The National Steinbeck Center in Salinas California is the world’s largest museum dedicated to a single author. In the 1970s, a group of local Salinas school teachers got together and lamented that John Steinbeck was the only person recognized the world over, born and raised in Salinas, but never embraced by Salinas and her citizens. They established the Steinbeck Center Foundation in 1983, and after years of campaigning and fund raising, the Center was completed and dedicated in June of 1998.
Steinbeck was vilified by the local farmers after the publication of Grapes of Wrath, feeling they were portrayed in an unfavorable light. They publicly burned his books, and more or less drove Steinbeck permanently from Salinas. So the area’s inhabitants never much cared for Steinbeck the man, and so never considered him a talent to be recognized or embraced. He eventually landed in New York City, and spent most of the remainder of his time on the East Coast.
This is truly an amazing museum. There are all types of exhibits that showcase his work and philosophy, both fiction and non-fiction, and his contribution to Hollywood. It also houses the largest archive of Steinbeck works.
Any fan of literary fiction, the history of California, and the great John Steinbeck owes it to themselves to visit this center at least once in their lifetime.
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