The Katkov Papers, 1930-1968, are divided into six sections: Biographical; Correspondence; Short Stories; Novels, Plays, and the Brice Biography; Screenplays; and Television, the largest segment of the collection.
The BIOGRAPHICAL section of the collection includes pages of humorous dialogue between Katkov and his children and wife, and materials related to his years of service in the U.S. Army.
The CORRESPONDENCE files of the collection have been sub-divided into personal and business correspondence and are quite extensive. Each of the two sections is arranged chronologically. From the very beginning of his professional career Katkov retained a copy of nearly every piece of significant outgoing correspondence and also filed nearly all important incoming correspondence. Consequently, there are interesting items revealing the trials and tribulations in selling one's talents to magazine editors, film producers, television executives, and even one's own agent.
The third segment of Katkov's papers consists of manuscripts of his SHORT STORIES. These document the development of the writer from the very early stages of his literary career to the peak of his artistic capabilities. Several have been chosen to be included in anthologies and a few have been published more than once, e.g., “Joey's Ball” and “The Torn Invitation”; some have appeared in foreign language periodicals.
The NOVELS, PLAYS, AND BRICE BIOGRAPHY section of the collection contains extensive manuscripts and rewrites of several Katkov projects, including Eric Mattson, which is documented from its genesis in 1960 to the final 1763-page draft in 1963.
SCREENPLAYS consists almost entirely of outlines and proposals for films never produced. Katkov did, however, see It Happened to Jane (1959) through from start to finish.
TELEVISION, the most lucrative area for Katkov, was able to provide him with steady employment in many on-running series. Included in this part of the collection are scripts, rough drafts, and outlines for various programs from the middle 1950's to the late 1960's. Most numerous are scripts and related papers for episodes of Ben Casey, Slattery's People, and Wanted: Dead of Alive.
Perhaps the most revealing insights into Katkov and his perceptions of his work are to be found in the terse annotations on pages of manuscripts and correspondence, made by Katkov while the collection was being prepared for shipment. Obviously dissatisfied with television and short story writing, though more than competent at both, Katkov was nevertheless not in a financial position to solely pursue his first love, the writing of novels.
