Arthur Miller:
An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Center
Creator: | Miller, Arthur, 1915-2005 | |
Title: | Arthur Miller Collection | |
Dates: | 1947-2020, undated | |
Extent: | 2 document boxes (0.84 linear feet) and 43 electronic files (195.1 MB) | |
Abstract: | This collection consists of Arthur Miller related acquisitions that illuminate both personal and professional activities of the author. | |
Call Number: | Manuscript Collection MS-05350 | |
Language: | English |
Access: | Open for research. Researchers must create an online Research Account and agree to the Materials Use Policy before using archival materials. To request access to electronic files, please email Reference. | |
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. 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
Preferred Citation: | Arthur Miller Collection (Manuscript Collection MS-05350). Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin. | |
Acquisition: | Purchases and Gifts, 1991-2020 (R12466, R13344, R13800, 03-02-014-P, 05-12-022-G, 07-12-002-P, 12-07-015-P, 12-08-004-P, 13-10-005-P, 13-10-016-P, 14-10-001-P, 15-02-005-P, 15-03-024-G, 16-03-008-P, 16-08-018-P, 17-11-003-P, 18-01-010-P, 18-05-008-P, 18-06-008-P, 18-08-014-P, 19-07-002-G, 19-10-004-P, 19-12-008-G, 20-10-005-G, 20-10-010-P) | |
Processed by: | Amy E. Armstrong, 2021 Born digital materials processed, arranged, and described by Brenna Edwards, 2022. |
Repository: |
Biographical Sketch
Arthur Asher Miller was born in New York on October 17, 1915, to Augusta and Isidore Miller. His father owned Miltex Coat and Suit Company, a manufacturer of garments for women. The Millers lived in Harlem until the Great Depression when the family moved to Brooklyn in 1928. Miller graduated from Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn in 1932 before taking a job in an auto-parts warehouse. In 1934, he enrolled in the journalism program at the University of Michigan. His play No Villain won the university's Hopwood Award in Drama in 1936. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 1938 with a B.A. in English, and took a job writing radio plays for the Federal Theatre Project in New York. After the Federal Theatre Project closed in 1939, Miller worked with the folk division of the Library of Congress, recording dialects in North Carolina before returning to New York to continue work writing and adapting radio plays. He published his first novel, Focus, in 1945. In 1947, All My Sons premiered and won the New York Drama Critic's Circle Award for Best Play. Miller received the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for Death of a Salesman, along with the Tony Award for Best Play. | ||
In 1954, Miller was invited to Belgium to attend a production of The Crucible but was denied a passport by the US government, due to suspicions of Communist sympathies. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) subpoenaed Miller to testify in 1956. Refusing to provide names of suspected Communists, he was convicted of contempt of Congress but was later exonerated by the United States Court of Appeals. | ||
From 1965 to 1969, Miller served as president of International PEN, and travelled internationally advocating for free speech and the release of imprisoned dissident writers. | ||
Throughout his career, Miller penned dozens of award-winning plays and films including The Misfits, After the Fall, The Price, and Incident at Vichy. His essays appeared in a wide range of publications and anthologies, and he was frequently asked to speak publicly on topics related to social justice and morality. His memoir, Timebends, was published in 1987. | ||
Miller married his first wife, Mary Grace Slattery (1915-2008), in 1940. They had two children: Jane, who was born in 1944, and Robert, born in 1947. Arthur and Mary divorced in 1956. Later that year, Miller married the actress Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962). They were together five years, divorcing in 1961. He married photographer Inge Morath (1923-2002) in 1962. Their daughter Rebecca was born later that year, and their son Daniel was born in 1966. | ||
Arthur Miller died at his Connecticut home on February 10, 2005, at the age of 89. |
Sources:
Miller, Arthur. Timebends: A Life. (New York: Grove Press, 1987) | ||
Bigsby, Christopher. Arthur Miller. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009) | ||
Bigsby, Christopher. Arthur Miller, 1962-2005. (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2011) |
Scope and Contents
This collection consists of Arthur Miller related acquisitions that illuminate both personal and professional activities of the author. The materials are arranged similarly to the arrangement of the Arthur Miller Papers. There are five series including: I. Works, II. Correspondence, III. Personal and Professional, IV. Works About Miller, and V. Photographs. | ||
Series I. Works is further subdivided into two subseries: A. Plays, Screenplays, Radio Plays, Books and B. Short Works. Titles are listed alphabetically within each subseries. | ||
Series II. Correspondence is listed alphabetically by correspondent's last name. | ||
Series III. Personal and Professional Material includes documents relating to Miller's career, personal life, and political activism. It is organized alphabetically by theme or topic. | ||
Series IV. Works About Miller contains writings about Miller and may include scholarly works, interviews, profile articles and clippings. It is arranged in alphabetical order by the author's last name. | ||
Series V. Photographs may contain family photos and portraits of Miller. | ||
Further acquisitions related to Arthur Miller are expected. |
Related Material
For additional materials related to Arthur Miller at the Ransom Center, see the Arthur Miller Papers, Joseph Abeles Studio Collection, Stella Adler and Harold Clurman Papers, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Records, Maxwell Anderson Literary Photography File, Boris Aronson Scenic Design Papers, John Russell Brown Papers, Commentary Magazine Archive, Pascal Covici Correspondence, Robert Downing Papers, English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre Correspondence, Elliott Erwitt Photography Collection, Fred Fehl Theater Collection, Mel Gussow Collection, John Gassner Collection, Anne Jackson and Eli Wallach Papers, James Jones Papers, Willard Maas Collection, Mad Men Collection, Norman Mailer Papers, David Mamet Papers, Ian McEwan Papers, Nicolas Nabokov Papers, PEN Records, Peter Blum Edition Art Collection, Elmer Rice Papers, Samuel French, Inc. Correspondence, Edith Sitwell Collection, Warren Skaaren Papers, and Edward Weeks Papers. |
Separated Material
Published volumes have been transferred to the HRC Library. | ||
Unpublished, non-commercial audio recordings were transferred to the Center's Sound Recordings Collection. |
Index Terms
People |
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Monroe, Marilyn, 1926-1962 | ||
Subjects |
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Dramatists. | ||
Plays. | ||
Theater. |