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Tom Stoppard:

An Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator: Stoppard, Tom
Title: Tom Stoppard Papers
Dates: 1939-2003 (bulk 1970-2000)
Extent: 149 document cases, 9 oversize boxes, 9 oversize folders, 10 galley folders (62 linear feet), and 68 electronic files (2 GB)
Abstract: The papers of this British playwright consist of typescript and handwritten drafts, revision pages, outlines, and notes; production material, including cast lists, set drawings, schedules, and photographs; theatre programs; posters; advertisements; clippings; page and galley proofs; dust jackets; correspondence; legal documents and financial papers, including passports, contracts, and royalty and account statements; itineraries; appointment books and diary sheets; photographs; sheet music; sound recordings; a scrapbook; artwork; minutes of meetings; and publications.
Call Number: Manuscript Collection MS-4062
Language: English
Access Open for research. To request access to electronic files, please email Reference.
Restrictions on Use: Certain restrictions apply to the use of electronic files. Researchers must agree to the Materials Use Policy for Electronic Files before accessing them. Original computer disks and forensic disk images are restricted. Copying electronic files, including screenshots and printouts, is not permitted.


Administrative Information


Acquisition Purchases and gifts, 1991-2020
Processed by Katherine Mosley, 1993-2000 Born digital materials processed, arranged, and described by Chance Adams and Brenna Edwards, 2015-2023.
Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Biographical Sketch


