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Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2009
Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms009204
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
The papers of Ruth Gordon, author and actress, and Garson Kanin, actor, author, director, and producer, were purchased by the Library of Congress in 2004. Material given by Ed Slakter in 2003 was added to the collection in 2006.
A dictaphone record has been transferred to the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division where it is identified as part of these papers.
The Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin Papers complement separate collections of their papers, the Ruth Gordon Papers and the Garson Kanin Papers, which are also held by in the Manuscript Division.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Date | Event |
| 1896, Oct. 30 | Born, Wollaston, Mass. |
| 1915 | Appeared as Nibs in Peter Pan (play) |
| 1918 | Married Gregory Kelly (died 1927) |
| 1936 | Appeared as Margery Pinchwife in The Country Wife (play) |
| 1940 | Appeared as Mary Todd Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois (film) |
| 1942 | Married Garson Kanin |
| 1946 | Wrote Years Ago (play) |
| 1949 | Wrote Adam's Rib (film) |
| 1952 | Wrote Pat and Mike (film) |
| 1953 | Wrote The Actress (film based on play Years Ago) |
| 1955 | Appeared as Dolly Levi in The Matchmaker (play) |
| 1965 | Appeared as Mrs. Clover in Inside Daisy Clover (film) |
| 1968 | Appeared as Minnie Castevet in Rosemary's Baby (film) |
| 1969 | Won 1968 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Rosemary's Baby |
| 1971 | Appeared as Maude in Harold and Maude (film) |
| 1978 | Appeared as Ma Boggs in Every Which Way But Loose (film) |
| 1985, Aug. 28 | Died, Edgartown, Mass. |
Date | Event |
| 1912, Nov. 24 | Born, Rochester, N.Y. |
| 1932-1933 | Attended American Academy of Dramatic Arts, New York, N.Y. |
| 1933 | Appeared as Tommy Deal in Little Ol' Boy (play) |
| 1942 | Married Ruth Gordon (died 1985) |
| 1946 | Wrote
Born Yesterday (play) Directed Years Ago (play) |
| 1949 | Wrote Adam's Rib (film) |
| 1952 | Wrote Pat and Mike (film) |
| 1955 | Wrote and directed The Diary of Anne Frank (play) |
| 1964 | Directed Funny Girl (play) |
| 1990 | Married Marian Seldes |
| 1999, Mar. 13 | Died, New York, N.Y. |
The papers of Ruth Gordon (1896-1985) and Garson Kanin (1912-1999) span the years 1921-1993, with the bulk of the material dating from 1940 to 1959. Gordon and Kanin were a married couple prominent in the American theater and film industry as actors and writers for half a century. They used their collaborative relationship as a model for their film Pat and Mike starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The papers consist mainly of correspondence with attached and related newspaper clippings and printed ephemera. An addition to the collection includes more correspondence and miscellaneous personal files.
The correspondence contains incoming letters and copies of outgoing letters. Chief correspondents are Enid Bagnold, Cecil Beaton, Hugh (“Binkie”) Beaumont, Main R. Bocher, Maurice Chevalier, Harry Cohn, George Cukor, Edith Evans, Tyrone Guthrie, Laurence Olivier, and Dore Schary. Letters from Bagnold discuss the symbolism and characterizations in the plays The Chalk Garden and A Matter of Gravity. The correspondence from Bocher contains an inventory of Gordon's collection of haute couture designed for her by Mainbocher. The letters of Cohn and Cukor provide insight into film personalities, especially Judy Holliday and Spencer Tracy. They discuss all aspects of production for films such as The Marrying Kind, The Actress, and It Should Happen to You. Evans and Guthrie describe the state of London theater during World War II.
An addition contains further correspondence as well as contracts, insurance policies, investment material, printed matter, and Gordon's and Kanin's marriage certificate.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by correspondent, followed by an addition arranged alphabetically by type of material.
