Finding Aid for the Tennessee Williams Papers LSC.0492

Finding aid prepared by Tine Brouwer; updated by Kuhelika Ghosh, 2019.
UCLA Library Special Collections
Online finding aid last updated 2019 April 09.
Room A1713, Charles E. Young Research Library
Box 951575
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575
Business Number: 310-825-4988
Fax Number: 310-206-1864
AskLSC@library.ucla.edu


Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
Title: Tennessee Williams papers
Creator: Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983
Identifier/Call Number: LSC.0492
Physical Description: 0.8 linear feet (2 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1930-1970
Abstract: Thomas Lanier Williams (1911-1983) was born in Columbus, Missouri. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for A Streetcar Named Desire, and another in 1955 for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Many of his plays were adapted for the screen. His works include 24 major plays, 2 novels, several screenplays, and a volume of memoirs. The collection contains manuscripts of several of Williams' published and unpublished plays, play fragments, short stories, screen scenarios, and poems.
Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

PORTIONS OF THIS COLLECTION HAVE BEEN DIGITIZED. See the Online Items Available note for the link to the digitized materials.

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Tennessee Williams, 1970.

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9936492433606533 

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Tennessee Williams papers (Collection 492). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

Processing Information

Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
Processed by Tine Brouwer, updated by Kuhelika Ghosh, 2019.
We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections. 

Biography

Thomas Lanier Williams was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. His first major success came with the 1945 Broadway premiere of The Glass Menagerie. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for A Streetcar Named Desire and another in 1955 for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Williams adapted a number of his plays for the screen, and his works include 24 major plays, 2 novels, several screenplays, and a volume of memoirs. Williams died on February 25, 1983 in New York City.

Scope and Content

Collection contains manuscripts of several of Williams' published and unpublished plays, play fragments, short stories, screen scenarios, and poems. Includes transcripts of early versions of Sweet Bird of Youth and The Night of the Iguana. Also includes uncorrected proofs and galleys of Gilbert Maxwell's book, Tennessee Williams and Friends (1965).

Online Items Available

Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online: Tennessee Williams Papers (1 item) .

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Dramatists, American -- 20th century -- Archives.
Authors, American -- 20th century -- Archives.
Maxwell, Gilbert -- Tennessee Williams and Friends.
Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983--Archives.

box 1, folder 1

The Day on Which a Man Dies (an occidental Noh Play). Miami 1960

General Physical Description note: 40 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.
box 1, folder 2

And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens... Havana, Cuba circa 1958

General Physical Description note: 33 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.
box 1, folder 3

Now and at the Hour of Our Death. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 39 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.
box 1, folder 4

The Demolition Downtown. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 31 leaves. Mimeograph and a few hand-typed pages with holograph corrections.
box 1, folder 5

No Sight Would Be Worth Seeing. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 20 leaves. Mimeograph and a few hand-typed pages with holograph corrections.
box 1, folder 6

The Drunken Fiddler. v.p. circa 1930-1940

General Physical Description note: 72 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.
box 1, folder 7

Happy August the Tenth. n.p., unpublished short story 1957

General Physical Description note: 21 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.
box 1, folder 8

Stairs to the Roof. New Orleans, unpublished play 1941

General Physical Description note: 105 leaves. Professionally typed.

Scope and Contents note

Produced at the Pasadena Playhouse, circa 1943.
box 1, folder 9

Sweet Bird of Youth. n.p. circa 1955

General Physical Description note: 80 leaves. Mimeograph and a few hand-typed pages, with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Original version, produced at Studio M in Coral Gables, Florida, circa 1956.
box 1, folder 11

The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 65 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Fragments.
box 1, folder 12

Do it Yourself Interview. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 15 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.
box 1, folder 13

Candles to the Sun. n.p., unpublished play 1936

General Physical Description note: 53 leaves. Typescript.
box 1, folder 14

The Night of the Iguana. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 50 leaves. Typescript.

Scope and Contents note

Early version, produced 1960.
box 2, folder 1

The Twister. n.p., unpublished and unproduced undated

General Physical Description note: 12 leaves. Typescript, carbon copy.
box 2, folder 2

Hide and Seek or Whipmaster. n.p. 1954

General Physical Description note: 100 leaves. Typescript, carbon copy.

Scope and Contents note

Unpublished early version of Baby Doll.
box 2, folder 3

Golden Rules for Playwrights. Acapulco, Mexico, unpublished 1959

General Physical Description note: 3 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.
box 2, folder 4

Night of the Iguana. n.p., play 1960

General Physical Description note: 100 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Author's work-script.
box 2, folder 5

Baby Doll. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 65 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Screen scenario.
Fragment, not included in film.
box 2, folder 6

Poems, n.p. 1952 March

General Physical Description note: 7 leaves

Scope and Contents note

This file contains typescripts and holographs of five poems: "We Are Coming Home to Die," "Ain't it a Pity," "She that Comes Late to the Dance," "A Witch and her Daughter," and "A Moment in a Room."
box 2, folder 7

A Man Grows Long... n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 5 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Incomplete poem.
box 2, folder 8

Letter to the drama editor of the New York Times. New York undated

General Physical Description note: 2 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Published in a different form in the drama pages of the New York Times.
box 2, folder 9

A reply to the Point of View (POV) of critic Marya Mannes. New York undated

General Physical Description note: 6 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Published in the drama section of the New York Times in a slightly different form.
First draft.
box 2, folder 10

Mama's Old Stucco House. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 1 leaf. Holograph.

Scope and Contents note

Story published in final form in The Knightly Quest. New York: New Directions, 1966.
box 2, folder 11

The Mutilated, and The Gnadiges Fraulein. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 43 leaves. Typescript and holograph.

Scope and Contents note

Two short plays, final versions produced in the 1960s.
box 2, folder 12

What's Next on the Agenda, Mr. Williams? n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 13 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Prose poem describing the author's experiences in the violent ward of a psychiatric hospital.
Read at London Poetry Festival, 1970.
box 2, folder 13

A Recluse and His Guest. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 13 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Short story published in Playboy, December 1969.
box 2, folder 14

The Tread-Mill. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 3 leaves. Typescript.

Scope and Contents note

Fragment of an early short story.
box 2, folder 15

One Arm. n.p. Screenplay of the short story, unproduced circa 1968

General Physical Description note: 100 leaves. Typescript.
box 2, folder 16

Letter to Virginia Carr. Key West, Florida 1970 August 18-19

General Physical Description note: 2 leaves. Typescript.
box 2, folder 17

Maxwell, Gilbert. Tennessee Williams and Friends. New York: World Publishing Company 1965

Scope and Contents note

Uncorrected proofs, galleys.
box 2, folder 18

Man Bring This Up Road. n.p. undated

General Physical Description note: 55 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Short story published in The Knightly Quest. New York, New Directions, 1966.