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Archibald MacLeish Collection
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Archibald MacLeish was an American poet, dramatist, Librarian of Congress, and Harvard professor. He won the Pulitzer Prize three times: for Conquistador (1933, poetry), Collected Poems (1917–1952) (1953, poetry), and J.B. (1959, drama).
The collection contains the typed manuscript, first and page proofs, working dummy, and author's proof of MacLeish's verse play Nobodaddy (1926) and typed manuscripts--drafts and final versions--for two of MacLeish's shorter historical dramatizations: Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honors (1961), a script for television tracing the Jefferson legacy through narration with dialogue from original sources and focusing on July 4, 1826, the day on which both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died; and The American Bell (1962), a script for a sound-and-light spectacular presented at Philadelphia's Independence Hall and concerned with the Liberty Bell and events leading up to the Declaration of Independence. Included is MacLeish's correspondence with Julian P. Boyd, editor-in-chief of the Jefferson Papers at that time, who contributed much, in terms of historical facts, suggestions, and criticisms, to both MacLeish dramatizations.
Publications by MacLeish: Nobodaddy (Cambridge, Mass.: Dunster House, 1926).
Gift of Prof. Julian P. Boyd.
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
Folder inventory prepared by Alex Rodgers '2013 in 2011.
No appraisal information is available.
People
Organization
Subject
- Historical drama, American -- 20th century
- Liberty Bell -- Drama
- Verse drama, American -- 20th century
- Manuscripts -- 20th century
Place
Occupation
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2008
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
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