This publication is an exhibition catalog celebrating the gift to Stanford University of the Wells Fargo Steinbeck Collection. Brief essays trace Steinbeck's literary career, novel by novel, and his development from a shy, withdrawn dreamer in the small town of Salinas to a dignified, Nobel-laureate winning representative of world literature in Stockholm. The catalog is illustrated with Steinbeck's private letters to family and friends, and family photographs spanning more than 100 years of the novelist's family history. Also included are detailed descriptions of correspondence, typescripts, lobby cards, and other Steinbeck materials held by the Stanford University Libraries, Department of Special Collections and Archives.