University of Texas at Austin

Sarah Rollitts:

An Inventory of Her Papers at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator: Rollitts, Sarah
Title: Sarah Rollitts Papers
Dates: 1902-1978 (bulk 1942-1975)
Extent: 2 document boxes (0.84 linear feet), 2 oversize folders (osf)
Abstract: The Sarah Rollitts Papers contain the literary agent’s letters received from her clients, prospects, publishers, film and television studios. Also present are contracts and agreements, memoranda, notes, newspaper and magazine clippings, press releases, programs, book jackets; and copies of ink, wash, and crayon sketches by Angna Entero.
Call Number: Performing Arts Collection PA-00079
Language: English with some printed material in German and Italian
Access: Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials.
Use Policies: Ransom Center collections may contain material with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in the collections without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the Ransom Center and The University of Texas at Austin assume no responsibility.
Restrictions on Use: Authorization for publication is given on behalf of the University of Texas as the owner of the collection and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder which must be obtained by the researcher. For more information please see the Ransom Center's Open Access and Use Policies.

Administrative Information


Acquisition: Purchases, 1978-1980, and subsequent gift, 1998
Processed by: Joan Sibley, 2001; Helen Baer, 2012; Daniela Lozano, 2017
Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Biographical Sketch


Sarah Rollitts was literary and playwright agent for Columbia Artists, Inc. from 1939 until 1946, when she went independent as the New York office of the Salkow Agency (Los Angeles).

Scope and Contents


The Sarah Rollitts Papers, 1902-1978 (bulk 1942-1975), contain the literary agent’s letters received from her clients, prospects, publishers, film and television studios. Among the correspondents represented in the papers are Tallulah Bankhead, Vicki Baum, Ingmar Bergman, Marlon Brando, Abe Burrows, Lenore Coffee, Joan Crawford, Lester Cohen, Bette Davis, William and Charlotte Dieterle, Norman Felton, Janet Flanner, Errol Flynn, Ruth Gordon, Tyrone Guthrie, Lillian Hellman, Katherine Hepburn, Walter Huston, Garson Kanin, George S. Kaufman, Elia Kazan, Gene Kelly, Ernest Lehman, Sinclair Lewis, Anita Loos, Christopher Morley, Clifford Odets, Laurence Olivier, Mary Pickford, Otto Preminger, Halsey Raines, Nancy Wilson Ross, Bertrand Russell, Dore Schary, Peter Sellers, Beatrice Straight, Booth Tarkington, Kurt Weill, Orson Welles, Cornel Wilde, and Thornton Wilder.
Also present are contracts and agreements, memoranda, notes, newspaper and magazine clippings, press releases, programs, book jackets; and copies of ink, wash, and crayon sketches by Angna Entero.
The Sarah Rollitts collection was originally cataloged with a numeric classification system that corresponds to categories within the Theater Biography Collection in the Theater Arts card catalog. The classification codes are referenced in the folder list of this inventory, and may be used in conjunction with the card catalog to identify and request specific items from the collection. Contact performing arts staff for assistance.
W. H. Crain purchased the collection and placed it on loan at the University of Texas at Austin, where it became a gift upon Crain’s death in 1998. Rollitts kept the material in her files of "autograph" interest and shredded many of her own personal letters before selling the collection.

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