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

spec-coll@library.ucla.edu

URL: https://www.library.ucla.edu/special-collections

Language of Material: English

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 The collection contains manuscripts of several of Williams' published and unpublished plays, play fragments, short stories, screen scenarios, and poems.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.

Conditions Governing Access

COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE: Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance through our electronic paging system 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.

Preferred Citation

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

Provenance/Source of Acquisition

Tennessee Williams, purchase, 1970.

UCLA Catalog Record ID

UCLA Catalog Record ID: 3649243

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).

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

Physical Description: 40 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

box 1, folder 2

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

Physical Description: 33 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

box 1, folder 3

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

Physical Description: 39 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

box 1, folder 4

The Demolition Downtown. n.p. undated

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 20 leaves. Mimeograph and a few hand-typed pages with holograph corrections.

box 1, folder 6

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

Physical Description: 72 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

box 1, folder 7

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 n.p., unpublished short story 1957

Physical Description: 21 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

box 1, folder 8

Stairs to the Roof. New Orleans, unpublished play 1941

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 65 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Fragments.

box 1, folder 12

Do it Yourself Interview. n.p. undated

Physical Description: 15 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

box 1, folder 13

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

Physical Description: 53 leaves. Typescript.

box 1, folder 14

The Night of the Iguana. n.p. undated

Physical Description: 50 leaves. Typescript.

Scope and Contents note

Early version, produced 1960.

box 2, folder 1

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

Physical Description: 12 leaves. Typescript, carbon copy.

box 2, folder 2

Hide and Seek or Whipmaster. n.p. 1954

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 3 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

box 2, folder 4

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

Physical Description: 100 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

Author's work-script.

box 2, folder 5

Baby Doll. n.p. undated

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 100 leaves. Typescript.

box 2, folder 16

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

Physical Description: 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

Physical Description: 55 leaves. Typescript with holograph corrections.

Scope and Contents note

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