The papers of John Stewart, author, musician and UCSD Muir College provost (1965-1987) contain the research materials for his book about composer Ernst Krenek titled Ernst Krenek: The Man and His Music (1991), including typescript drafts; notes describing correspondence, essays, and articles about Krenek; chronologies; and a series of reel-to-reel audiorecordings of interviews with Krenek by Stewart. Also included are drafts of writings, teaching materials, and correspondence with colleagues including Ernst Krenek.
John Stewart Papers, 1916-1991 (MSS 614)
Extent: 5.6 Linear feet (15 archives boxes)
John Lincoln Stewart was born January 24, 1917 in Alton, Illinois, and grew up in Granville and Dwight, Ontario. He graduated from Dennison College with a double major in English and Music and received his doctorate in English literature at Ohio State University. He served in World War II in the Army Signal Corps. He taught English at UCLA and Dartmouth before joining UCSD, publishing The Burden of Time: The Fugitives and Agrarians, a history of the Nashville literary groups of the 1920s and 1930s.
Stewart came to UCSD in 1964 to take the lead in establishing arts departments on campus. In 1965 he was appointed Provost of Second College, named for the environmentalist, nature writer, and Sierra Club founder John Muir. He took a leading role in planning Muir campus as an ensemble of buildings, courtyards, and open spaces. Because his position at UCSD allowed him to focus on teaching and research, he concentrated on his interests in the achievements of Austrian-American composer Ernst Krenek. Beginning in the 1970s, no comprehensive biography had been written about Krenek, so Stewart interviewed the composer, studied the musicial scores, and traveled to Vienna to gather research materials. He published Ernst Krenek: The Man and His Music in 1991.
For years Stewart taught "The Wilderness and Human Values," at Muir College which culminated in a week-long hike led by Stewart in the Sierra Nevada mountains. During the 21 years he served as Provost, he also founded a faculty jazz group, "The Moldy Figs," in which he played both slide trombone and flugle horn.
On the occasion of Muir college's 30th anniversary in 1998, Muir Commons, the center of student life on the campus, was re-dedicated as Stewart Commons in his honor.
Stewart died August 31, 2007 in Oakland, California.
The John Stewart papers reflect the research endeavors by Stewart, as an author and scholar of humanities. The bulk of the collection documents extensive research on the career of composer Ernst Krenek for the biography Ernst Krenek: The Man and His Music (1991). Materials include notes and translations on correspondence, works of Krenek, and typescript drafts. Other elements of the collection include teaching materials and writings by Stewart.
The papers are arranged in five series: 1) CORRESPONDENCE, 2) ERNST KRENEK: THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC, 3) WRITINGS BY STEWART, 4) TEACHING MATERIALS, and 5) MISCELLANEOUS.
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.