Lillian Hellman
Lillian Hellman: An Inventory of Her Papers in the Manuscript Collection at the Harry Ransom Center Descriptive Summary Creator: Hellman, Lillian, 1905-1984 Title: Lillian Hellman Papers Dates: 1904-1984 (bulk 1934-1984) Extent: 119 boxes, 38 oversize boxes, 2 oversize folders, 9 galley files (68 linear feet) Abstract: The Lillian Hellman papers comprise manuscripts, correspondence, legal documents, business records, appointment books, scrapbooks, and clippings. Language: English, French, and Italian Access: Open for research Administrative Information Acquisition: Gifts and purchases, 1963-1994 (Gift 1984, G2868, G8191, G9246, R2200, R3521, R4498, R7661, R13058, R13213, G10046) Processed by: Bob Taylor, 2005 Repository: The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center Hellman, Lillian, 1905-1984 Biographical Sketch Lillian Hellman, America’s most significant woman playwright of the twentieth century, was born on June 20, 1905, in New Orleans to Max and Julia Newhouse Hellman. Her early years, spent alternately among her well-to-do maternal relatives in New York City and with her father’s hard-working sisters in New Orleans, provided the young Lillian with experiences and viewpoints she used to effect throughout her lengthy writing career. After graduation from high school in the early 1920s Hellman attended college briefly before finding employment at the publishing house of Boni and Liveright. With her marriage to playwright and humorist Arthur Kober in 1925 Hellman began serious attempts at a literary career, publishing short stories she later dismissed as trivial. Following the Kobers’ move to Hollywood in 1930 Lillian became a script reader at MGM and soon afterwards began an affair with the novelist Dashiell Hammett that led to the Kobers’ divorce in 1933.
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