Scope and Contents
Dates
- 1903-1969
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
Conditions Governing Use
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The bulk of the collection, including incoming letters, outgoing letters to family, most writings, and all personal papers, was received by gift from Dudley Nichols, 1949-1960, and his widow, Esta Nichols, 1961-1966. Additional materials, including outgoing letters to others and some writings, were acquired by gift from other sources, 1960-1987.
For more information consult the appropriate curator.
Arrangement
Extent
2.92 Linear Feet (7 boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
Dudley Nichols (1895-1960)
After the armistice Nichols volunteered for minesweeping duty and invented a method of electrical protection for minesweepers for which he received the Distinguished Service Medal in 1920. Following the war Nichols worked as a reporter for ten years for the Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, then the New York Evening Post, and finally the New York World. During this period he also studied at New York University and sailed again as a radio operator.
In 1929 Nichols was persuaded by Winfield Sheehan, head of Fox Studios, to become a screenwriter. His first film, Men Without Women (1930), directed by John Ford, led to a collaboration with Ford that lasted until 1947 and resulted in fourteen films, including The Lost Patrol (1934), The Informer (1935), Stagecoach (1939), The Long Voyage Home (1940), and The Fugitive (1947). During the 1940's Nichols also worked with Fritz Lang, Jean Renoir, Howard Hawks, Leo McCarey, René Clair, and Elia Kazan. He wrote the final script of Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943) and produced and directed two films based on his own scripts, Sister Kenny (1946) and an adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Mourning Becomes Electra (1947).
Biographical information taken from "Dudley Nichols." Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1980. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 13 Dec. 2012.
Processing Information
Former call numbers: Uncat Za Nichols and Uncat Za Ms 34.
- Authors -- United States -- 20th century
- Authors, American -- 20th Century -- Archives
- Chaplin, Charlie, 1889-1977
- Dahlberg, Edward, 1900-1977
- Faulkner, William, 1897-1962
- Film scripts
- Fowler, Gene, 1890-1960
- Huxley, Aldous, 1894-1963
- Marsh, W. Lockwood (William Lockwood), 1886-1963
- Morley, Christopher, 1890-1957
- Motion picture producers and directors -- United States
- Motion picture producers and directors -- United States -- 20th Century
- Nichols, Dudley, 1895-1960
- Photographic prints
- Renoir, Jean, 1894-1979
- Screenwriters -- United States -- 20th Century
- Screenwriters -- United States -- 20th Century -- Archives
- Toller, Ernst, 1893-1939
- Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975
- Title
- Guide to the Dudley Nichols Papers
- Author
- by Beinecke staff
- Date
- December 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.