Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents and printed materials documenting the career of Aaron Frankel. The correspondence is by Lynn Fontanne, Greer Garson, Lorne Greene, Alfred Lunt, Frederick Marshall, Robert Penn Warren and others. The manuscripts include l4 drafts of Frankel's "Writing the Broadway Musical" as well as manuscripts by Robert Penn Warren and Myron Galewski for two plays"Willie Stark: His Rise and Fall" and "Brother to Dragons". One of the documents is a collaboration agreement signed by Warren and Frankel. The printed materials include galleys of "Writing the Broadway Musical" and items relating to Frankel's productions of Warren's plays.

Correspondence files and financial papers. The files include correspondence, contracts, clippings and programs, ledgers and financial accounts, submission books, and calendars and memorandum books. Authors for whom there are extensive files include the following: Truman Capote; Patrick Dennis; John Dos Passos; Lloyd C. Douglas; John Hersey; Alice Tisdale Hobart; Paul Horgan; William Humphrey; Frances Parkinson Keyes; Margaret Mitchell; Alan Paton; Kenneth Roberts; Lillian Smith; John Steinbeck; George R. Stewart; Ben Ames Williams; and Kathleen Winsor

Playscripts, notes, caricatures, rehearsal lists, playbills, a flyer, and newspaper reviews and clippings for THE CRUCIBLE by Arthur Miller. THE CRUCIBLE, a drama about the Salem witch trials of 1692, was first produced in Wilmington in January 1953 and opened in New York in June 1953. The playscripts show the working notes of Arthur Miller and of Jed Harris, the director.

Correspondence, manuscripts, diaries, commonplace books, drawings, photographs, and printed materials. The collection is a comprehensive documentation of the dramatist's career and includes manuscripts, typescripts, notes, and costume and scenic design for more than seventy of his plays and related writings; 31 diaries, commonplace books, and scrapbooks containing manuscript and typescript notes, travel sketches, original drawings, and photographs; and correspondence files including letters from Harley Granville-Barker, Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree, John Galsworthy, Booth Tarkington, and Thornton Wilder. Austin Strong's mother, Isobel Field, was the step-daughter of Robert Louis Stevenson. Consequently, the collection contains much Stevensoniana, including photographs and Isobel Field's letters from Western Samoa, where she was known as "Teuila." Also, correspondence and photographs relating to Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand, which was designed by Austin Strong.

Correspondence, manuscripts, diaries, radio, television, and film scripts, notes, subject files, documents, financial records, photographs, memorabilia, clippings, and printed materials. Grauer's voluminous professional, personal, and family correspondence reflect his many and varied interests in radio, television, motion pictures, sound recordings, journalism, book collecting, printing, the graphic arts, and travel. Among the significant correspondents there are 43 letters from Henry Miller, 26 letters from Eric Partridge, and ten letters from Bruce Rogers. There are numerous single letters from public figures and celebrities, many written to the author, Quentin Reynolds, who organized Grauer's 25th Anniversary in Broadcasting in 1950. Among these are George Abbott, Agnes de Mille, Samuel Goldwyn, John Hersey, Bob Hope, Lauritz Melchior, Edward R. Murrow, Anaïs Nin, David Sarnoff, and Thornton Wilder. There are thousands of letters from fans, friends, and family, including Grauer's wife Melanie Kahane, the interior decorator. b The manuscripts consist of early writings; radio, television, film, and sound recording scripts with related notes and correspondence; speeches; periodical articles; and several book manuscripts. The majority of the Scripts File are for NBC productions, but also included are scripts for the Voice of America, commercials, films, and records. Among Grauer's many "firsts" in broadcasting are the first live report of Count Folke Bernadotte's assasination, the first radio show to present cash prizes ("Pot 'o Gold"), and NBC television's first live news event, the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair. The Activities File documents Grauer's presence in broadcasting, book collecting, printing and the graphic arts, travel, including the promotion of the Pan American Highway, and his membership in countless organizations. There are more than 3,000 photographs documenting his career from his years as a child actor through the more than 40 years he was associated with NBC. He was photographed with the famous men and women of his generation whose activities he covered on the air. The Publicity File contains newspaper and periodical clippings on his career. Also included is one audio tape recording of "Salute to Ben Grauer" Nov. 15, 1950, an off the air recording

Correspondence, scripts, scores, set designs, prompt books, scrapbooks, costume designs, programs, playbills, broadsides, clippings, fliers, photographs, announcements of forthcoming productions, clippings, and related materials. Columbia University theatrical groups include The Columbia Laboratory Players, The Columbia College Dramatic Group, The Wigs and Cues, The Summer Session Classes in Play Production, The Morningside Players, and the Columbia Theatre Associates which superseded all the preceding groups. There is an extensive file on the Columbia Laboratory Players; including production files that document the various stages involved in putting together a dramatic production. In addition there are typewritten scripts representing the spectrum of plays that were produced over the Lab's active years. There are photographs of only a few specific plays. Non Lab materials relate to Rehersal Course productions, a Columbia English Department course that was closely affiliated with the Lab players

Manuscript materials which include correspondence, business papers, composition scrapbooks and musical scores; books; clippings; records; and photographs.