3 Nov 1962: The writings of Robert Claiborne Pitzer, a Lebanon author, are currently on exhibit at the Lebanon Community Library until December 5. The exhibit includes some of the various books, periodical articles and a manuscript of the author's "Three Frontiers," a work which received high praise upon its publication in 1938. The material has been loaned to the library by Mrs. Robert C. Pitzer, widow of the author and a resident of Lebanon. Pitzer was born in Denver, Colo., in 1879. His early days were full of adventure and excitement. He was a Spanish-American War volunteer. In his youth he was a ranch hand in Southern Colorado, mainly riding fence. He also prospected for gold in central Idaho, during the Thunder Mountain boom days. His writing career started when he worked as a cub reporter for the Denver Times and then the Denver Post. In 1907 he became the New York reporter for the Los Angeles Times and also worked in the rare book department at John Wanamaker's in New York at the same time. He graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1915 and was ordained in the Presbyterian ministry in the same year. In the ensuing years he ministered to churches in East Earl, Lancaster County; Delaware City, Lebanon, and Irvington, N. J. He retired in 1946 and came to Lebanon to live until his death in 1962. Pitzer began writing at the age of 18 and wrote more or less continuously when time permitted, up to his death. His writing is marked by great versatility, since he wrote many different kinds of books. His best work is concerned with early Americana; it is "Three Frontiers," a biography of Henry Littleton Pitzer, Robert Pitzer's father, and deals with his life in the pioneer West, mostly in Denver, Colo. It was published in 1938 by the Prairie Press, a press that is noted for its fine printing and distinguished typography. "Three Frontiers" received a glowing review in the New York Time by Henry Steele Commager, the noted historian. Commager states about the reminiscences that they are " . . . valuable because they illuminate the life, of an ordinary individual who, without great endowments, position, or wealth, contributed labor and pride to the building of a commonwealth." The Christian Science Monitor reviewer also liked the book. He summed up his feeling about it by stating, "There is a beautiful simplicity about the book; Thoreau would have liked it. It is a convincing picture of one of the anonymous thousands, neither villains nor heroes, who made the West." Another field in which Pitzer succeeded was the writing of Westerns, both books and articles for magazines. Two of the Westerns he wrote were "Riders of Lobo Valley" and "Rattlesnake Ridge." The latter had the distinction of being published not only in the U.S. in book form, but also in England. Both of these books are being, donated to the library by Mr. and Mrs. Edwin Shay. Mrs. Shay is Pitzer's daughter. Another facet of Pitzer's talent was poetry, which was published in various periodicals, among them the Atlantic Monthly and the New York Times. He wrote secular as well as religious verse. Some of both are included in the exhibit. Pitzer also wrote philosophic discourses, two of which were published in the Princeton Theological Review. One of Pitzer's essays on the tree, the silver fir, was published in the Reader's Digest of September, 1931. In the exhibit is a letter from Joseph V. Machugh, a special assistant to the Attorney General of the U. S., in which he comments on his enjoyment of the essay. Another facet of Pitzer's talent was the writing of religious and comic plays for young people. One of the last books Robert C. Pitzer wrote was "Daughter of Jerusalem," a biblical novel of the days of Jeremiah. This completed what was certainty a versatile and rewarding career in the world of writing. [Lebanon Daily News]