Borland, Hal, 1900-1978

Hal Borland (1900-1978) was a well-known American author, as well as a journalist for "The Denver Post," "The New York Times," and "Audubon Magazine." His works include "When the Legends Die," which was made into a movie in 1972.

From the guide to the Hal Glen Borland Papers (MS 104), 1942-1978, 1950-1978, (University of Colorado at Boulder Libraries. Special Collections Dept.)

Harold Glen Borland, American author, journalist, and naturalist, was born in Sterling, Nebraska to William Arthur and Sarah Clinaburg Borland on May 14, 1900. Borland grew up in Flagler, Colorado, where his parents owned and edited a weekly newspaper. From 1918 to 1920 Borland attended the University of Colorado where he studied engineering while also working for Denver Post and Flagler News . Realizing that his true avocation was as an author, Borland moved to New York where he attended Columbia University’s School of Journalism, obtaining a Bachelor in Literature in 1923. Borland also worked as a reporter for the Brooklyn Times, United Press, and King Features Service at this time.

After graduation Borland spent several years traveling across the United States working for various newspapers, including stints in Salt Lake City (Utah), Carson City (Nevada), Fresno and San Diego (California), and Marshall (Texas), before returning to Colorado in 1925 to work for Stratton Press.

While living in New York Borland met his first wife, Helen Alice Le Bene (circa 1900-1944), who was also a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism (1923). Hal and Helen Borland had three sons: Harold Glen, Junior, Donal W., and Neil F. Borland. Helen Borland also pursued a career as a journalist, publishing articles and book reviews in magazines. She died at the age of forty-four in 1944.

In 1926 Borland moved to Philadelphia, where he would live until 1937, working for Curtis Newspapers, Philadelphia Morning Sun, and Philadelphia Morning Ledger .

In 1937 Borland began writing for the New York Times, first as a staff writer for the New York Times Sunday Magazine (1937-1943) and then in 1942 as an editorial writer for the New York Sunday Times, a position he would hold until his death in 1978.

Parallel to his career as a journalist, Borland wrote short stories, novels (including westerns under the pseudonym Ward West), biographical novels, non-fiction, and a play. Borland began writing poetry and novels while still a student, with his publications including Heaps of Gold (1922), a collection of verse, and Rocky Mountain Tipi Tails (1924), a young adult novel.

However, Borland is perhaps best known for his nature writing. He was involved in a number of conservation efforts and his editorials for the New York Times, and later for the Berkshire Eagle (1958-1978), Pittsburgh Press (1966-1978), and Torrington Register (1971-1978), focused largely on the natural world and his experience as an outdoorsman. Borland’s nature writing for the New York Times was compiled in Sundial of the Seasons: A Selection of Outdoor Editorials from the New York Times (1964) and Twelve Moons of the Year (1979). In addition to his journalism, Borland’s nature writings also include An American Year: Country Life and Landscapes Through the Seasons (1946), Beyond Your Doorstep: A Handbook to the Country (1962), Countryman: A Summary of Belief (1965), Hill Country Harvest (1967), and Homeland: A Report from the Country (1969), among others. For his writing on the outdoors he won the Meeman Award for Conservation Writing (1966), John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing (1968), and the Interpretive Naturalists Award (1973).

On August 10, 1945 Borland married Barbara Ross Dodge, who was also an author and had studied at the Columbia School of Journalism. In 1952 they moved to Salisbury, Connecticut. Hal and Barbara Borland collaborated on a number of writing projects together, including stories for Collier's and Good Housekeeping .

Borland died of emphysema on February 22, 1978 in Sharon, Connecticut.

Barbara Ross Dodge was born to Harry George and Grace Cross Dodge in Waterbury, Connecticut, in 1904. Dodge attended Crosby High School and Saint Margaret's School, where she excelled at poetry. She continued her education at Oberlin College (1922-1923) and then Columbia University's School of Journalism (1923), but left both institutions before receiving a degree in order to pursue a writing career. Dodge served as an editor for a number of publications before running the New York City Writers Workshop from 1934 to 1938. Dodge had one daughter, Diana Butler Thomson (1935-2000). In 1945 Dodge married Hal Borland, with whom she collaborated on a number of short stories and articles, which were published in Colliers, McCalls, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and others (1946-1956). In 1962 Dodge published The Greater Hunger . Dodge wrote a column about gardening for the Berkshire Eagle and published This is the Way My Garden Grows: And Comes into My Kitchen in 1986. Following Borland's death, Dodge edited and published Hal Borland's Twelve Moons of the Year (1979).

From the guide to the Hal and Barbara Borland papers, 1904-1990, (Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library)