Playwright Tom Stoppard was born Tomas Straussler in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, on July 3, 1937. However, he lived in Czechoslovakia only until 1939, when his family moved to Singapore. Stoppard, his mother, and his older brother were evacuated to India shortly before the Japanese invasion of Singapore in 1941; his father, Eugene Straussler, remained behind and was killed. In 1946, Stoppard's mother, Martha, married British army officer Kenneth Stoppard and the family moved to England, eventually settling in Bristol.
Stoppard left school at the age of seventeen and began working as a journalist, first with the Western Daily Press (1954-58) and then with the Bristol Evening World (1958-60). Having developed a specialization in film and theatre criticism, in 1960 Stoppard became a free-lance journalist, writing critical articles and, for the Daily Press, two pseudonymous weekly columns. By the end of the year, he had completed his first full-length play, A Walk on the Water (later produced on stage in 1968 as Enter a Free Man), and acquired an agent, Kenneth Ewing of Fraser and Dunlop Scripts. He also wrote a short piece, The Gamblers, which was eventually performed by the University of Bristol drama department in 1965. Stoppard has referred to this as his "first" play in that he claims A Walk on the Water was an unoriginal composite of several plays he admired. Over the next few years, Stoppard wrote various works for radio, television, and the theatre. Among these were "M" Is for Moon among Other Things (1964), A Separate Peace (1966), and If You're Glad I'll Be Frank (1966). A Walk on the Water had been broadcast on ITV Television in 1963 and on BBC-TV in 1964, and Stoppard wrote many episodes of the radio serial A Student's Diary: An Arab in London (1966-67). In addition, three short stories were published by Faber and Faber in the anthology, Introduction 2: Stories by New Writers (1964).
From September 1962 until April 1963, Stoppard worked in London as a drama critic for Scene, writing reviews and interviews both under his name and under the pseudonym William Boot (taken from Evelyn Waugh's Scoop). In 1963, he began writing his only novel, Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon. The names Boot and Moon recur in many of Stoppard's works, generally with Boot being a character who makes things happen and Moon being a character to whom things happen.
While participating in a colloquium sponsored by the Ford Foundation in Berlin in 1964, Stoppard wrote a one-act play that later became Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. The play, which focuses on two minor characters from Hamlet, examines the ideas of fate and free will. In August 1966, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was performed by Oxford University students as part of the Edinburgh Festival fringe, and, at the same time, Stoppard's only novel was published; to Stoppard's surprise, it was the play that succeeded, establishing his reputation as a playwright. When the play, having caught the attention of Kenneth Tynan, was performed by the prestigious National Theatre Company at the Old Vic in London in 1967, it received immediate and widespread acclaim. Stoppard, at age 29, was a major success.
Of Stoppard's plays written over the next ten years, Jumpers, produced in 1972, and Travesties, produced in 1974, are among the best known. Dirty Linen and New-Found-Land (1976) was written for Ed Berman, founder of the Inter-Action community arts organization, on the occasion of his being granted British citizenship.
By 1977, Stoppard had become concerned with human rights issues, in particular with the situation of political dissidents in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. In February 1977, he visited Russia with a member of Amnesty International. In June, Stoppard met Vladimir Bukovsky in London and traveled to Czechoslovakia, where he met Václav Havel. Stoppard became involved with Index on Censorship, Amnesty International, and the Committee against Psychiatric Abuse and wrote various newspaper articles and letters about human rights. He organized a Roll Call, or reading of names of Soviet refuseniks, at the National Theatre in 1986.
Stoppard's political concerns surfaced in his work. Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1977) was written at the request of André Previn and was inspired by a meeting with Russian exile Viktor Fainberg. The play, about a political dissident confined to a Soviet mental hospital, is accompanied by an orchestra using a musical score composed by Previn. Professional Foul is a television play that Stoppard wrote over a period of three weeks as a contribution to Amnesty International's declaration of 1977 as Prisoner of Conscience Year.
Subsequent major stage plays by Stoppard include Night and Day (1978), The Real Thing (1982), Hapgood (1988), Arcadia (1993), Indian Ink (1995), which was based upon his radio play In the Native State (1991), and Invention of Love (1997).
In addition to his original stage plays, Stoppard has written original screenplays, teleplays, and radio plays, as well as adaptations for the stage and screen. His screenplay of Brazil, coauthored with Terry Gilliam and Charles McKeown, was nominated for an Academy Award in 1985; Shakespeare in Love, a screenplay co-written with Marc Norman, won that award in 1999. Other well-known screenplays by Stoppard include Empire of the Sun (1987, adapted from the novel by J. G. Ballard), The Russia House (1989, adapted from the novel by John le Carré), and Billy Bathgate (1991, adapted from the novel by E. L. Doctorow), as well as a film version of his own Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1991) that won the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Stoppard also sometimes reads and contributes to scripts by other writers for directors Kathleen Kennedy, Mike Nichols, and Steven Spielberg. Among teleplays by Stoppard, the best known is Squaring the Circle: Poland, 1980-81, a fictional documentary about the history of Solidarity.
The Dissolution of Dominic Boot (1964), Stoppard's first radio play, was the basis for his teleplay The Engagement (1970). Albert's Bridge, produced by the BBC in 1967, won the Prix Italia. Other successful radio plays by Stoppard include Artist Descending a Staircase (1972), The Dog It Was That Died (1982), and In the Native State (1991).
Tom Stoppard has established an international reputation as a writer of "serious comedy"; his plays are plays of ideas that deal with philosophical issues, yet he combines the philosophical ideas he presents with verbal wit and visual humor. His linguistic complexity, with its puns, jokes, innuendo, and other wordplay, is a chief characteristic of his work. In recognition of his achievements, Stoppard was knighted in 1997.
Stoppard has been married twice, to Jose Ingle (1965-72), a nurse, and to Miriam Moore-Robinson (1972-92), the head of a pharmaceutical company, and he has two sons from each marriage.
More information about Stoppard and his work may be found in Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series, vol. 39 (1993); Dictionary of Literary Biography, vols. 13 (1982) and 233 (2001); "Ambushes for the Audience: Towards a High Comedy of Ideas" in Theatre Quarterly (vol. 4, no. 14, 1974); "Profiles: Withdrawing with Style from the Chaos," by Kenneth Tynan in the New Yorker (19 December 1977); and "Tom Stoppard: His Life and Career Before Rosencrantz and Guildenstern," by John Fleming in The Library Chronicle, vol. 26, no. 3 (1996).

Arrangement


Note to Researchers
This finding aid for the Stoppard papers is a conflation of the five finding aids that were created for the original collection received in 1991 and 1993, and for four additions that were described separately, received between 1994 and 1999. Materials added to the collection over time have not been physically interfiled for the most part, but the series descriptions and folder list group materials relating to a specific work or topic regardless of when they were received by the Ransom Center.

