Emerson Hough was a writer and novelist born in 1857 to Joseph B. and Elizabeth Hough of Newton, Iowa. Before his success as a writer, Hough was a civil engineer and lawyer. He then wrote for various newspapers, eventually managing Forest and Stream's Chicago office. His writings included westerns, juvenile adventure novels, historical romances and outdoor sport and nature collections. This collection contains correspondence, including handwritten letters and postcards, mostly between Emerson Hough and his father, Joseph ("J. B.") Hough. There are also some handwritten letters from Emerson's mother, his sister Nell, and several friends. The correspondence includes fatherly advice and discussions of family life, windstorms, journeys by train and their health.

Emerson Hough was a writer and novelist born in 1857 to Joseph B. and Elizabeth Hough of Newton, Iowa. The Hough family operated a small business in grain and soft coal in Newton.

Hough received his bachelor degree (1880) in philosophy from the University of Iowa. He tried civil engineering after graduating, but then turned to law and studied with a Newton attorney and passed the bar examination within two years. For two years, beginning in 1882, he lived in the gold-mining town of White Oaks, New Mexico where he practiced law and wrote for the local newspaper, The Golden Era. Returning to Iowa in 1886, Hough served as business manager of the Des Moines Times for nine months, worked for Kansas and Ohio newspapers, and produced freelance articles for various hunting and fishing magazines. He and a friend also produced "instant histories" of Midwestern boomtowns, but this venture stopped after his friend left with the money.

In 1889 Forest and Stream hired Hough to manage its Chicago office. Hough's first major success as a novelist was The Story of the Cowboy (1897). His writings included westerns, juvenile adventure novels, historical romances and outdoor sport and nature collections. Hough was the author of at least twenty-one works on frontier life and the American west including Heart's Desire (1905) and The Covered Wagon (1922). During World War I, he served as a captain in the Army Intelligence Division.

Hough died in 1923 and is buried in Evanston, Illinois.

This collection (1891-1897) contains correspondence, including handwritten letters and postcards, mostly between Emerson Hough and his father, Joseph ("J. B.") Hough. J. B. writes almost all of the correspondence included in this collection, including giving him updates on his mother's condition (she had severe pneumonia) and his sister Nell's health as well as fatherly advice. There are also some handwritten letters from Emerson's mother, his sister Nell, and several friends. Also included in this collection are postcards and telegraphs from J. B. Hough to Emerson regarding his mother's deteriorating health, due to "the grip," or influenza. In one of his letters, J. B. talks about clean-up after a terrible windstorm that came through Iowa in 1891. It is interesting to note that some of J.B.'s postcards sent in the winter are written in pencil because, as he writes, his ink is frozen.

Books by Emerson Hough can be found by searching the library's search system: http://www.lib.iastate.edu

Additional papers of Emerson Hough can be found at the following repositories:
Special Collections Department, University of Iowa Libraries (MsC 628): http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/MSC/ToMsC650/MsC628/houghemerson.htm

American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming (collection number 6764): http://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah06764.xml

Special Collections Department, Clifton Waller Barrett Library, University of Virginia (accession number 7730): http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=uva-sc/viu02403.xml;query=;