Friends of the University Libraries
Nell Murbarger
Nevada Writers Hall of Fame 1996
Nell Murbarger (1909-1991) was born in South Dakota and home-schooled through the eighth grade. She then attended schools in California, Oregon, South Dakota, and Washington. An outdoorswoman, she enjoyed riding horses, camping, photography, exploring the western United States, and world travel. She married Wilbur G. Murbarger in 1931 and divorced in 1939. She is credited with being the first to collect Lithophragma maximum, a member of the saxifrage family, in 1936 on San Clemente Island, the southernmost of the Channel Islands in California. She worked for several western newspapers, including the Los Angeles Examiner and the Salt Lake Tribune. She was editor for the Costa Mesa Globe Herald from 1936-39 and for the Newport-Balboa Press from 1940-45. She became a full-time free-lance writer in 1945, writing several books and approximately 1,000 magazine articles on every conceivable desert subject. Her feature stories in Desert Magazine and other periodicals popularized the hobby of "ghost-towning." She received the American Association for State and Local History Award of Merit in 1955. Her Ghosts of the Glory Trail was recognized nationally as the best nonfiction book of 1956. She was a life member of the Nevada Historical Society.
Name variation: Nell Marbarger
Bibliography for Nell Murbarger
Books
Ghosts of the Adobe Walls: Human Interest and Historical Highlights from 400 Ghost Haunts of Old Arizona. Los Angeles: Westernlore Press, 1964. [Available: Getchell Library: HT 153 .M87 1964]
Ghosts of the Glory Trail: Intimate Glimpses into the Past and Present of 275 Western Ghosttowns. Palm Desert: Desert Magazine Press, 1956. [Available: Getchell Library: F 591 .M9 and at: WNC-Carson City; WNC-Fallon; and Great Basin College, Elko]
Sovereigns of the Sage: True Stories of People and Places in the Great Sagebrush Kingdom of the Western United States. Palm Desert, CA: Desert Magazine Press, 1958. [Available: Getchell Library: E 591 M92 1958]
30,000 Miles in Mexico: Adventures of Two Women and a Pickup-Camper in Twenty-eight Mexican States. Palm Desert, CA: Desert Magazine Press, 1961. [Available: Getchell Library: F 1216 .M8]
Magazine Articles & Anthologies
"Arizona's First Land Rush." Natural History. (1948) Vol. 57, pp. 37-41. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N38 1948]
"Arizona's Tree Cactus." Nature Magazine. (1953) Vol. 46, no. 4, p. 204. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 46, 1953]
"Avenger of Skeleton Canyon." in The Best of True West. New York: Julian Messner, 1964. pp. 28-34. [Available: Getchell Library, Special Collections: F 591 .T7]
"Barnacles on the Sage." Nature Magazine. (1951) Vol. 44, no. 5, p. 248. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 44, 1951]
"Bottomless Lakes State Park." Nature Magazine. (1956) Vol. 49, no. 4, p. 207. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 49, 1956]
"Capitol Reef." Nature Magazine. (1955) Vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 321, 327. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 48, 1955]
"Caprice of Nature." Nature Magazine. (1950) Vol. 43, no. 8, p. 428. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 43, 1950]
"Cathedrals of the Desert." Nature Magazine. (1950) Vol. 43, no. 3, p. 150. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 43, 1950]
"Champion Lily." Nature Magazine. (1953) Vol. 46, no. 8, p. 416. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 46, 1953]
"Charcoal: the West's Forgotten Industry." Desert Magazine. (1956) Vol. 19, pp. 4-9.
"City of the Cavemen." Natural History. (1953) Vol. LXII, pp. 124-129. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N38 1953]
"City of the Crooked Water." Natural History. (1949) Vol. LVIII, PP. 234-239. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N38 1949]
"Earth-Slit in the Calicos." Nature Magazine. (1953) Vol. 46, no. 5, p. 261. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 46, 1953]
"Fungus of the Desert." Nature Magazine. (1954) Vol. 47, no. 8, p. 416. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 47, 1954]
"Golden Treasure of Tule Canyon." Desert Magazine. (1951) Vol. 14, no. 14, pp. 4-9.
"Ghosts of Gold and Glory." in The Best of True West. New York: Julian Messner, 1964. pp. 229-252. [Available: Getchell Library, Special Collections: F 591 .T7]
"'Ice Boxes' of the Desert." Nature Magazine. (1951) Vol. 44, no. 8, p. 408. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 44, 1951]
"Land of the Goshutes." Desert Magazine. (1956) Vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 13-18.