Scope and Contents


Scope and Contents

The Stoppard papers consist of typescript and holograph drafts, revision pages, outlines, and notes; production material, including cast lists, set drawings, schedules, and photographs; theatre programs; posters; advertisements; clippings; page and galley proofs; dust jackets; correspondence; legal documents and financial papers, including passports, contracts, and royalty and account statements; itineraries; appointment books and diary sheets; photographs; sheet music; sound recordings; a scrapbook; certificates; artwork; minutes of meetings; and publications, all ranging in date from 1939 to 2000, but primarily from 1970 to 2000. The material is organized in five series: I. Works, circa 1960-2000, undated (122 boxes); II. Works about Stoppard, 19[60]-1999, undated (2.5 boxes); III. Correspondence, 1954-2000, undated (21.5 boxes); IV. Legal and Personal Material, 1939, 1944, 1966-2000, undated (8 boxes); and V. Works by Other Authors, 1967-1994, undated (3 boxes).
Nearly all of Stoppard's major plays, screenplays, teleplays, and radio plays are represented in some form, along with many of his lesser-known works and some that were never produced. Stoppard's short stories are not well documented in the collection, although his only novel, Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon, is represented. For many works, materials from first or early drafts through various revisions, production, further revisions, and publication are present, reflecting Stoppard's practice of rewriting passages of his work continuously. Many of the typescripts are the result of Stoppard's dictation to a typist via cassette tape. Stoppard's revision process continues even after a play has begun production and been published. Page proofs, galleys, and typesetting copy typescripts show changes made in subsequent editions after the initial publication of a work.
For many of the works represented in the collection, Stoppard has maintained correspondence files, including production files and fan mail, separate from his general correspondence files, although similar materials may be found in both locations. Correspondence filed under a title usually consists of letters from people involved in various phases of a production, or from people praising or commenting upon the work. Reviews and articles about a work accompany the manuscripts, and are located under that title. When Stoppard collaborates with other writers, he works with them on a sequential basis rather than concurrently, and his amount of involvement varies by situation. Stoppard often is involved in film projects anonymously. For example, he often provides input on scripts sent to him by Stephen Spielberg, Mike Nichols, and Kathleen Kennedy.
Stoppard's career as a journalist is not as well documented in the collection as his playwriting career. However, through the years Stoppard has continued to write occasional pieces for various periodicals, and many of those are present. Folders of reviews and articles by Stoppard, some accompanied by letters from editors, are located at the end of the Works series. Additional articles by Stoppard about political issues are located in his "Russia File" in the Correspondence series. Most correspondence from editors of periodicals is housed with the general correspondence.
Correspondence in the collection relates almost exclusively to Stoppard's career rather than to his personal life. Most of the correspondence is letters from people involved in productions of his plays, as well as translators, journalists, periodical editors, fellow playwrights, and admirers of his work. Nearly all of the letters have brief notations, made mainly by Stoppard and his secretary Jacky Matthews, recording any responses. Photocopies of some outgoing letters, usually dictated by Stoppard to his secretary, are housed with the incoming correspondence. Of particular interest is Stoppard's correspondence with Anthony C. H. Smith; covering an approximate 30-year span, these letters trace Stoppard's writing career from its beginning. Letters from Stoppard's agent, Kenneth Ewing, cover the years 1962-87 and also follow the rise of Stoppard's career. Correspondence from Faber and Faber, Stoppard's primary publisher, discusses publication of Stoppard's books and includes printed dust jackets. Other significant correspondents include Ed Berman, Dirk Bogarde, Noël, Carr, Michael Codron, Guy Dumur, Lady Antonia Fraser, Michael Frayn, David Hare, Glynn Boyd Harte, Michael Horovitz, Ilya Levin, Bryan Magee, Trevor Nunn, Laurence Olivier, Harold Pinter, Ned Sherrin, and Kenneth Tynan. All correspondents in the Stoppard collection may be found in the Index of Correspondents.
Stoppard's interest in human rights issues is reflected throughout the collection. Correspondence with many human rights organizations, files on Czechoslovakia and Russia, and material from his work organizing the Roll Call at the National Theatre reveal the extent of his involvement in these issues. Through his contacts with political dissidents, Stoppard became friends with Czechoslovakian playwright and politician Václav Havel. Correspondence with and about Havel, copies of his works, and material from Stoppard's translation of Havel's Largo Desolato were originally grouped together. The correspondence has been separated and added to the Correspondence series, while Largo Desolato material has been housed with other works by Stoppard. Translations of Havel's The Beggar's Opera and The Conspirators are located in the Works by Other Authors series, along with works by Christopher Figg, Tomás Gartland, Tony Harrison, Vladimir J. Konecni, David Mamet, James Saunders, Peter Shaffer, Anthony C. H. Smith, Stephen Sondheim, and others.
Few original materials relating to Stoppard's personal life are present in the collection, although some letters to his parents, photocopies of marriage, divorce, and birth certificates, memorabilia, and photographs are present. The collection does provide information about Stoppard's interests in cricket, chess, fishing, and other subjects. For example, Harold Pinter arranged cricket matches with Stoppard through correspondence, while Anthony Smith, his wife, and Stoppard used their letters to each other to play chess. Similarly, typescript and printed copies of interviews, Stoppard's responses to various requests, and correspondence about production disputes provide insights into Stoppard's character and personality. Stoppard's interest in Ernest Hemingway, as well as his ability to form friendships quickly, can be seen in correspondence with Joan St. C. Crane of the University of Virginia, Carol (Mrs. Patrick) Hemingway, and Margie (Mrs. Louis Henry) Cohn of House of Books.
Other manuscripts relating to Stoppard at the Ransom Center are located in the Gordon Dickerson, David Hare, Francis Henry King, London Magazine, Harold Pinter, and James Saunders papers.