| CONTAINER | CONTENTS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOX 1 | Correspondence | ||||||||||||
| Acheson, Dean and Alice, 1961-1969, undated | |||||||||||||
| Aldrich, Richard, 1948 | |||||||||||||
| Alsop, Joseph, 1969-1977 | |||||||||||||
| Anderson, Judith, 1950-1952 | |||||||||||||
| Anderson, Maxwell and Gertrude (“Mab”) Higger, 1946-1951, undated | |||||||||||||
| Aronson, Boris, 1955-1963, 1974-1975 | |||||||||||||
| Ashcroft, Peggy, 1953, undated | |||||||||||||
| Atkinson, Brooks and Oriana, 1951-1952, 1958-1959, 1969, undated | |||||||||||||
| Aumont, Jean-Pierre, 1954 | |||||||||||||
| Bagnold, Enid, 1953-1974, 1981, undated | |||||||||||||
| Barry, Philip, 1949 | |||||||||||||
| Baylis, Lilian, 1937 | |||||||||||||
| Beaton, Cecil, 1936-1938, 1944-1972, undated | |||||||||||||
| (4 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Beaumont, Hugh (“Binkie”) | |||||||||||||
| 1946-1953 | |||||||||||||
| BOX 2 | 1954-1972, undated | ||||||||||||
| (7 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Behrman, S. N., 1950, 1958-1963, undated | |||||||||||||
| Benny, Jack and Mary, 1969-1974 | |||||||||||||
| Berlin, Irving, 1970 | |||||||||||||
| Bloomgarden, Kermit, 1955 | |||||||||||||
| Bocher, Main R., and Douglas Pollard, 1943-1969, 1975-1978, undated | |||||||||||||
| (6 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 3 | Bolger, Ray and Gwendolyn, 1950, 1987, undated | ||||||||||||
| Born Yesterday, cast of, undated | |||||||||||||
| Brisson, Frederick See Container 13, Russell, Rosalind | |||||||||||||
| Brynner, Doris (Mrs. Yul), 1966 | |||||||||||||
| Burke, Billie, 1957, 1970, undated | |||||||||||||
| Calder, King, 1943 | |||||||||||||
| Carlisle, Kitty See Container 9, Hart, Moss | |||||||||||||
| Champion, Gower, 1965 | |||||||||||||
| Chatterton, Ruth, 1946-1951, 1960, undated | |||||||||||||
| Chayefsky, Paddy, 1946-1947, 1955-1958, undated | |||||||||||||
| Chevalier, Maurice | |||||||||||||
| Correspondence, 1948-1969, undated | |||||||||||||
| Miscellany, 1921-1944, 1950, 1964-1967, undated | |||||||||||||
| Clair, René, 1941, 1952, 1958, 1971-1974 | |||||||||||||
| Claire, Ina, undated | |||||||||||||
| Coca Cola Co. See Container 7, Farley, James | |||||||||||||
| Cohn, Harry, 1950-1954, undated | |||||||||||||
| (3 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Colbert, Claudette, 1954 | |||||||||||||
| Columbia Pictures Corp. See same container, Cohn, Harry | |||||||||||||
| Cornell, Katharine, 1941-1973, undated See also Container 11, McClintic, Guthrie | |||||||||||||
| Cotten, Joseph, undated | |||||||||||||
| Coward, Noel, 1938 | |||||||||||||
| Craven, Frank, undated | |||||||||||||
| Crawford, Cheryl, 1956 | |||||||||||||
| Crawford, Joan, 1959, 1969-1970 | |||||||||||||
| Crouse, Russel, 1946-1950, 1959, 1966, undated See also Container 11, Lindsay, Howard | |||||||||||||
| Cukor, George | |||||||||||||
| Correspondence | |||||||||||||
| 1941 | |||||||||||||
| BOX 4 | 1942-1952 | ||||||||||||
| (7 folders) | |||||||||||||
| 1953 | |||||||||||||
| Jan.-Apr. | |||||||||||||
| BOX 5 | May-Nov. | ||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| 1954-1971, 1978, 1992 | |||||||||||||
| (5 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Undated | |||||||||||||
| (1 folder) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 6 | (1 folder) | ||||||||||||
| Miscellany, 1951, 1962-1965, 1988, undated | |||||||||||||
| Dauphin, Claude, 1946-1952 | |||||||||||||
| Davis, Bette, 1962, 1975 | |||||||||||||
| De Mille, Agnes, undated | |||||||||||||
