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Wister was actually a well-to-do Easterner. He was born to Dr. Owen
Jones Wister and Sarah Butler Wister in Germantown (now part of Philadelphia),
Pennsylvania, on July 14, 1860.
An aspiring composer, Wister graduated from Harvard University
with a music degree in 1882. After graduation, he studied music in France for a year and
then returned to the United States.
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Owen
Wister on horseback, by F. J. Haynes & Brothers, no date.
Owen Wister Papers, American Heritage Center |
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In 1885, Owen Wister suffered an illness. At his
physician’s suggestion, he traveled to Wyoming and summered at the
V.R. Ranch of Major Frank Wolcott, then head of the Wyoming Stock
Growers Association, near Glenrock, Wyoming.
As a result, Wister regained his health and became interested
in the American West.
Between
1885-1891, Wister took five trips to the West.
He kept diaries in which he recorded his activities, observations,
stories, and anecdotes. These diaries eventually provided material
for The Virginian. Today,
the diaries are in the Owen Wister Papers, donated by Wister’s daughter
Frances K. Stokes to the American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.
Wister's Short Stories
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