Scope and Contents
The records include administrative correspondence, application files, financial and fund-raising records, internal reports, audio recordings and transcripts of guest lectures and craft discussions, audio recordings of board meetings and play readings, photographs, scrapbooks holding clippings about the organization, artwork and production materials for New Dramatists newsletters and publications, and other files related to the group's management and activities, including the ScriptShare program. Prominent in the collection are more than seven hundred play and screenplay scripts which formed a script library at the New Dramatists' office. These include drafts and final scripts by playwrights Robert Anderson, James Baldwin, Sydney Chandler, James Leo Herlihy, Romulus Linney, John McGowan, Lanford Wilson, and John Wolfson, among others, some of which are annotated with production notes. Unique to the collection are a group of whimsical cartoons and doodles created by theatre celebrities and a set of autographed sign-in boards from the New Dramatists' annual spring luncheons (1980-1996). With the exception of one play script from 1931, the records primarily date from the organization's founding in 1949 through the 1988-1989 season.
Dates
- 1931-1996
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Box 128: Restricted until 2050. For further information consult the appropriate curator.
Boxes 129-132 (sound recordings): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Box 128: Restricted until 2050. For further information consult the appropriate curator.
Boxes 129-132 (sound recordings): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.
Conditions Governing Use
The New Dramatists Records is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from New Dramatists, Inc., on the Eugene G. O'Neill Memorial Fund, 1999.
Arrangement
Organized into two series: I. Script Library, 1931-1985. II. Administrative Files, 1949-1996.
Extent
153.75 Linear Feet ((132 boxes) + 12 broadside folders)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The records date from the organization's founding in 1949 and include administrative correspondence, application files, financial and fund-raising records, internal reports, audio recordings and transcripts of guest lectures and craft discussions, audio recordings of board meetings and play readings, photographs, scrapbooks holding clippings about the organization, artwork and production materials for New Dramatists newsletters and publications, and other files related to the group's management and activities, including the ScriptShare program. Prominent in the collection are more than seven hundred play and screenplay scripts which formed a script library at the New Dramatists' office. They include drafts and final scripts by playwrights Robert Anderson, James Baldwin, Sydney Chandler, James Leo Herlihy, Romulus Linney, John McGowan, Lanford Wilson, and John Wolfson, among others, some of which are annotated with production notes. Unique to the collection are a group of whimsical doodles created by theatre celebrities and a set of autographed sign-in boards from the New Dramatists' annual spring luncheons (1980-1996). With the exception of one play script from 1931, the records primarily date from the organization's founding in 1949 through the 1988-1989 season.
New Dramatists, Inc.
New Dramatists, Inc., was founded in New York in 1949 by Michaela O'Harra in association with Howard Lindsay, Richard Rodgers, Russel Crouse, Oscar Hammerstein II, John Golden, Moss Hart, Maxwell Anderson, John Wharton, Robert E. Sherwood and Elmer Rice. The organization has since its beginning awarded seven-year resident fellowships to playwrights enabling them to use dedicated writing and performance spaces to develop their scripts through readings and workshops, with the encouragement and assistance of fellow playwrights, directors, stage managers, professional actors, and the New Dramatists support staff. Among the administrators of the organization were Thomas G. Dunn, director from 1981-1990, and Susan Gregg, director-in-residence and, later, director of script development and marketing.
For further information, see the organization's website, http://newdramatists.org/.
For further information, see the organization's website, http://newdramatists.org/.
Separated Materials
Mary K. Frank's personal scrapbook documenting her production of two Alan Paton plays in 1956 and 1964 was also received with the New Dramatists Records; it was cataloged separately in 2013.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
The New Dramatists Records were inventoried and listed in 2013 with only minimal reorganization of the play scripts in Series I (to incorporate random scripts found in Series II and to establish authors for previously unidentified scripts), and to segregate the audiovisual materials at the end of the collection. Otherwise, the files were left in the order in which they were packed in the New Dramatists offices prior to being transferred to the library with no attempt made to determine which office the files might have come from .
This collection includes materials previously identified by the following call numbers: Uncat ZA MS 599 and Uncat ZA MS 605
The New Dramatists Records were inventoried and listed in 2013 with only minimal reorganization of the play scripts in Series I (to incorporate random scripts found in Series II and to establish authors for previously unidentified scripts), and to segregate the audiovisual materials at the end of the collection. Otherwise, the files were left in the order in which they were packed in the New Dramatists offices prior to being transferred to the library with no attempt made to determine which office the files might have come from .
This collection includes materials previously identified by the following call numbers: Uncat ZA MS 599 and Uncat ZA MS 605
- Anderson, Robert, 1917-2009
- Audiovisual materials -- United States -- 20th Century
- Baldwin, James, 1924-1987
- Chandler, Sydney
- Dramatists -- United States -- 20th Century
- Dramatists -- United States -- 20th Century
- Dunn, Thomas G.
- Gregg, Susan, 1943-2009
- Herlihy, James Leo
- Linney, Romulus, 1930-2011
- McGowan, John, 1894-1977
- Mechanicals (camera-ready copy) -- United States -- 20th Century
- New Dramatists, Inc
- Photographs -- United States -- 20th Century
- Scrapbooks -- United States -- 20th Century
- Scripts (documents) -- United States -- 20th Century
- Theater -- United States
- Wilson, Lanford, 1937-2011
- Wolfson, John, (Playwright)
- Title
- Guide to the New Dramatists Records
- Date
- 2007-05-15
- 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.