Obtained from the Arthur Miller Trust, the archive spans Miller’s career.
Beginning with Miller’s first play No Villain (1936), written when Miller was at the University of Michigan, to Finishing the Picture (2004), the archive also includes drafts of All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), A View from the Bridge (1955), After the Fall (1964), Incident at Vichy (1964), The Price (1968), The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972), and The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), as well as screenplays, short stories, and other writings. The archive also features more than 50 journals kept by Miller from the 1940s to the 2000s.
The Ransom Center had a close association with Miller, who first donated a group of early play manuscripts and working notebooks to the Center in the 1960s.
“Arthur Miller is one of our country’s finest playwrights, one who gave dramatic form to themes that are central to our still-evolving American story,” said Ransom Center Director Stephen Enniss in a statement. “For years to come, all primary source research into this major American playwright’s life and work will begin here.”
“With the acquisition of the Arthur Miller archive by the Harry Ransom Center, UT continues to be a leader in the arts and humanities,” added Gregory L. Fenves, president of The University of Texas at Austin. “Miller’s works are timeless, and his original manuscripts, journals and correspondence will be studied and enjoyed for generations to come.”
“We are pleased to have found a fitting home for Dad’s voluminous notes and papers at the Harry Ransom Center, where they will be added to the rest of his earlier works already in place there,” stated Robert A. Miller. “The Center is well known for its collection of many of the finest writers in America and beyond, and we look forward to partnering with them as we explore how best to present his works and life in ways that can reflect his seemingly boundless curiosity and insight coupled with his unique observations and reflections on the 20th century world as he saw it, both intimate and global.”
The work of photographers Eve Arnold, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, Fred Fehl, Arnold Newman, and Miller’s third wife, Inge Morath, are also part of the archive. Some are portraits of Miller, productions of his plays, family photographs, and snapshots.
The acquired materials will be cataloged within two years and will then be accessible to researchers, students, and the public.
