The collection is organized into five major categories: WRITINGS, RESEARCH CLIPPINGS AND NOTES, CHARACTER FILES, SUBJECT FILES, and PERSONAL FILES AND CORRESPONDENCE.
Manuscripts for Ornitz' two major books are included with the WRITINGS. Also included are typescripts for several plays, although these are largely for unproduced works. The collection includes manuscripts for only four screenplays. In 1964 Mrs. Ornitz informed WCFTR that her husband's screenplays had been turned over to Robert W. Kenny as part of the Hollywood Ten legal defense effort. Unfortunately, these scripts were not received by the Archives as part of the Kenny-Walker Papers.
In the RESEARCH CLIPPINGS are Xeroxed copies of clippings on subjects relevant to Ornitz' writing and his socio-political views. For example, a number of folders relate to Judaism, psychoanalysis, and similar topics. These clippings have been extensively weeded, and only those which have been annotated by Ornitz to suggest the reason for his interest have been retained.
The CHARACTER FILES are arranged alphabetically by character names, for in many cases the work in which a specific character appeared could not be readily determined. These files suggest the method by which Ornitz developed his characters, as well as the general themes enunciated in his works.
The SUBJECT FILES document various social and political concerns with which Ornitz was involved at some time during his career. In 1992 the files relating to the Hollywood Ten were compared to material in other WCFTR holdings about the Ten, and only material that related specifically to Ornitz was retained, while other material was shifted to more appropriate WCFTR collections. Most useful now is the file of his public statements including the statement Ornitz tried in vain to read when he testified before the committee. (Correspondence and some legal material relating to the Hollywood Ten defense are filed in the CORRESPONDENCE series.) Also in the SUBJECT FILES are Dreiser Committee correspondence, notes, and testimony relating to the Harlan County Coal Miner's Strike of 1931. These files document the conditions under which the miners labored, the mine owners' response to the workers' unionizing attempts, and some of the activities of the Writers Committee. An additional folder contains several press releases issued in support of the Scottsboro murder defendants. Ornitz' involvement with this incident, however, is not documented in the papers.
The CORRESPONDENCE AND PERSONAL MATERIAL consist of personal and professional correspondence, memorabilia, biographical information, and a Xeroxed copy of a biographical scrapbook. The biographical information includes a three-page autobiography prepared for Bride of the Sabbath, two dust jackets, prison miscellany, and a broadside and program for The People's Playhouse at which the Ornitz' play “The Deficit” was produced in 1919. A few photographs of Ornitz received with the papers have been separated to the WCFTR name file.
The correspondence filed here is incomplete, primarily covering the periods 1923 to 1936 and 1947 to 1952. A large part of the correspondence consists of exchanges with publishers Horace Liveright regarding Haunch, Paunch, and Jowl and Rinehart & Co. for Bride of the Sabbath. The 1950-1952 correspondence with Richard Bransten of Rinehart & Co. is particularly extensive and in addition to documenting the details of bringing a manuscript to print it also contains insights into the way in which Ornitz' status as a jailed member of the Hollywood Ten affected this process. There is also ample correspondence here from general readers and friends about both of these works. Unfortunately there is virtually no correspondence in the papers which relates to Ornitz' career and activities as a screenwriter during the 1930's and early 1940's. Most interesting in this regard is a 1935 letter which relates his attempts to market his “American Agent/Diamonds” script to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and other studios, a letter to collaborator Don Davis regarding Edward G. Robinson (1932) and a few items concerning the Screen Writers' Guild and the problems of Hollywood writers of that period.
Correspondence from the Hollywood Ten era consists of a mix of personal and professional items. There are copies of exchanges with his wife and his agent, as well as some correspondence regarding parole. The post-imprisonment files include a letter from Harry Golden and a letter of condolence from Ring Lardner, Jr.