Series Descriptions

Series I. Works, circa 1960-2003, undated (122 boxes)
The series is divided into two subseries: Original Works and Adaptations; and Reviews, Articles, and Lectures.
The Original Works and Adaptations subseries, arranged alphabetically by title and within title by genre, consists of typescript and holograph manuscripts, revision pages, outlines and notes, page proofs, galley proofs, printed pages and books, theatre programs, production materials, photographs and negatives, posters, advertising material, clippings, correspondence, and awards.
Nearly all of Stoppard's plays, screenplays, teleplays, and radio plays are represented in some form, some quite extensively. Because Stoppard continuously revises his works, even after they are produced and published, many variant versions are present. Stoppard's original labeling of manuscript versions has been retained and is indicated in the folder list with single quotation marks. In keeping with Stoppard's original filing system, some correspondence regarding a work is housed with that work, while similar letters regarding works are housed with general correspondence in the Correspondence series. Clippings, primarily reviews collected by Stoppard's parents, and numerous posters and programs from domestic and international productions cover nearly all of Stoppard's major works. Works particularly well represented in the collection include Arcadia, Cats, Empire of the Sun, Hapgood, Hopeful Monsters, Indian Ink, The Real Thing, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, and Travesties.
Among early manuscripts by Stoppard are holograph and typescript drafts of his only novel, Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon; a short play, The Gamblers, which he refers to as his first "original" play; and Higg and Cogg, which was performed with The Gamblers by the University of Bristol drama department. Reviews of those works are also present. Stoppard's first full-length play, A Walk on the Water, which was produced as a teleplay, staged in Hamburg, adapted for broadcast as a radio play, and eventually revised for a London stage production as Enter A Free Man, is represented by typescripts, a shooting schedule, programs, clippings, and page proofs. Stoppard originally wrote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead as a one-act play about the characters from Hamlet meeting the mad King Lear when they arrive in England. Among very early versions of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the collection is a mimeograph typescript of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Meet King Lear. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern is a good example of the many forms of material present in the collection for a single title; in addition to items relating to various productions of the play, there are also materials from the 1978 and 1983 radio productions, an unproduced 1968 screenplay, the film that was eventually produced in 1991, and page proofs of various Faber and Faber editions of the published work.
Jumpers material consists of typescripts, correspondence, theatre programs, posters, and clippings from various productions, as well as a reproduction of a drawing by William Hewison, sheet music, page proofs, and a French translation by Jacques De Decker. The author's notes to translators accompanies one of several early Travesties drafts, and typescripts showing revisions made for the 1993 production are also present. Among other Travesties materials are a memo from Stoppard to directors, clippings of articles and reviews, profit sheets, photographs, posters, programs, and an ink caricature drawn by William Hewison for Punch. Letters from Noël Carr, widow of Henry Carr, are among correspondence about the play. In addition, there are German translations of the play by Hilde Spiel, correspondence regarding a German production of the play, and an incomplete draft of an opera by Bolen High. Night and Day is represented by various drafts, programs, posters, production notes, articles and reviews, and correspondence, including correspondence relating to a German production. A German translation of the play by Hilde Spiel is also present, as are typescripts and page proofs of various printed editions and drafts of a screenplay based on the play.
Many manuscripts relating to one of Stoppard's most popular plays, The Real Thing, are present; of particular note are performance notes; drafts of revisions made for the 1984 American production; photographs; posters; and production correspondence, including lists of casting possibilities, rehearsal schedules, touring schedules, cast lists and other company information, correspondence with actors, directors, and others, congratulatory notes, telegrams, and fan mail. Page proofs, galleys, and typescripts of various published editions trace many of the revisions made to the play over the years. A proposed précis by Otis Guernsey for The Best Plays of 1983-84 and related correspondence are also included, as are French and Italian translations. Stoppard's Tony Award for the play is housed with the Center's personal effects collection. A typescript for a radio broadcast of The Real Thing is also present. Notable Hapgood manuscripts include numerous revision pages, production correspondence, fan mail, a printed teacher's handbook, and corrected page proofs of the 1988 and 1994 Faber and Faber editions of the play. Draft fragments from an abandoned film adaptation are also present.
