Harold Sinclair
American NovelistMay 8, 1907 to May 24, 1966 Harold Sinclair was born in Chicago, the son of Walter Guy Sinclair, a railroad fireman, and Violet (Wishard) Sinclair. His father left when he was about three. Along with his sister Elizabeth, he moved to Bloomington, to be raised by their Aunt Lee and Uncle Sam Wishard. He lived most of his life in Bloomington, although he did spend some years in Florida and Texas. Harold married Ethel Moran in 1933 and they had six children. He was an avid reader, played the trumpet, loved Dixieland jazz and had his own dance band in Florida. During his lifetime, he had a variety of jobs. He was a Western Union telegraph operator, pushed a wheelbarrow on a construction gang, sold builders’ supplies, and eventually became a department manager in a Sears, Roebuck store in Bloomington. After the publication of his book American Years in 1938, he quit his job and tried to freelance. Several years later he returned to work as a machine operator. He eventually became a full-time writer in 1948 until his death 1966. A self-taught writer, Harold published his first book Journey Home at 29. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing in 1939, and he published Westward the Tide, the fruits of that fellowship, in 1940. He used Bloomington as the basis for his fictional “Everton” in his historical trilogy American Years, The Years of Growth, and The Years of Illusion. With American Years, Harold tried a new method for writing historical fiction. Rather than an emphasis on fictional characters involved with actual people, settings, and events, or a family saga set in historical times, Harold wrote his historical novel with an American town as the main character and the people as the background. His fascination with the Civil War is reflected in The Horse Soldier, which is a fictional account of an actual Civil War raid behind Confederate lines to destroy a railroad between Newton Station and Vicksburg, Mississippi. The book was made into a movie directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne and William Holden. The movie premiered in Bloomington on July 16, 1959, which was declared “Harold Sinclair Day” and Acting Mayor Walter Bittner presented a scroll to Harold. While most of Harold’s published works are fiction, he also wrote some nonfiction, articles and short stories. He reviewed books for The Chicago Sun-Times and The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Harold was a member of the Authors League of America and the McLean County Historical Society, and he served as a judge for the 1950 short story contest held by the Bloomington Public Library. Harold Sinclair died May 24, 1966 at the age of 59 following cancer surgery. He is buried in Park Hill Cemetery in Bloomington. Books Written by Harold Sinclair
Articles by Harold Sinclair“The Bloomington Pantagraph,” by Harold Sinclair, Home Town in the Corn Belt: A Source History of Bloomington, Illinois 1900 – 1950 in Five Volumes, compiled by Clara Louise Kessler, Vol. 4 pp. 178-191 (Locked Case 977.3592HOM V.4) “Something About Bloomington Authors,” by Harold Sinclair, Home Town in the Corn Belt: A Source History of Bloomington, Illinois 1900 – 1950 in Five Volumes, compiled by Clara Louise Kessler, Vol. 3 pp. 141-150 (Locked Case 977.3592HOM V. 3) DVDOne of Harold Sinclair’s books was made into a movie, directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne, William Holden, and Constance Towers.
About Harold Sinclair
Other Print Resources
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Resources at Other Local Libraries Illinois State University Milner Library Online ResourcesOnline Resources are available to anyone inside the library, and can also be accessed using your Bloomington Public Library card number at www.bloomingtonlibrary.org
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