"A Little Frog with A Big Voice." Nature Magazine. (1956) Vol. 49, no. 3, p. 149. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 49, 1956]
"Lost Rivers of Nevada." Nature Magazine. (1953) Vol. 46, no. 7, p. 375. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 46, 1953]
"Lost Valley of the Obelisks." Nature Magazine. (1953) Vol. 46, no. 1, pp. 23-24. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 46, 1953]
"Midway's Gooneys and Others." Nature Magazine. (1944) Vol. 37, no. 6, pp. 295-298. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 37, 1944]
"Montezuma's Pink Castle." Natural History. (1950) Vol. LIX, pp. 38-42. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N38 1950]
"Murder on the Trail." in The Best of True West. New York: Julian Messner, 1964. pp. 107-113. [Available: Getchell Library, Special Collections: F 591 .T7]
"The Mystery of Keyhole Canyon." Nature Magazine. (1956) Vol. 49, no. 5, p. 257. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 49, 1956]
"Nature's Jewel Box." Nature Magazine. (1955) Vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 133-134. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 48, 1955]
"Nevada's Jeweled Cavern." Nature Magazine. (1952) Vol. 45, no. 4, p. 184. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 45, 1952]
"New Use for Datura." Nature Magazine. (1955) Vol. 48, no. 4, p. 204. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 48, 1955]
"Old Man of the Desert." Nature Magazine. (1955) Vol. 48, no. 10, p. 536.
"Plant Hunting on an Island." Nature Magazine. (1949) Vol. 42, no. 8, pp. 357-360, 392. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 42 1949]
"Proud City of the Pecos." New Mexico. (1947) Vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 23, 41, 45.
"Ravens -- and Other Good Neighbors." Nature Magazine. (1951) Vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 37-40. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 44, 1951]
"Sacred Sheep of the Navajos." Arizona Highways. (1950) Vol. 26, no. 8, pp. 10-15.
"Sacred Sheep of the Navajos." Societies Around the World. (1953) Vol. 1, pp. 315-316.
"San Solomon Springs." Nature Magazine. (1956) Vol. 49, no. 9, p. 468. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 49, 1956]
"Singing Mountain." Nature Magazine. (1952) Vol. 45, no. 9, p. 487-488. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 45, 1952]
"Unbelievable Boojum." Nature Magazine. (1951) Vol. 44, no. 4, p. 192. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 44, 1951]
"Water for the Navajos." Desert Magazine. (1959) Vol. 22, no. 11, pp. 20-24.
"White Man's Medicine in Monument Valley." Desert Magazine. (1958) Vol. 21, no. 7, pp. 5-10.
"White-Plumed Aristocrat." Nature Magazine. (1956) Vol. 49, no. 7, p. 356. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 49, 1956]
"Wild Palms of the Kofas." Nature Magazine. (1954) Vol. 47, no. 5, p. 267. [Available: Getchell Library: QH 1 .N379 v. 47, 1954]
Biographical Sources & Critical Response
Earl, Phil. "Josephine (Josie) Reed Pearl." (Women's Biographies). Reno, NV: Nevada Women's History Project.
"Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Proposed Rule to List Three Plants from the Channel Islands of Southern California as Endangered." Federal Register (July 25, 1995), Vol. 60, no. 142, pp. 37987-37993.
Ford, Jean; Glass, Betty J.; and Gould, Martha B., eds. Women in Nevada History: An Annotated Bibliography of Published Sources. Reno, NV: Nevada Women's History Project, 2000. [Available: Getchell Library: HQ 1438 .N3 W66 2000; Truckee Meadows Community College; Western Nevada Community College, Carson City & Fallon campuses]
Miller, Thomas Woodnutt. Papers. [Available: Getchell Library, Special Collections: Collection NC441]
Morris, Henry Curtis. Correspondence, 1945-1963 (manuscript materials). Nevada Women's Archives. [Available: Getchell Library, Special Collections: 95-11]
Murbarger, Nell Lounsberry. Contemporary Authors, Permanent Series. Vol. 1. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1975. [Available: Getchell Library, Main Reference: REF Z 1224 C61 Vol. 1]
Shamberger, Hugh A. The Story of Fairview, Churchill County, Nevada : a little about the Fairview Mining District, its people, its towns, its mines, its quest for water, and its promoters, all of which made an interesting chapter in the mining history of Nevada. (Historic Mining Camps of Nevada series). Carson City, NV: Nevada Historical Press, 1974. [Available: DeLaMare Library & Getchell Library, Special Collections: F 847 .C4 S5; Great Basin College, Elko; Western Nevada Community College, Carson City & Fallon campuses]
Shepperson, Wilbur S. Mirage-Land: Images of Nevada. (Wilbur S. Shepperson Series in History and Humanities). Reno: Univ. of Nevada Press, 1989. (Co-author: Ann Harvey; foreword by Ann Ronald). [Available: Getchell Library: F 841 .S54 1992; also at Great Basin College, Elko; Truckee Meadows Community College; and Western Nevada Community College, Carson City Fallon campuses]
Shepperson, Wilbur S. Restless Strangers: Nevada's Immigrants and Their Interpreters. (The Lancehead Series: Nevada and the West). Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1970. [Available: Getchell Library: F 850 A1 S5; also at Great Basin College, Elko; Truckee Meadows Community College; Western Nevada Community College, Carson City & Fallon campuses]
Please direct questions about this bibliography to Betty Glass
Please direct questions to Millie Mitchell
Director of Development, University Libraries
University of Nevada, RenoUpdated 29 March 2008