| Derwent, Clarence, 1956 | |||||||||||||
| Dieterle, William, 1939-1942, 1969-1970, undated | |||||||||||||
| Dietrich, Marlene, 1954, undated | |||||||||||||
| Dietz, Howard, 1941-1942, 1950-1952 | |||||||||||||
| Dunnock, Mildred, 1948, undated | |||||||||||||
| Evans, Edith | |||||||||||||
| 1937-1949 | |||||||||||||
| (3 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 7 | 1950-1973, undated | ||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Evans, Maurice, 1956, 1971 | |||||||||||||
| Farley, James, 1953 | |||||||||||||
| Ferber, Edna, 1942-1943, 1965-1966, undated | |||||||||||||
| Ferrer, José, 1947, 1954, 1975, 1983-1986, undated | |||||||||||||
| Field, Betty See Container 13, Rice, Elmer | |||||||||||||
| Fine, Sylvia See Container 10, Kaye, Danny | |||||||||||||
| Fontanne, Lynn, and Alfred Lunt, 1941-1962, 1969-1977, undated | |||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Frankfurter, Felix | |||||||||||||
| 1941-1969 | |||||||||||||
| (6 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 8 | 1977, 1982-1985, undated | ||||||||||||
| Fry, Christopher, 1955 | |||||||||||||
| Gernreich, Rudi, undated | |||||||||||||
| Gershwin, Ira, 1968 | |||||||||||||
| Gibbs, Wolcott, 1947 | |||||||||||||
| Gilson, Joanna, 1954-1956, undated | |||||||||||||
| Gish, Dorothy, 1941-1942, 1948, 1960-1964, undated | |||||||||||||
| Gish, Lillian, 1940-1964, 1977-1980, undated | |||||||||||||
| Goddard, Paulette, 1966-1969 | |||||||||||||
| Golden, John, undated | |||||||||||||
| Grant, Cary, undated | |||||||||||||
| Guthrie, Tyrone | |||||||||||||
| 1936-1963 | |||||||||||||
| (7 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 9 | 1964-1971, undated | ||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| H. M. Tennant, Ltd. See Containers 1 and 2, Beaumont, Hugh | |||||||||||||
| Halliday, Richard See Container 11, Martin, Mary | |||||||||||||
| Hammerstein, Oscar (1895-1960), 1946-1951 | |||||||||||||
| Hammett, Dashiell, 1947, 1965 | |||||||||||||
| Harris, Jed, 1926-1931, 1962, 1980, undated | |||||||||||||
| Harrison, Rex, 1950-1954, 1966, undated | |||||||||||||
| Hart, Moss, and Kitty Carlisle, 1947-1960, undated | |||||||||||||
| Hayes, Helen, 1931-1985, undated | |||||||||||||
| (3 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Hayward, Leland, 1943, 1949-1968, undated | |||||||||||||
| Head, Edith, 1969 | |||||||||||||
| BOX 10 | Hellman, Lillian, 1942-1948, 1964-1976, 1984, undated | ||||||||||||
| Helpman, Robert, 1946-1950, 1962, undated | |||||||||||||
| Hepburn, Audrey, 1954, 1963-1969, 1976 | |||||||||||||
| Hobson, Laura Z., 1971-1975 | |||||||||||||
| Holliday, Judy, undated | |||||||||||||
| Hurlock, Madeline See Container 14, Sherwood, Robert | |||||||||||||
| Hurok, Sol, 1969 | |||||||||||||
| Inge, William, 1959-1963, 1969 | |||||||||||||
| Johnson, Nunnally, 1942, 1954-1957, 1963, undated | |||||||||||||
| Kasha, Lawrence, 1964 | |||||||||||||
| Kaufman, George S. and Leueen, 1942-1960, undated | |||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Kaye, Danny, and Sylvia Fine, 1942-1961, 1968-1971, undated | |||||||||||||
| Keller, Helen, 1956-1958, 1969 | |||||||||||||
| Korda, Alexander, 1956 | |||||||||||||
| Krasna, Norman, 1941-1970, undated | |||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Laughton, Charles, circa 1942, 1950 | |||||||||||||
| Lawrence, Gertrude, 1952 | |||||||||||||
| Le Gallienne, Eva, 1982 | |||||||||||||
| Lefkowitz, Nat, 1961 | |||||||||||||
| BOX 11 | Leigh, Vivien, 1961-1967, undated See also Containers 11 and 12, Olivier, Laurence | ||||||||||||
