This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
The bulk of the collection consists of drafts of articles, manuscripts, and plays. There is also a small amount of correspondence and personal items. Items in the collection include: "Blues of a Lifetime" (unfinished autobiography); "Cover Charge" (play); "Hotel Room" (novel); "I Was Waiting for You" (collection of short stories); "Into the Night" (novel); ""The Loser" (unfinished novel); "Night Has a Thousand Eyes" (novel); "Somebody Else's Life" (television play); "Waltz Into Darkness" (novel); "Wardrobe Trunk" (radio play); and miscellaneous fragments, some incomplete.
Series I: Subject Files, 1934-1968
This small series holds correspondence between Cornell Woolrich and his friend William Thailing. The letters span the bulk of Woolrich's life. Of interest are several cancelled checks made out to Woolrich as payment for twelve stories, including his first story in a pulp magazine.
Series II: Writings, 1937-1960
Series II contains drafts of several novels, plays, and a run of short stories. There are also portions of Woolrich's unpublished "autobiography."
This collection is arranged in two series.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Cornell Woolrich papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Frederic Dannay Papers, 1920-1982 Columbia University, Rare Book & Manuscript Library
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Bequest of Cornell Woolrich, 1971 & 1972.
Purchase, 2010.
Manuscripts: Source of acquisition--Woolrich, Cornell. Method of acquisition--Bequest; Date of acquisition--1971. Accession number--M-1971.
Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--2010.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Manuscripts Entered in AMC 12/05/1990.
Papers processed Lea Osborne 2010 July.
Papers cataloged Lea Osborne 2010 July.
Box 4 added by Patrick Lawlor 2020 November
2009-06-26 File created.
2010-07-13 xml document instance created by Lea Osborne.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich was born on December 14, 1903 in New York City to Genero and Claire (neeĢ Attalic) Hopley-Woolrich. In 1907 the family moved to Mexico and Genero and Claire divorced soon after. Cornell stayed with his father in Mexico for the duration of his childhood. As a teenager, he returned to the United States and lived with his mother, his aunt, and his grandfather on West 113th street. Cornell attended DeWitt Clinton High School and went on to attend Columbia University. He would have graduated in 1925, but dropped out his senior year.
Upon leaving school, Woolrich had a brief marriage to Gloria (Violet Virginia) Blackton. Woolrich befriended Blackton and her sister, Marion. After a few short dates, they married on December 6, 1930. A month later, Woolrich disappeared. While he was gone Gloria Blackton discovered his diary and realized that he had been having daily affairs with men throughout their marriage. She quickly divorced him. Woolrich moved back in with his mother and lived with her in the Hotel Marseilles until she died in 1957.
Although he was a guarded and mysterious individual, Woolrich was also a prolific author writing crime and suspense novels and short stories. Many of his works were adapted into films, radio and television plays. He is perhaps most known for his 1942 short story "It Had to be Murder" which was adapted into the Hitchcock directed classic, Rear Window. Woolrich also wrote under the pen name of William Irish.
He continued to write his whole life, however, he became even more of a recluse after his mother died. Woolrich stayed in his hotel room until he died in 1968. There is very little information about his personal life and the information that exists may or may not be true. Woolrich wrote an autobiography (unpublished), yet he sensationalized much of it and in some cases fabricated complete parts of it.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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