This finding aid is made available for public use following the Universal 1.0 Public Domain Dedication Creative Commons designation.
This collection is located on-site.
This collection has no restrictions.
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.
This collection is arranged in two series.
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 Woolrich wrote an autobiography (unpublished), yet he sensationalized much of it and in some cases fabricated complete parts of it.
Bequest of Cornell Woolrich, 1971 & 1972.
Purchase, 2010.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Cornell Woolrich papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Manuscripts Entered in AMC 12/05/1990.
Papers processed Lea Osborne 2010 July.
Papers cataloged Lea Osborne 2010 July.
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.
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Box 4 added by Patrick Lawlor 2020 November
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
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 contains drafts of several novels, plays, and a run of short stories. There are also portions of Woolrich's unpublished "autobiography."
This is Cornell Woolrich's own copy of Hotel Room, as published by Random House in 1958, with his manuscript changes to the book. Acquired with the book are typescripts of two new stories that Woolrich intended to have included in a new, never published edition: Episode 2, "The Fiancee without Future (1900)," and Episode 3, "The Fault-Finder (1915)." Woolrich changed the title of the book and the titles of each chapter, created a new table of contents with the two new stories, and changed "Cornell Woolrich" to "William Irish," one of his pseudonyms. The Random House publication does not include two of the stories listed in the typescript shown below: Chapter 7, "The Night of May 12th, 1935," and Chapter 8, "The Night of September 20th, 1937."