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Recent Acquisitionsrichard oram“There is no secret about my place of birth,”blustered Evelyn Waugh in a 1948 memorandumto Time magazine, “but I refuse to answerimpertinent questions on the telephone from unknownyoung women on Sunday evenings.”The corrected typescript of this characteristiceffusion is one of the items recently acquired fromthe extensive Waugh collection of Ransom CenterAdvisory Council member Sam Radin.The most significant item in the collection, a giftfrom Mr. Radin, is the suppressed pamphlet An OpenLetter to His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop ofWestminster (1933). Waugh wrote the booklet asa reply to Catholic critics of his controversial novelBlack Mischief. At the time the novelist was pursuingan ecclesiastical annulment of his first marriage,and he was convinced to withdraw the Open Letterfrom circulation. Perhaps six copies survived; thepamphlet, however, became so scarce that Waughhad to purchase one for his own library in the 1950s.Today, this very copy is the only one known to exist.It now joins the original manuscript of the pamphletalready at the Ransom Center. The new arrival alsocompletes the collection of Waugh’s separatelypublished works at the Center.Other items acquired from Radin’s library includeseveral letters by Waugh and proof copies ofWaugh novels, including a bound, corrected proof ofA Handful of Dust and galleys of the Americanedition of his masterpiece, Brideshead Revisited.Other recent acquisitions include::: A large collection of manuscript materials and photographs relatedto Henry Miller, including his earliest letters known to survive,which were written to his first wife, Beatrice Wickens, between1915 and 1925. The collection also includes, among other items,Henry Miller’s “Dream Book,” the last unpublished book-lengthmanuscript he wrote during his Paris years.:: A substantial addition to the archive of James Salter, includingextensive correspondence with two of Salter’s closest friends andmaterials for the books Last Night, There and Then, and Life Is Meals.2007 promotional sponsors.The Ransom Center would like to give special thanks to our 2007 promotional sponsors:Memo from Evelyn Waugh to Time magazine, dated December 16, 1948, correctingthe reporter’s inaccuracies in a story about Waugh in the July 12, 1948 issue.:: A unique print from a snapshot Richard Avedon took of TrumanCapote in 1967, when Capote returned to Holcomb, Kansas,for the shooting of the film In Cold Blood. The image depicts Capotein a dimestore, holding a devil mask to his face. Capote gave the printto Alvin Dewey, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent wholed the investigation of the Clutter murders, in gratitude for hisassistance with research for Capote’s book.Learn more about the Evelyn Waugh and James Salter archives at8http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/ransomedition.January 30–July 29, 2007The American TwentiesThe United States emerged from World War Iwith wealth and power and an urge to remakeitself. Profound cultural and social changeoccurred during the 1920s, a decade ofambiguities, contradictions, contrasts, andconflicts. In the decade’s struggle to define thefuture of America, a plethora of issues wereargued and fought out in poetry, novels, politicaltracts, music, and the movies. Issues of race,religion, and revolution were paramountfollowed by those of love, sex, and gender.Questions of the primacy of labor and capitalwere particularly fraught, and the benefits ofsocialism, communism, anarchism, andcapitalism were openly debated.Fundamentalists and experimentalists clashed inmany areas of human endeavor. Through these,the idea of the “modern” was crystallized andthe “American” century born. Thisexhibition is an exploration of that decadethrough the literature and art that was to becomequintessentially American andquintessentially modern.Themes explored in this all-gallery exhibition ofmaterials drawn primarily from the Ransom Center’s collections include “Remembering the War,” “Babbittsand Bohemians,” “Modernist Monuments,” “Labor and Capital,” “The Rise of Women,” “Hollywood’s DreamFactory,” “House and Home,” “Cops and Robbers,” “Cowboys and Indians,” “The New Negro,” “In the AmericanGrain,” and “The Voice of the People.”The exhibition is guest-curated by Rodney Phillips, a Librarian at the University of Arizona Poetry Center, Tucson,and former administrator and curator at the New York Public Library.FROM the american twentiesTop: Journal American pressphoto of “The Charleston.”Right: Presentation drawingin the “Jazz Lint” seriesby Gordon Conway.ca. 1924–1928.Far right: Harlem Dandy, UndatedMiguel CovarrubiasLitho crayon drawing27.7 x 21.3 cm (10.9 x 8.4 in)Courtesy of theMiguel Covarrubias Estate.All Rights Reserved.IN THE GALLERIESTOURS EVERY SATURDAY at 2 P.M.Take a free guided tour of the exhibitionThe American Twenties through Saturday, July 28.Ransom Edition : : Ransom Edition : :