Among Hapgood correspondence are letters between Stoppard and J. C. Polkinghorne discussing physics and physicists.
Of Stoppard's more recent plays, Arcadia and Indian Ink are the most heavily represented. Numerous drafts, production materials, photographs, tickets, programs, posters, correspondence, and page proofs from both works are present. In addition, there are typescripts from the radio production of Arcadia.
Manuscripts of Stoppard's radio play In the Native State, the precursor to Indian Ink, include drafts, clippings, awards, and correspondence. Among drafts and translations of the radio play Artist Descending a Staircase are those used to enter the play in the Italia Prize. In addition, that work was later adapted for the stage, and drafts, programs, and posters from the production are present.
Materials relating to the screenplay of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead consist of typescripts, trailer notes, preliminary production notes, filming notes, cue sheets, photographs, correspondence, financial files, and advertising material, including rejected layout ideas. Among other screenplays represented in the collection are Brazil, Empire of the Sun, The Russia House, Billy Bathgate, and Shakespeare in Love. Besides various drafts of Brazil, there are a plot outline and synopsis by Terry Gilliam and production material, including correspondence showing the problems that arose as a result of the collaboration between Stoppard, Gilliam, and Charles McKeown. Empire of the Sun materials consist of numerous drafts, a shooting script, production memos, correspondence regarding script revisions and other production matters, research photographs of Shanghai, and production photographs. Included in production correspondence are letters between Stoppard and the Writers Guild of America relating to a writing credit dispute that Stoppard eventually won. The Russia House materials comprise typescripts and a production file of correspondence with Fred Schepisi about script revisions. Drafts and correspondence for Billy Bathgate are present, as are drafts, clippings, awards programs, and some correspondence relating to Shakespeare in Love.
Screenplays present in the collection that were never produced include Hopeful Monsters (based upon the book by Nicholas Mosley), Cats (an animated screenplay adaptation of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber), Innocent Blood (from the novel by P. D. James), Knuckle (an adaptation of the play by David Hare), Galileo, and The Frog Prince (based upon John Collier's short story). Also noteworthy are drafts of filmscripts for Stoppard's popular radio play Albert's Bridge and his novel Lord Malquist and Mr. Moon. Uncredited revisions of screenplays by other authors include those for Always, Chaplin, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Medicine Man, Schindler's List, and Sleepy Hollow.
Stoppard's well-known teleplay Squaring the Circle: Poland, 1980-81 is represented by background research, multiple drafts, notes on revisions, and a correspondence and production file. Drafts of the introduction to the Faber and Faber text and correspondence with director Mike Hodges, Stephen Schlow and Dale Sheets of Metromedia, and James Gatward of TVS provide information about a dispute with Metromedia regarding changes to the film for the American market. Poodle Springs was a made-for-television film of Robert Parker's Philip Marlowe book; correspondence and numerous drafts from that project are present.
The second subseries is comprised primarily of clippings, typescript and holograph drafts, and galleys of reviews and articles by Stoppard on a variety of topics. Some of these are accompanied by correspondence from the editors of periodicals in which they were published. Lecture material is also located in this subseries and includes notes, drafts, correspondence, programs, and advertisements.
Series II. Works about Stoppard, 19[60]-1999, undated (2.5 boxes)
The second series is divided into three subseries: Articles and Interviews, Literary Criticism, and Bibliographies.
The first subseries consists of correspondence regarding articles on and interviews with Stoppard, in some cases accompanied by typescripts, and printed articles and interviews, all ranging in date from 1966 to 1999. Also included are an outline, draft, and proofs of Mel Gussow's Conversations with Stoppard, as well as a typescript of "Stoppard This Evening," which was designed as part of a touring educational program sent by the University of California to various university campuses in the United States.
