Research Guides: Tennessee Williams : Tennessee Williams in Manuscripts and Rare Books

Tennessee Williams in Manuscripts

Tennessee Williams Collection (MSS134)
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Consists of three poem drafts by Williams written during his time at Washington University; Williams's University College grade card; Williams's Washington University Greek final examination blue book; five play scripts, The Glass Menagerie, The Rose Tattoo, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire and Vieux Carré; screenplays for The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire; a draft of the libretto, Lord Byron's Love Letter: Opera In One-Act; the foreward to Constructing a Play by Marian Gallaway; two inscribed publicity photographs of Williams; a first issue points for Tennessee Williams dramatist's play service editions; programs for Williams celebrations; and two posters advertising William's play productions.
William G.B. Carson Papers (MSS023)
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Box 3/folder 21 - Me, Vashya! [play in one act] 1937, 1 item (19pp): TS[carbon] Typescript carbon, 19 pp. Dated [1937]. Script is in a Washington University exam folder. Script has some revisions in ink, and includes a list of props and sound effects on the recto of the last page. There is no way of determining whether these auto revisions are in Williams' hand or not. This copy appears to be an earlier version of a bound typescript carbon draft also filed in Carson, acc. 16520.
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Tennessee Williams was a student in W.G.B. Carson's 1936-1937 English XVI class on playwriting. Each year three plays were selected by a jury to be produced the following year by Thyrsus, the dramatic club. Williams was upset when his play was not one of the three chosen for production, although the play was later used as a St. Louis radio production.
Josephine Johnson Papers (MSS062)
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One letter from Williams possibly as an editor.
Box 1/folder10: 1935: May 17, TLS, 1p from Tom Williams
Clark Mills McBurney Papers (MSS078)
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Includes excerpts from work by William Jay Smith and Tennessee Williams concerning their youth in St. Louis, where they were both friends with McBurney.

Series II.1 Poetry by McBurney.
Box 3/folder 120 - Tennessee Williams

Series III. Works by Others, Tennessee Williams
Box 5/folder 162 - The Color of the House; Return to Dust

Series IV. Personal Papers
Box 5/folder166 - Tennessee Williams, Includes a TLS, 1 p from Lyle Leverich to Mills (1985: March 6) and photocopies of Williams' poems from the Paul Bigelow Collection
Shepherd Mead Papers (MSS079)
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Box 34-36/Folder 485-496
Material relating to Mead's and Dakin Williams' biography on Tennessee Williams, Tennessee Williams: An Intimate Biography
William Jay Smith Papers MSS104
Box 5/folder 20: Correspondence to Walter E. Orthwein, 1976: February 23, (TS[c], 3pp), In this letter Smith discusses various details of his life, including his relationship with Tennessee Williams.

Box 6/folder 27: Correspondence to Dakin Williams (American author) from
Smith, 1983: March 28, (TL[c]), 1p)

Box 4/folder 18: Correspondence to Williams from Smith 1974: July 12, (TL[c],
1p) with a reply to Smith from Williams 1974: July 18, (TLS, 1p)

Box 7/folder 33: Correspondence to Williams from Smith, [n.d.], (ALS, 1p)

Box 7/folder 33: Correspondence to Robert A. Carter (1923- , American author)
from Williams, [n.d.], (TLS, 1p)

Box 98: The centaurs [poem] [1935]. Auto. 1p. corrections made by Tennessee
Williams.

Box 110/folder 572: Manuscript by Williams, Sacre du printemps [poem]. [ca. 1935-1936]. Ts. 1p. typescript signature: Thomas Lanier Williams.

Box 239/folder 2742: My Friend Tom, Tennessee Williams in St. Louis [speech], (Ts and Auto, 19 pp)
Robert Sward Papers MSS110
Box 39: Journals: V. 23. Signed on title page. Comments, Quotes and News Items. 1/1965-12/1965. 267p. Comments on Tennessee Williams.

