The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin honors one of the most influential playwrights in history with its .
Currently on view until August 18, 2019, the Center鈥檚 collection now features rare materials from Miller鈥檚 archives. In 2018, the center announced that they had been granted permission from Miller鈥檚 estate to receive and display the rest of The Crucible writer鈥檚 archives, giving them access to over 200 boxes of letters, drafts, awards, and more, most of which can be seen at the exhibit.
READ: Harry Ransom Center Acquires Arthur Miller Archive
While the exhibit is open, researchers are collecting, organizing, and cataloging all of their findings so the Arthur Miller papers can be available for research in November of this year.
Check out some of the historic offerings from the Harry Ransom Center below:
Tony Medallion
Presented at the Third Annual Tony Awards ceremony, this medallion was the first official Tony Award for Best Play ever presented鈥攊n the prior two years, awardees were given scrolls.
Death of a Salesman Notes
Miller often began drafting sketches for plays in simple composition books such as this, which captures Miller鈥檚 earliest notes on what would become Death of a Salesman. In this scene, Miller drafts dialogue that would largely appear in a similar form in the final draft. The super objective of the scene鈥攖he main idea he wants to convey to the audience鈥攊s written at the top of the page: 鈥淏iff鈥檚 telling of the theft must suggest the Dream.鈥�
Miller鈥檚 Research for The Crucible
Miller was no stranger to conducting archival research. In preparation for writing The Crucible, he spent weeks at the Essex Institute in Salem, Massachusetts, reviewing trial transcripts, eyewitness accounts, and imagery from the period. Material like this鈥攕howing a writer鈥檚 process from research to writing to production鈥攊s one of the unique strengths of the Ransom Center鈥檚 archival holdings.
Miller鈥檚 Student ID
Arthur Miller鈥檚 student identification card for the University of Michigan from 1937.
Miller鈥檚 FBI File
Miller was keenly aware of the federal government鈥檚 scrutiny of writers and artists suspected of communist tendencies. Like many of his generation, Miller鈥檚 experiences living through the Great Depression led him to believe that America鈥檚 early attempts at a capitalist economy had failed and another solution was needed. He was never a member of the Communist Party but attended meetings of organizations that would eventually be investigated by the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities. Miller would eventually be called to testify in front of the committee in 1956, where he refused to name others suspected of having communist beliefs. He was charged and convicted with contempt of Congress鈥攁 conviction later reversed by the Supreme Court.
While preparing his memoir Timebends in 1985, Miller requested this copy of his FBI file through the Freedom of Information Act. In its three volumes, he learned that the American government was tracking his activities from the early 1940s through at least the mid-1960s.
Miller Portrait
In 1962, Miller married the noted photographer Inge Morath. Over the next several decades, Morath photographed Miller鈥檚 productions and his life and work at home. Many of these photographs are included in the archive, offering a rare glimpse into Miller鈥檚 private life.