The second subseries contains typescripts of books by Jim Hunter and other critical works, while the third subseries is made up of bibliographies by David Bratt, Corinne George, and Kimball King.
Series III. Correspondence, 1954-2000, undated (21.5 boxes)
The third series is also divided into three subseries: General Correspondence; Political, Human Rights, and Charitable Organizations Correspondence; and Declined Proposals. Correspondence was originally maintained in roughly reverse chronological order by date received, which has been retained wherever possible. Most letters have notations, mainly by Stoppard and his secretary, usually Jacky Matthews, regarding the date they were answered, how they were answered, etc. The correspondence is primarily incoming, but some photocopies of letters by Stoppard, usually dictated to his secretary, are also filed here. It should be noted that correspondence regarding particular works may also be found in the Works series. For information about the location of letters by a single correspondent, see the Index of Correspondents.
The first subseries contains letters grouped by date as well as by subject, and consists for the most part of correspondence from people with whom Stoppard worked, as well as translators, journalists, periodical editors, fellow playwrights, and admirers of his work. Letters from Stoppard's agent, Kenneth Ewing of Fraser and Dunlop Scripts, filed with the miscellaneous correspondence, cover the years 1962-87 and follow Stoppard's career from its beginning. Other significant correspondents include Kingsley Amis, Dame Peggy Ashcroft, Ed Berman, Dirk Bogarde, Michael Brandman and others at Brandman Productions, Noël Carr, Michael Codron, E. L. Doctorow, Guy Dumur, Richard Eyre, Lady Antonia Fraser, Michael Frayn, Elisabeth Frink, Shusha Guppy, David Hare, Glynn Boyd Harte, Michael Horovitz, John Le Carré, Ilya Levin, Brian Magee, Trevor Nunn, Laurence Olivier, Harold Pinter, Ned Sherrin, and Kenneth Tynan. Business correspondence with Faber and Faber about Stoppard's books is accompanied by printed dust jackets. Correspondence with and about Václav Havel has been grouped together and includes letters regarding Stoppard's acceptance on Havel's behalf of an honorary degree awarded by Toulouse University in 1984, and a copy of Havel's "Politics and Conscience" written for that occasion. Two folders of letters from Stoppard to Anthony C. H. Smith from about 1960 to 1993 complement other Smith correspondence which is located within the miscellaneous correspondence folders.
The second subseries consists of correspondence with various political and human rights organizations with which Stoppard became involved beginning in the 1970s. Among these are Amnesty International, Writers and Scholars Educational Trust (WSET) and its Index of Censorship, and the Campaign Against Psychiatric Abuse. There is a significant amount of material relating to Stoppard's organization of the Roll Call, or reading of the names of Soviet refuseniks, at the National Theatre in 1986. Stoppard's "Czechoslovakia File" and "Russia File" contain correspondence and articles relating to human rights issues and political dissidents in Czechoslovakia and Russia. Additional articles by Stoppard relating to political topics may be found with other articles by Stoppard in Series I. A typescript diary of Stoppard's visit to Russia with a member of Amnesty International may be found in his "Russia File." Prints of photographic negatives from Stoppard's trips have been developed by the Center and placed in the collection. Stoppard and his wife Miriam served as patrons of various charitable organizations and made many financial donations through the charitable trusts they established; files relating to those causes are also present.
The third subseries consists of correspondence from individuals and organizations requesting interviews, talks, or financial contributions, or proposing theater or film projects for Stoppard's consideration. Stoppard's original separation of these requests from similar, sometimes accepted, requests found in the miscellaneous correspondence has been retained.
Series IV. Legal and Personal Material, 1939, 1944, 1966-2000, undated (8 boxes)
The fourth series includes a continuous run of appointment books and desk diaries from 1980 to 1993, numerous awards and honorary degrees received by Stoppard, legal documents such as passports and birth certificates, memorabilia, and miscellaneous clippings, theater programs and posters, and periodicals of interest to Stoppard. Bank statements dating from July 1967 through December 1974 provide information on various productions around the world. Photographs and drawings of Stoppard, his family, and his associates are also present.
Series V. Works by Other Authors, 1967-1994, undated (3 boxes)
The fifth series contains translations of works by Václav Havel, works by Tony Harrison, Harold Pinter, James Saunders, Peter Shaffer, and A. C. H. Smith, among others. Some of these are accompanied by letters to Stoppard.