V. 25. Signed and dated on front cover. Comments, Quotations, Poetry revisions, Postcards, Photographs, Clippings, and a Letter. 3/1965-11/1965. 273p. Comments on Tennessee Williams.
May Swenson Papers MSS111
Box 5/folder233
Series I.1 Correspondence to Swenson
Britton, Burt, Strand Bookstore, [1976]: January 24 (ALS, 2 pp., w/encl.) Enclosure: "Self-portraits" of various writers including Elizabeth Bishop, Tennessee Williams, Robert Creeley, etc.
Modern Literature Recorded Multimedia Collection MSS124
Recording number 0041. Consists of one open reel tape, Side 1: Isabella Gardner [reading], 1977-01-24, Hurst Lounge; Geoffrey Wolff, New American Autobiography [lecture]. Side 2: Tennessee Williams [rap session], 1977-09-14, Women's Building; Tennessee Williams [reading], 1977-09-14, Graham Chapel. 1978-02-02, Hurst Lounge; Stanley Elkin [reading], 1978-02- 07, Women's Building.

Recording number 0542. Consists of one VHS tape. PBS documentary (American Master's Special), Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage. Features appearance by William Jay Smith, 1994.
Ken and Donna Galchus Tennessee Williams Collection MSS163
Consists of correspondence, manuscripts, playbills and other ephemera, photographs, and audiovisual material related to Tennessee Williams.

Tennessee Williams in Cataloged Items

Author search for Tennessee Williams materials at WU Libraries
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Tennessee Williams reading from The Glass Menagerie, The Yellow Bird, and Five Other Poems, 1961 [sound recording]
Caedmon Records, 33 & 1/3 RPM Long-Playing Record in a sleeve. No. TC-1005. Inscribed by Williams on the top rear panel: “To Bob, dear Bob / Tennessee Williams,” then again, in the same ink at the bottom right corner: “Tenn Wms / 10.” With a front panel design made especially for this LP by Andy Warhol, with his printed (not holograph) signature at the top left corner.
Tennessee Williams Reads Hart Crane [sound recording]
Caedmon Records, 33 & 1/3 RPM Long-Playing Record in a sleeve. No. TC-1206. Inscribed by Williams on the top rear panel: “To uplift us all, he is – / from Tenn Wms – to Tom.” Crane pieces read by Williams, selected from “The Bridge,” “White Buildings,” “Key West,” and “Uncollected Poems.”
A Streetcar Named Desire [sound recording]
Caedmon Records, three 33 & 1/3 RPM Long-Playing Records in a box. No. TRS-357. Inscribed by Williams on the top rear panel: “To Bob / dear Bob / the “Streetcar” / Tennessee Williams.” Cast recording of the 1973 performance of the play at the Lincoln Center, directed by Ellis Rabb and starring Rosemary Harris and James Farentino.
Mediterranean Review, Volume I, Number 2, Winter 1971
Features contributions by Tennessee Williams, Paul Bowles, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and others. With a non-personalized inscription at Williams’ inclusion on page 15, a transcription of a talk given by him at the London Poetry Festival in 1970 titled, “What’s Next on the Agenda, Mr. Williams?” Inscribed by Williams at the top right corner of the page: “Velly solly, but – / 10 wms.”
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[catalog record is to the electronic version of the journal; inquire in Special Collections to see print version described above]
"Lyrics" in College Verse Vol. 6 No. 3 (Jan. 1937)
A poem Williams wrote and published while a student at Washington University.
"Inheritors" in College Verse Vol. 6 No. 6 (Apr. 1937)
A poem Williams wrote and published while a student at Washington University.
"Swimmer and Fish Group" in College Verse Vol. 6 No. 5 (Mar. 1937)
A poem Williams wrote and published while a student at Washington University.
"Sacre de Printemps" in College Verse Vol. 6 No. 7 (May 1937)
A poem Williams wrote and published while a student at Washington University.

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Tennessee Williams in Manuscripts

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