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RANSOM EDITION
Volume 13 : : Issue 2
Summer 2006
RANSOM EDITION is published
biannually for members and friends
of the Harry Ransom Center at
The University of Texas at Austin.
To change your contact information,
please notify:
Alicia Dietrich, Editor
Ransom Edition
Harry Ransom Center
The University of Texas at Austin
P.O. Box 7219
Austin, TX 78713
aliciadietrich@mail.utexas.edu
HOURS
Ransom Center Galleries
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Monday–Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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(No Saturday hours for visual
materials viewing)
Phone: 512-471-8944
Fax: 512-471-9646
http://www.hrc.utexas.edu
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Unless otherwise noted, photography
by Pete Smith or Eric Beggs.
Cover photo: Detail of hack license
used in preparation for Taxi Driver.
Robert De Niro Collection.
Cover background: Shooting script
from Raging Bull.
Robert De Niro Collection.
The publishers have made every effort to
contact all copyright holders for permissions.
Those we have been unable to reach are
invited to contact us so that a full
acknowledgment may be given.
© 2006 Harry Ransom Center.
All rights reserved.
This spring the Ransom Center announced its acquisition of the remarkable archive of actor
Robert De Niro. A gift from De Niro, the collection includes not only annotated scripts,
notes, research materials, and video and audio recordings, but also an extensive collection
of the costumes he wore.
It is an important collection in our cultural history. De Niro appeared in key
films of the Hollywood renaissance of the 1960s, and his influence and
artistic excellence continue today. De Niro is one of the most celebrated
actors in America, and the roles he has portrayed in such iconic films as
Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Deer Hunter have become touchstones
of our culture.
Through De Niro’s extensive notes and research materials, one can see the
vital creative process—how he transformed words into live action, how
he crossed genres, moving from script to screen. The collection will garner
both scholarly and popular interest, but perhaps most exciting for us is the
enthusiasm it has generated on campus, especially among departments
not traditionally associated with our collections. The Department of Human
Ecology, which has the only graduate program in the region in clothing
conservation, and the Costume Technology program in the Department of
Theatre and Dance will be given unprecedented access to the collection
for use in teaching costume design and textile conservation. These
departments will also work with the Center on the long-term conservation
needs of the costumes. We are pleased to build a partnership with these
departments and strengthen the ties of the Ransom Center to the teaching
mission of the University. Another key player in this acquisition was
George Mitchell of the University Co-op, who has generously agreed to
help support the care and conservation of the costumes.
The acquisition of De Niro’s archive enhances a remarkably strong film
collection at the Ransom Center. His materials will join the archives of
such film notables as David O. Selznick, Gloria Swanson, Steve Martin, and
Ernest Lehman. De Niro will also support a research fellowship in film, and
he will visit the Center in 2007 to celebrate both the acquisition and our
50 th anniversary.
Every summer, friends and members of the Ransom Center ask me for book
recommendations as they put together their summer reading lists. I read
less contemporary fiction than I once did, but many of our staff members follow current
literature closely. With this newsletter, we begin a new column that will feature
recommendations of contemporary works. Happy reading.
Thomas F. Staley,
Director, Harry Ransom Center
Director’s note