Fifty Years of Major Acquisitions and EventsFounded in 1957, the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas at Austin hasevolved into a world-renowned cultural institution. Throughout 2007, the RansomCenter commemorates its 50th anniversary with programs and exhibitionsdedicated to “Celebrating the Imagination.”Captions can be found at8 http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/ransomedition.1957 1958 1959 1962 1963 1964 1965 1968 1969 1971 1973 1975 1978 1980 1981 1982 1984 1986 1988 1992 1994 1996 1997 2000 2002 2003 2005 2006Harry Ransom named directorArchive of theater and industrial designer Norman Bel GeddesArchive of playwright Oscar Wilde, including major works andcorrespondenceArchive of Tennessee Williams, including manuscripts for 1,000plays, screenplays, stories, essays, and poemsHelmut Gernsheim collection, a photohistorical archive thatincludes the First Photograph (ca. 1826)William Blake art collection, containing the author-artist’sengravings, watercolors, and drawingsNickolas Muray collection of Mexican art, including works byFrida Kahlo, Miguel Covarrubias, Rufino Tamayo, and Diego RiveraRanuzzi family archive of Italian manuscripts from the15th to 18th centuriesCarlton Lake collection of modern French literature, art, and musicOpening of Harry Ransom Center buildingCorrespondence between Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, and hiswife CarlotaArchive of George and Ira Gershwin, including works, a scrapbook,and correspondenceGutenberg Bible (ca. 1455), one of five complete copies in theUnited StatesCreation of the Conservation Program, responsible for the care ofthe Center’s holdingsArchive of Hollywood producer David O. Selznick, includingmaterials related to Gone With the WindGloria Swanson archive containing correspondence, productionpapers, her autobiography, more than 500 books and film scripts, and20,000 photographsArchive of playwright Arthur MillerPforzheimer library of early English literatureThomas F. Staley named directorArchive of photographer Eliot ElisofonInitiation of the Fleur Cowles Flair SymposiumDavid Douglas Duncan’s photography archive, spanning over sixtyyears of award-winning photojournalismLiterary papers of writer Leon UrisArchive of writer and amateur photographer Sanora Babb, includingher WPA work among the displaced in Depression-era CaliforniaPapers of British novelist Julian BarnesRenovation of Ransom Center, with the addition of publicgalleries, a theater, and new research facilitiesNorman Mailer archive, containing materials associated with everyone of Mailer’s literary projectsFilm archive and costume collection of actor, director, producerRobert De Niro

Collecting the Imagination:The First Fifty Years of theRansom CenterIn celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Ransom Center ispublishing a richly illustrated chronicle of its history. This work tracesthe Center’s growth from the founding of the University, when theadministration began to collect library materials to support theresearch of its students and faculty, to the birth of Harry Ransom’sidea to establish a research center in the humanities that wouldbe for the state of Texas what the Bibliothéque Nationale is forFrance. This history follows the execution of Ransom’s idea and theexplosive growth of the collections under his leadership. It describesthe evolution of the Center under a succession of directors, librarians,and curators over the past fifty years, and the rise of its reputation.Perhaps most important, this work tells the story of the Center’scollections, not only how they came from disparate corners of theworld to reside in the heart of Texas, but also the philosophy behindtheir acquisition and the Center’s commitment to share its holdings—from the Gutenberg Bible and the First Photograph to the manuscriptsof James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Tennessee Williams, and NormanMailer—with the public.A collaboration of several staff members, Collecting theImagination: The First Fifty Years of the Ransom Center will beavailable in April 2007 as the newest book in the Ransom Center’sImprint Series, published by the University of Texas