These Kaufman Papers are a small collection consisting of correspondence, scripts, and biographical clippings. This paucity of material is apparently due to Kaufman's purposeful destruction of his correspondence. In recent years Kaufman biographer Scott Meredith unearthed some correspondence and other material concerning the playwright's life and career which he donated to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. Researchers are urged to consult this collection, as well as the Kaufman material in the papers of Howard Teichmann.
The collection is organized as BIOGRAPHICAL SCRAPBOOKS, CORRESPONDENCE, PLAYS, SCREENPLAYS, and TELEVISION SCRIPTS AND OTHER WRITINGS. The collection is also available on microfilm.
The CORRESPONDENCE is entirely incoming and quite fragmentary, although there are letters from many prominent individuals including Walter Damrosch, Adolph Menjou, Oswald Garrison Villard, Joseph E. Davies, John Steinbeck, Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, William Saroyan, Booth Tarkington, and Alexander Woollcott. Of these, only the correspondence with Woollcott concerning his appearance as himself in The Man Who Came to Dinner is of biographical interest. The correspondence consists only as photostatic copies, and the location of the originals is unknown, although other evidence in the collection suggests they may have been sold at the time of Kaufman's death.
The SCRIPTS are arranged chronologically by genre, as PLAYS, SCREEN PLAYS, and TELEVISION SCRIPTS AND OTHER WRITINGS, with works for the stage being the most numerous. A large number of the scripts are for unproduced works. Most of the titles are represented by unannotated typescripts and only the drafts of In the Money, on which he worked with Howard Teichmann, and an untitled play contain materials suggesting Kaufman's playwriting processing.
The remainder of the collection consists of BIOGRAPHICAL SCRAPBOOKS containing clippings and photographs. After filming, the original prints from The Senator Was Indiscreet album were removed to the WCFTR Stills File. The original scrapbooks were disposed of because of their poor physical condition.
