Wister, Owen, 1860-1938, American author, b. Philadelphia, grad. Harvard (B.A., 1882; LL.B., 1888). Trips to the West for his health gave him material for his short stories and for his greatest success, The Virginian (1902), a novel about Wyoming cowhands. He wrote several biographies, including one in 1930 on his friend Theodore Roosevelt. His other books include the novel Lady Baltimore (1906) and the short stories "Lin McLean" (1898) and "Jimmyjohn Boss" (1900). His collected works, in 11 volumes, appeared in 1928. The journals of his Western travels from 1885 to 1895 were published in 1958 as Owen Wister Out West.

(born July 14, 1860, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died July 21, 1938, North Kingstown, R.I.) U.S. novelist. A well-to-do Easterner who graduated from Harvard, he spent his summers in the West from 1885. After practicing law for two years, he devoted himself to a literary career. His novel The Virginian (1902), the story of a cattle-ranch foreman who depends for his life on a harsh code of ethics, was a great popular success and helped establish the cowboy as an American folk hero and stock fictional character; the novel became the basis of a play, numerous films, and even a television series. His other major work was Roosevelt: The Story of a Friendship, 1880–1919 (1930), detailing his long acquaintance with his Harvard classmate Theodore Roosevelt.

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