Tom Stoppard Papers--Associated Materials


The following items have been removed from the collection and housed with the Center's Personal Effects holdings:
  • Every Good Boy Deserves Favour needlepoint, nd
  • Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead ball and cup, "Zagreb 1990"
  • Silver cricket bat charm, with stone inlays and engraved on the back: "Tom from Henry & Annie New York 5-1-84 Keep nudging..."
  • Silver airplane tie clip
  • Ivory letter-opener in the form of a cricket bat
  • Fishing flies attached to label "777W72 Gareth & Keeyard "(?)
  • Silver skiing medallion "Offert Par Les Skis Rossignol" (in box)
  • White t-shirt with purple "Playbill Lincoln Center Theater Hapgood " logo
  • Glass paperweight, "The First New York International Festival of the Arts June 11-July 11, 1988 Music, Dance, Theatre, Film and Television of the 20th Century"
  • Framed cartoon by "Marc," captioned "He's deeply depressed-he got a brilliant review in the Sunday Times, " Nov. 1978
  • Miniature Liberty Bell "presented to Stoppard by Mayor Edward G. Rendell, City of Philadelphia, February 7, 1996"
  • Presentation key engraved "Terry Hands," in pouch inscribed "Taormina Arte"
  • Graduation hood for honorary degree bestowed by the University of York, with accompanying letter from robe makers Ede and Ravenscroft, 1984
  • Antoinette Perry award for The Real Thing, 1984
  • International Film & Television Festival of New York award, 1984 (medallion, in box)
  • Drama Desk Award, "1983 1984 Outstanding New Play The Real Thing By Tom Stoppard" (two metal plates mounted on wooden blocks)
  • Lincoln Center Theater "Joan Cullman Award for Extraordinary Creativity Tom Stoppard Hapgood 1995 Arcadia " (bronze award in box)
  • Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle award for Distinguished Achievement, "1997 Writing, Tom Stoppard, Arcadia, Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum" (plaque)
  • Las Vegas Film Critics Society's 1998 Sierra Award to: "Tom Stoppard, Best Screenplay Shakespeare in Love " (plaque)
  • Broadcasting Press Guild Television Awards "1977 Best Single Play Professional Foul by Tom Stoppard, Produced by Mark Shivas, Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg for BBC-2" (framed award certificate)
  • "The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Certificate of Award The Council hereby certifies that Tom Stoppard won the British Academy Award for Outstanding Achievement During 1977 in the Category Best Script Presented at the Wembley Conference Centre, May 16 1978" (framed certificate)
  • "Nomination Antoinette Perry Award Best Play Arcadia, Author: Tom Stoppard, Producer: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten, 1994-1995, The American Theatre Wing, Inc. and The League of American Theaters and Producers, Inc." (framed certificate)
  • University of London Doctor of Literature honorary degree certificate, 9 June 1982, program of the proceedings, and text of introductory speech (all in embossed degree holder tube)
  • Brunel University honorary degree certificate, 18 Dec. 1979, and text of introductory speech (in embossed degree holder tube)
  • "Oh! Look what I've got on my plate!" ceramic plate painted with titles of early works by Stoppard, [ca. 1977]
The following have been removed from the collection and are housed with the Center's film holdings:
  • Thirteen "Master" Beta videotapes of the Roll Call at the National Theatre, 1986
  • Six audio tape reels of the Roll Call at the National Theatre, 1986
  • VHS videotape of the University of Hull degree conferment, 1998
  • VHS videotape of the University of York honorary degree conferment, 1984
  • Fragments of film showing the making of the film Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, [1990]
Three original watercolors of Victorian postcards, circa 1898, have been removed from the collection and housed with the Center's Art Collection. One is labeled "Isle of Wight" by "John Renage"
A bust of Stoppard by Alan Thornhill (accession number 96.2.1) was transferred to the Center’s Portrait Busts Art Collection (AR-00209).
In addition, printed editions of Stoppard's works in a variety of languages have been removed from the collection and are cataloged with the Center's book holdings, as is a publication about Costas Tsoclis' "Ark" project that had accompanied correspondence regarding that project.