| Leighton, Margaret, 1956, 1962-1963, undated | |||||||||||||
| Lerner, Alan Jay, 1961, 1967-1973, 1983, undated | |||||||||||||
| Lillie, Bea, 1954-1955 | |||||||||||||
| Lindsay, Howard, 1943-1950, 1956-1959, 1966-1968, undated See also Container 3, Crouse, Russel | |||||||||||||
| Loesser, Frank, 1953-1961, undated | |||||||||||||
| Loos, Anita, 1947-1971, 1978-1981, undated | |||||||||||||
| Luce, Claire Booth, 1966-1969 | |||||||||||||
| Lunt, Alfred See Container 7, Fontanne, Lynn | |||||||||||||
| Mainbocher, Inc. See Container 2, Bocher, Main R. | |||||||||||||
| March, Fredric and Florence, 1947-1952, undated | |||||||||||||
| Martin, Mary, and Richard Halliday, 1955-1958, 1965, undated | |||||||||||||
| Marx, Groucho, Harpo, and Susan, 1947-1949, 1956-1969, 1986, undated | |||||||||||||
| Massey, Raymond, 1946-1947, 1959, 1965, 1976-1979, undated | |||||||||||||
| Maugham, W. Somerset, circa 1942, 1958, 1965-1969, undated | |||||||||||||
| McBride, Mary Margaret, 1950 | |||||||||||||
| McClintic, Guthrie, 1931, 1939-1960, undated See also Container 3, Cornell, Katharine | |||||||||||||
| Meredith, Burgess, 1941-1942 | |||||||||||||
| Mielziner, Jo, 1950, 1956-1965 | |||||||||||||
| Miller, Arthur, 1955 | |||||||||||||
| Minnelli, Denise, Lee, and Liza, 1968, 1982-1986 | |||||||||||||
| Miscellaneous, 1938-1951, 1963, undated | |||||||||||||
| Molnár, Ferenc, 1948 | |||||||||||||
| Murphy, George, 1969 | |||||||||||||
| Murphy, Gerald, 1943 | |||||||||||||
| Nathan, George Jean, 1930, 1946 | |||||||||||||
| Nesbitt, Cathleen, 1964-1965, undated | |||||||||||||
| Oberon, Merle, 1967-1969, 1975 | |||||||||||||
| Odets, Clifford, 1942, undated | |||||||||||||
| Ogden, Angela, 1967 | |||||||||||||
| Olivier, Laurence See also Container 11, Leigh, Vivien | |||||||||||||
| 1940-1942 | |||||||||||||
| 1946 | |||||||||||||
| Feb.-Aug. | |||||||||||||
| BOX 12 | Sept.-Nov. | ||||||||||||
| 1947-1988, undated | |||||||||||||
| (12 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 13 | O'Neill, Carlotta Monterey (Mrs. Eugene), 1956 | ||||||||||||
| Osborn, Paul, 1949, undated | |||||||||||||
| Paley, William S., 1980-1986, undated | |||||||||||||
| Palmer, Lilli, 1950, undated | |||||||||||||
| Papp, Joseph, 1975-1988 | |||||||||||||
| Peekskill Declaration signers, 1949 | |||||||||||||
| Pollard, Douglas See Container 2, Bocher, Main R. | |||||||||||||
| Porter, Cole, 1949-1951, 1960 | |||||||||||||
| Rattigan, Terence, 1956, 1963-1966 | |||||||||||||
| Redgrave, Michael, 1939-1943, 1954-1960, 1971-1976, undated | |||||||||||||
| Remick, Lee, 1959, 1963-1965, 1980 | |||||||||||||
| Revson, Charles (Revlon Products Corp.), 1950-1951 | |||||||||||||
| Rice, Elmer, and Betty Field, 1940, 1947-1957, undated | |||||||||||||
| Richardson, Tony, 1955 | |||||||||||||
| Ritter, Thelma, 1956 | |||||||||||||
| Roberts, Rachel, 1970, undated | |||||||||||||
| Robinson, Edward G., 1952-1957, 1970 | |||||||||||||
| Robson, Flora, undated | |||||||||||||
| Rodgers, Richard, 1947-1950, 1958-1970 | |||||||||||||
| Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1939-1941, 1947, 1955-1962 | |||||||||||||
| Rose, Billy, 1941, 1946-1950, 1961-1962 | |||||||||||||
| Rosenthal, Jean, 1957 | |||||||||||||
| Rubinstein, Arthur, 1954, 1961, undated | |||||||||||||
| Russell, Rosalind, and Frederick Brisson, 1957-1970, undated | |||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Saroyan, William, 1942-1943, 1959 | |||||||||||||
| Schary, Dore | |||||||||||||
