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Eugene O'Neill papers, 1872-1970, bulk 1930-1959

Abstract Or Scope

The Eugene O'Neill Papers document the life of dramatist Eugene O'Neill, especially his life with Carlotta Monterey O'Neill after 1928. Correspondents include O'Neill's lawyers, Harry Weinberger and Winfield E. Aronberg; his agent, the Richard J. Madden Play Company, Inc.; friends and colleagues; and family members, including his daughter, Oona, his sons, Shane and Eugene, Jr., his third wife, Carlotta, and her daughter, Cynthia Chapman Stram.
The collection also contains Carlotta's correspondence after O'Neill's death. There is correspondence with her lawyers at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and at Nutter, McClennen & Fish; the Yale Library system regarding her gift of O'Neill's papers; biographers of O'Neill; others concerning her work on the production and publication of O'Neill's plays; and friends and family members. There are also letters from former husband Ralph Barton before she married O'Neill.
Writings include notes, outlines and plot summaries, drafts (typescript and holograph), proofs, contracts, programs, and clippings for many of O'Neill's plays. There are some poems and other writings, as well as his work diaries, in which he documented his writing schedule from 1924 to 1943. There are also some works by others about O'Neill's life and writing.
The personal papers include address books, membership certificates, awards for O'Neill's writing, Carlotta's diaries from 1928 to 1964, clippings and ephemera about friends and relatives, and financial material, including cancelled checks and checkbooks. The photographs document O'Neill, his family members, friends, colleagues, pets, and places where he lived and visited. Some of the photographs are in albums. There are also photographs of productions of his plays, from 1916 to 1966. The memorabilia includes office materials, writing tools, jewelry, and locks of hair, among other items. Artists represented in the collection include Cyrus Leroy Baldridge, Miguel Covarrubias, Alfred Joseph Frueh, and Robert Edmond Jones. Some of the artworks are portraits of O'Neill; others pertain to his plays; others were given to, or collected by, the O'Neills. The recordings (all after O'Neill's death) include three recordings of O'Neill plays and one tribute to O'Neill.

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