Index Terms


Correspondents

Amis, Kingsley.
Ashcroft, Peggy, Dame.
Ayer, A. J. (Alfred Jules), 1910- .
Beckett, Samuel, 1906- .
Bell, Quentin.
Berman, Ed.
Bigsby, C. W. E.
Billington, Michael, 1939- .
Blackford, Richard, 1954- .
Blackwell, Vera.
Bogarde, Dirk, 1921- .
Bolt, Robert.
Boorman, John, 1933- .
Bukovskii, Vladimir Konstantinovich, 1942- .
Carr, Noël.
Carsen, Robert.
Codron, Michael.
Cohn, Louis Henry, Mrs.
Cooper, Donald.
Crane, Joan St. C.
Doctorow, E. L., 1931- .
Dumur, Guy, 1921- .
Evans, Harold.
Ewing, Kenneth.
Eyre, Richard, 1943- .
Fainberg, Viktor.
Fassbinder, Rainer Werner, 1946- .
Fraser, Antonia, 1932- .
Frayn, Michael.
Frink, Elisabeth, 1930- .
Gaskell, Philip.
Ghose, Zulfikar, 1935- .
Gilliam, Terry.
Gray, Simon, 1936- .
Greene, Graham, 1904- .
Griffiths, Trevor.
Guppy, Shusha.
Hall, Peter, Sir, 1930- .
Hampton, Christopher, 1946- .
Hardy, Joseph, 1929- .
Hare, David, 1947- .
Harte, Glynn Boyd.
Harwood, Ronald, 1934- .
Havel, Václav.
Hedberg, Johannes.
Horovitz, Michael, 1935- .
James, Clive, 1939- .
Jellicoe, Ann.
Kerensky, Oleg, 1930- .
Kundera, Milan.
Le Carré, John, 1931- .
Levin, Ilya Davidovich, 1948- .
Losey, Joseph.
Luff, Peter.
McKellen, Ian.
Magee, Bryan.
Marcus, Frank.
Märthesheimer, Peter, 1938- .
Matthews, Jacky.
May, Robert M. (Robert McCredie), 1936- .
Mitchell, Adrian, 1932-
Mortimer, John Clifford, 1923-
Mosley, Nicholas, 1923- .
Nichols, Peter, 1927- .
Nunn, Trevor.
Olivier, Laurence, 1907- .
Pike, Frank.
Pinter, Harold, 1930- .
Read, Piers Paul, 1941- .
Saunders, James, 1925- .
Shaffer, Peter .
Sher, Antony, 1949- .
Sherrin, Ned.
Smith, A. C. H. (Anthony Charles H.), 1935- .
Spiel, Hilde.
Spielberg, Steven, 1947- .
Swander, Homer D., 1921- .
Theiner, George.
Toms, Carl.
Trotter, Josephine.
Tynan, Kenneth, 1927- .
Vladislav, Jan, 1923- .
Wells, John, 1936- .
Wesker, Arnold, 1932- .
Wintour, Charles.
Wood, Peter, 1927- .

Organizations

Brandman Productions.
Faber and Faber.
Fraser & Dunlop Scripts Ltd.
House of Books, Ltd. (New York, N.Y.).
Inter-Action Trust.
Iron Mountain Proudctions.
TVS (Firm: Great Britain).
Index on Censorship.

Subjects

Authors, English.
Authors and publishers.
Czech drama.
Dissenters.
Human rights workers.
Literary agents.

Document Types

Birth certificates.
Christmas cards.
Electronic documents.
Galley proofs.
Negatives.
Passports.
Photographs.
Report cards.
Screenplays.
Scripts.
Theater programs.
Watercolors.

Container List