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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Thr 552

Tennessee Williams correspondence and other papers

Overview

Correspondence, photographs, and other materials of American playwright and author, Tennessee Williams.

Dates

  • Creation: 1918-1981

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Copyright:

Copyright in the works of Tennessee Williams is held by the University of the South.

Extent

1.2 linear foot (2 boxes and 4 oversize folders)

Collection contains primarily correspondence of Williams with colleagues, friends, and family, and also includes some third party letters. Other items are Williams-related materials: check stubs, autograph manuscript notes and notebooks, grades and transcripts, a driver's license, and a few photographs.

Biographical / Historical

Thomas Lanier Williams III (1911-1983), who published as Tennessee Williams, has often been called America's most prominent playwright. He was also a prolific author of essays, poetry, and short stories.

Arrangement

Arranged into the following series:

  1. I. Letters from Tennessee Williams to others
  2. II. Letters from others to Tennessee Williams
  3. III. Third party letters
  4. IV. Other materials concerning Tennessee Williams
  5. V. Oversize photographs
  6. VI. Additions to collection

Physical Location

b, pfd

Immediate Source of Acquisition

No accession number. Gift of Frederick R. Koch, 825 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10024; received: 1985 June 17.

No accession number. Gift of Frederick R. Koch, 825 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10024; received: 1986 June 3. Formerly titled: "Additions to the F. R. Koch Collection; family correspondence." This group of materials was purchased through John F. Fleming, Sotheby's, New York, sale 5432, 14 February 1986, lot 525. Purchase funded with a gift from F. R. Koch, 1986 June 2.

2018MT-27. Item (9a) purchased with funds from the Bayard Livingston and Kate Gray Kilgour fund, 2017 July 21.

Series V has no accession number. Gift of Frederick R. Koch, no date.

Processing Information

Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt. Series I-IV were accessions formerly housed with the main Tennessee Williams papers and referred to as part of bMS Thr 397. In November of 2009, they were combined, separately cataloged, and given this new call-number, MS Thr 552.

Series V processed by Betts Coup, 2018 May.

Title
Williams, Tennessee, 1911-1983. Tennessee Williams correspondence and other papers, 1918-1980: Guide.
Author
Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou02046

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440