Compositions and Correspondence

Tennessee Williams correspondence and other papers, 1918-1981
This collection contains professional and personal correspondence, including 110 letters to Williams’ mother Edwina. Other items include notebooks, grades and transcripts, a driver's license, and a few photographs.

Tennessee Williams papers, 1932-1983
The bulk of Williams’ papers at Harvard came directly from his estate and comprise 20 linear feet of material. His interior life is well documented in several diaries kept intermittently from 1942 to 1981. Also included is an eclectic but important body of correspondence, mostly drafts of letters sent. Among the many correspondents are Elia Kazan, Williams’ partner Frank Merlo, and his agent Audrey Wood. There are transcripts of several interviews; a few scattered financial papers; compositions by others which were retained by Williams (including significant works by Jane Auer Bowles and Gore Vidal); and a small group of photographs.

Houghton Library collection of Tennessee Williams typescript compositions, 1936-1980 and undated
This collection contains over 30 scripts, some annotated, acquired from different sources. The typescript of I Never Get Dressed Till After Dark on Sundays (1971) has been heavily revised in pencil, red pencil, and blue ink and was composed on at least two different typewriters.

Tennessee Williams typescripts for Battle of angels and The rose tattoo, 1940-1957
REVISED TYPESCRIPT OF CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, 1955 This typescript of Battle of Angels (1940) was annotated by actress Miriam Hopkins. The collection also includes four successive drafts of The Rose Tattoo dating from January to summer 1950.

Tennessee Williams compositions, 1940-1960
This collection includes three typescripts of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, one of which is marked for publication. Scripts for Dos Ranchos, and Period of Adjustment also show Williams’ handwritten revisions.

Tennessee Williams additional papers, 1945-1984
This is a comparatively small collection of typescript carbons and mimeographs. Also present are copies of printed plays and books, some inscribed by Williams.

Tennessee Williams additional papers, 1946-1983
This is another small collection of drafts, correspondence, and photographs.

Maria St. Just collection of Tennessee Williams papers, 1947-1984
Maria St. Just was Williams’ confidante and literary executor. Her collection consists of approximately 135 letters from Williams between 1950 and 1982. There are also legal and financial documents pertaining to her role as literary executor. Among the compositions is an extensively revised (and coffee-stained) typescript of The Lingering Hour, possibly Williams’ last play. Harvard holds five other fragments ranging in length from three to sixteen pages.

Miscellaneous screen, stage, and radio scripts, circa 1859-2007
This collection contains seven scripts, some in draft form, for The Rose Tattoo (1954), Orpheus Descending (1957), The Mutilated (1966), Vieux Carré (1977), Clothes for a Summer Hotel (1979), and Something Cloudy, Something Clear (1980).

Tennessee Williams additional papers, 1964-1967
This collection includes compositions and correspondence between Williams and his friend and collaborator, James Roose-Evans.

James Metcalf collection of correspondence and photographs by and related to Tennessee Williams, 1965-1983 and undated
James Metcalf was the childhood friend of Bill Glavin, Williams' companion. His papers include letters to Williams from his mother Edwina, Bill Glavin, Joseph Losey, Metcalf's mother, and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; and photographs of Williams, his mother, Bill Glavin, Elizabeth Taylor, and Ruth Stone.

Aside from a flurry of revivals...: typescript, 1976
Williams prepared this brief talk describing his current activities in 1976.

Edited drafts of Tennessee Williams' In masks outrageous and austere, with related correspondence, 2005-2008
This collection contains numerous copies of Williams’ original drafts for In Masks Outrageous and Austere edited by Gavin Lambert and Williams’ secretary, John Uecker.


 Revised Typescript of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1955. View details. Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library