| 1942-1951 | |||||||||||||
| BOX 14 | 1952-1980, undated | ||||||||||||
| (3 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Schildkraut, Joseph, 1954-1964, undated | |||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Schneider, Alan, 1936, 1947-1948, 1963 | |||||||||||||
| Seberg, Jean, 1961-1967 | |||||||||||||
| Selznick, David O. and Daniel, 1943-1948, 1956, 1968 | |||||||||||||
| Selznick, Irene, 1947-1960, 1969 | |||||||||||||
| Severeid, Eric, 1970-1978 | |||||||||||||
| Shaw, Irwin, 1970 | |||||||||||||
| Shawn, Ted, 1956 | |||||||||||||
| Sheldon, Edward, 1940-1949, undated | |||||||||||||
| Sherwood, Robert E., and Madeline Hurlock, 1927, 1938-1939, 1948-1961, 1967 | |||||||||||||
| Shubert, Lee and Marcella, 1949-1971, undated | |||||||||||||
| Silvers, Phil, 1942-1943, 1955-1962, 1971, undated | |||||||||||||
| Skinner, Cornelia Otis, 1956, 1964 | |||||||||||||
| Snow, Carmel, 1949, undated | |||||||||||||
| BOX 15 | Spewack, Bella and Sam, 1937, 1952, 1967-1970, 1979 | ||||||||||||
| Streisand, Barbra, 1983, undated | |||||||||||||
| Sturges, Howard, 1949, undated | |||||||||||||
| Tarkington, Booth and Susannah, 1921-1929, 1940-1966, undated | |||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Taylor, Laurette, 1941-1947, 1967, undated | |||||||||||||
| Todman, William (“Bill”), 1963 | |||||||||||||
| Tracy, Spencer, 1941-1969, undated | |||||||||||||
| (4 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Truman, Bess Wallace, 1947 | |||||||||||||
| BOX 16 | Ulric, Lenore, 1943-1950, 1956, undated | ||||||||||||
| (3 folders) | |||||||||||||
| Van Druten, John, 1950 | |||||||||||||
| Vidor, Doris (Mrs. Charles), 1956, 1974 | |||||||||||||
| Vidor, King, 1956, undated | |||||||||||||
| Vreeland, Diana, 1960, 1969-1976, undated | |||||||||||||
| Walker, Nancy, 1961 | |||||||||||||
| Wallis, Hal B., 1977 | |||||||||||||
| Waring, Fred, 1977-1978 | |||||||||||||
| Warren, Robert Penn, 1986 | |||||||||||||
| Webb, Clifton, 1951-1953 | |||||||||||||
| Webster, Margaret, undated | |||||||||||||
| Whitney, John Hay, 1963-1964, undated | |||||||||||||
| Widmark, Richard, 1968 | |||||||||||||
| Wilder, Thornton, 1948-1949, 1964, 1970, undated | |||||||||||||
| Williams, Emlyn, 1949-1952, 1962-1971, undated | |||||||||||||
| Wilson, Earl, 1959, 1976 | |||||||||||||
| Wood, Natalie, 1962-1974, undated | |||||||||||||
| Wood, Peggy, 1956-1965 | |||||||||||||
| Woolcott, Alexander, 1936-1947, 1974, undated | |||||||||||||
| BOX 17 | Addition | ||||||||||||
| Contracts, 1942-1946, 1969 | |||||||||||||
| Correspondence | |||||||||||||
| “A-G” miscellaneous, 1934-1984, undated | |||||||||||||
| (8 folders) | |||||||||||||
| “Ha” miscellaneous, 1955-1971, undated | |||||||||||||
| (2 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 18 | “He-Hu” miscellaneous, 1949-1983, undated | ||||||||||||
| (4 folders) | |||||||||||||
| “K-V” miscellaneous, 1939-1993, undated | |||||||||||||
| (8 folders) | |||||||||||||
| BOX 19 | “W” miscellaneous, 1967-1977, undated | ||||||||||||
| Unidentified, 1969, 1983, undated | |||||||||||||
| Insurance, 1944-1948 | |||||||||||||
| Investments, 1946-1947 | |||||||||||||
| Marriage certificate, 1942 | |||||||||||||
| Mielziner, Jo, set designs for Violence (play), undated | |||||||||||||
| Miscellany, 1943, undated | |||||||||||||
| Printed matter, 1943, 1949-1954, 1983-1985, undated | |||||||||||||
| Receipts for clothing and jewelry, 1958-1959 | |||||||||||||
| Research material, 1944-1945 | |||||||||||||
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