack Smith's papers donated to museum
http://www2.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_2974149
Huntington Library lands Smith's legacy
By Gene Maddaus
SAN MARINO -- Jack Smith, the beloved Los Angeles Times columnist, got a lot of mail. The letters came from ordinary readers who addressed him as one
would a longtime friend, and from the occasional celebrity.
"By God, I like your priorities," Charlton Heston wrote to him in 1988. "I'm still struggling with my computer and I'm still struck to my heart's core
by a great poem ... or even a good one. I share your skepticism that a computer can produce either."
The letter, and thousands of other items that comprise Smith's papers, were recently donated to the Huntington Library. When Smith died, in 1996, he
left behind more than 100 boxes of correspondence, clippings, photographs, gifts from readers, and yellowing reporters' notebooks dating back to 1935.
"It's a tremendous acquisition for the Huntington," said Sue Hodson, who is curating the collection. "We're delighted and honored that they're here.
Jack Smith will live on through his papers as well as his columns."
Smith's wife, Denise, agreed shortly after her husband's death to donate the items to the Huntington. But for years afterward, they sat in boxes in
the office and the garage of their Mt. Washington home.
It was only when Denise died last year that their sons, Curt and Doug, began the process of setting the papers in order. The announcement of the
donation is timed to coincide with a free talk on Smith's legacy, to be held at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 7, at the library.
Smith wrote humbly about his own life, his family, bird-watching, medical problems, his Baja landlord Mr. Gomez, his frustration with computers,
English usage and feral cats. He shifted nimbly from the mundane to the moving and was unafraid of big questions like the meaning of life.
For his loyal readers, his columns offered a reliable dose of pleasure.
"Whenever I feel my spirits sinking below the Plimsoll line," wrote Josefa Heifetz, in 1974, "I bisect an avocado, fill it with red caviar, and reread
your July 3 column. Thank you."
The correspondence with Heston was especially long-lived. Heston wrote to express dismay when the column was pared back to once a week. The letters
continued even after Smith's death.
"Denise," he wrote in condolence. "I know there are no words to ease the pain you feel ..."
The papers will be available to scholars with a demonstrated research interest, Hodson said. The library may eventually decide to do a public
exhibition of selected items.
Despite Smith's reluctance to embrace new technology, the "papers" include two computer hard drives and a number of disks.
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