Skip to main content

Willis E. McNelly Science Fiction Collection: Alice Lightner Hopf

 Collection
Identifier: SC-06-AH

Scope and Contents

The collection contains manuscripts for several novels as well as her juvenile animal books.

Dates

  • 1963 - 1983

Creator

Biographical / Historical

Alice Lightner Hopf (1904-1988) was an American writer who wrote young adult science fiction under the name of A. M. Lightner and youth nature books under the name of Alice Hopf. Two of her non-fiction works received awards from the National Science Teachers Association: Biography of a Rhino (1972) and Misunderstood Animals (1973).

Alice Martha Lightner was born on October 14, 1904, in Detroit, Michigan to Frances (née McGraw) and Clarence Ashley Lightner. Her father was an attorney, who was a founder of the Detroit Public Library and her mother was a playwright. After graduating from Vassar College in 1927, she moved to New York and worked as a secretary, writing in her spare time. In 1935, she married Ernest Hopf, an artist originally from Germany. She and Ernest had one child, Christopher.

She was a naturalist and prolific science fiction writer during the New Wave. As other women writers did at the time, her pseudonym for her fictional works used only initials, as publishers feared boys would not read works written by women. Her juvenile fiction was published in the name of A. M. Lightner. She also published children's non-fiction books under the name of Alice L. Hopf on topics in natural history and entomology, and was a member of several New York-based scientific societies. Her non-fiction works, Biography of a Rhino and Misunderstood Animals received awards from the National Science Teachers Association in 1972 and 1973, respectively.

She died on February 3, 1988, at her home in Upper Black Eddy, Pennsylvania. She was survived by her husband, Ernest, their son, Christopher and daughter-in-law, C.C.

Source: https://wikizero.com/www//Alice_Lightner_Hopf

Extent

9 box

Language of Materials

English

Physical Location

Aisle 9A, shelf 6

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the Patrons of the Library, 1969-1983.

Title
Willis E. McNelly Science Fiction Collection: Alice Lightner Hopf
Status
Completed
Author
pmp
Date
2022-08-29
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the CSUF University Archives & Special Collections Repository

Contact:
University Archives & Special Collections
Pollak Library South Room 352 (PLS 352)
Fullerton CA 92831-3599 USA
(657) 278-4751