Press.Excerpt from Collecting the Imagination: The First Fifty Years of the Ransom CenterWhy Texas?Why did Alfred and Blanche Knopf donate their personal library andtheir publishing firm’s archive to The University of Texas at Austin?Their business was based in New York City. Alfred was a graduate ofColumbia University, and some of the firm’s records had already beengiven to the New York Public Library when Knopf was first approachedby Ransom. Why did they choose Texas?While the immediate answer does not emerge until the late 1950s,one can trace the Knopfs’ association with Texas back to 1941 when,on a trip through Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and El Paso, they metthe Stanley Marcuses, J. Frank Dobie, John Henry Faulk, WalterPrescott Webb, Maury Maverick, and other prominent Texans withwhom they maintained personal friendships and business contacts.Ransom and Alfred Knopf were introduced to one another over lunchat the St. Regis Hotel in New York City on June 22, 1959. Ransomdescribed the program he was building at the University andexpressed interest in making Knopf’s personal library a part of thisenterprise. Knopf was so impressed by Ransom’s activities that hecommitted both his library and the firm’s papers to The Universityof Texas. Contemporaneous with the Knopf gift was the 1960 donation byErle Stanley Gardner of his papers and library, one of the mostcomplete records of a writing career ever made. When asked abouthis choice of repository, Gardner, the author of the Perry Masonseries, acknowledged that he had been approached by several otheruniversities but “had selected The University of Texas because ofhis friendship with Dr. [Merton] Minter [then chairman of the Boardof Regents] and Park Street, a San Antonio lawyer with whom he[had] been intimately associated in the Court of Last Resort fornearly 12 years.”“My friendship with these men, plus the fact that I am an honorarycaptain in the Texas Rangers is an association with Texas thatmakes me feel I am virtually a citizen of the state.”Perhaps it helped that in consideration of the gift, Ransom agreedto recreate and maintain on permanent exhibition Gardner’s study,which was moved from his Rancho del Paisano near Temecula,California, and now resides on the fourth floor of the FlawnAcademic Center on the University’s campus.Scholars at WorkExcerpt from Collecting the Imagination: The First Fifty Years of the Ransom CenterBeginning with Reginald Griffith’s Alexander Pope: A Bibliography,published in 1922 by The University of Texas, there is a long history ofcelebrated works that resulted from research conducted in the RansomCenter’s collections. Among the most notable are:Collected Letters of George Bernard Shaw, editedby Dan H. Laurence (London: Max Reinhardt, 1965–1988;New York: Dodd, Mead, 1965–1988)Internationally recognized Shavian scholar Dan H. Laurence consultedthe 4,000 letters in the Ransom Center’s George Bernard Shawcollection for this four-volume work.The Cambridge Edition of the Letters and Works ofD. H. Lawrence (Cambridge, 1979– )This massive series—including eight volumes of letters and morethan 30 volumes of novels, essays, and other works—providesauthoritative texts of the writings of this important British writer.The Ransom Center’s extensive collection of Lawrence’s manuscriptsand letters was consulted for many of the books in this series.Bernard Shaw by Michael Holroyd (London: Chatto & Windus,1988–1992; (New York: Random House, 1988–1992)Also drawing heavily on the Ransom Center’s collection of Shawmaterials—which includes manuscripts of 419 works, books fromShaw’s personal library, sketches, photographs, financial records,and other items—is Holroyd’s monumental six-volume biography.Anne Sexton: A Biography by Diane Wood Middlebrook(Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991)Middlebrook’s controversial and revealing biography, which tooka decade to complete and was nominated for the National Book Award,drew extensively on the complete archive of Anne Sexton—comprisinghundreds of pages of unpublished poems, as well as manuscripts of herpublished works, travel notebooks and journals, letters, photographs,and other items—housed at the Ransom Center.The reading room at the Ransom Center.Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams by Lyle Leverich(New York: Crown, 1995)Leverich’s biography provides the authoritative account of theearly life of Tennessee Williams. Leverich consulted the RansomCenter’s voluminous Tennessee Williams archive, which housesmanuscripts of more than 1,000 works, including his early plays,essays, screenplays, stories, and poems, as well as hiscorrespondence and photos of his apprentice years.The Selected Letters of Tennessee Williams,edited by Albert J. Devlin and Nancy M. Tischler(New York: New Directions, 2000–)This multi-volume edition of the correspondence of one of America’sfinest playwrights was based, in part, on the sizable collection ofletters in the Ransom Center’s Tennessee Williams archive.They reveal Williams to be one of the best and most entertainingAmerican letter writers of the century.Accomplished biographer and literary historian StanleyWeintraub, one of the most prolific scholars to use the collections,has published more than 15 books that were based on researchhe conducted at the Ransom Center. He wrote about the Centerin an article for The Texas Humanist:To work at the HRC as a scholar is (to put the experience in foodterms) like going to a luxury-class restaurant. The service ispersonal and superior, the menu enormous and sumptuous. Theproblem can be a severe case of writer’s indigestion if not enoughtime is allowed to consume the full plate. After all, the HRC hasthousands of letters by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, D. H. Lawrence,Lytton Strachey, Evelyn Waugh, and Bernard Shaw; the manuscriptsor corrected typescripts of William Faulkner’s Absalom! Absalom!,E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India, Arthur Miller’s Death of aSalesman, Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan, T. H. White’s TheOnce and Future King,… Dylan Thomas’s Under Milkwood, GrahamGreene’s The Power and the Glory, Aldous Huxley’s Brave NewWorld, Somerset Maugham’s The Moon and Sixpence. It is hardlypossible to write a book on a modern master, English or American(or even French) without touching down at the HRC.Ransom Edition : : 10 Ransom Edition : : 11

Journey of an Archive::Bugs, Mold, and ConservationThe path materials take from the Harry Ransom Center loading dock intoan exhibition in the Ransom Center Galleries is lengthy and complex.This article is the first in a series that details this journey.suzy banks : : Illustrations by marybeth daigleMary Baughman, a Harry Ransom Center book conservator, huntsbugs. When she discovers them in materials at the Center, shedestroys them, typically with a 72-hour stint in a freezer at 20degrees centigrade or below. But don’t ask Baughman which ofthe cellulose-munching bugs she wishes didn’t exist at all. “That’sjust silly,” she says. “There’s a place on this earth for all of them.”As long as that place isn’t the Ransom Center’s collection.When boxes of materials first arrive at the Center, teams ofconservators and archivists gather at tables in the quarantine roomin the basement to inspect each folder, envelope, book, and slipof paper, looking for telltale signs of bugs—as well as for mold,another great enemy of archives. Finding and identifying the bugsin the works takes the thoroughness of a forensic pathologist anda familiarity with frass (insect excrement). Beetles leave behinda fine granular powder, while silverfish leave tiny black flecks. Bigragged bites from the paper, brown splatters of vomit, and shinybrown egg sacks are evidence of past or present roaches.Despite possible encounters with wood-boring beetles and fungusand such, opening the boxes, even for longtime inspectors, is stillas exciting as Christmas. Sure, considering the sheer volumeof material inspected, some boxes yield the giftequivalent of socks or steak knives, but othersbear unexpected treasures such asphotographic negatives of Frida Kahloor handwritten pages of notes by alittle-known writer on her lengthyconversations with Diego Rivera.Many materials arrive carefullypacked and preserved, while othersappear to have been swept pell-melloff a cluttered table directly into thebox—chips of ceiling plaster, used tissues,and all.Still, Baughman says very fewmaterials arrive with full-blowninfestations, recalling only two in the past ten years—a box fromPuerto Rico that brought its entourage of termites with it and a collectionof photographs from San Antonio that Baughman remembers as“pretty gnarly.”Although the Ransom Center turns 50 this year, the conservationdepartment’s program to intercept insects before theyenter the building has been around a little more than halfas long, growing in part out of the discovery in the 1980sof drugstore beetles dining on several volumes of TheWorks of St. Augustine, printed in Venice in 1729.The initial treatment with moth balls—a standard ofthe times, but now obsolete—simply stunned the larvae,who recovered to eat again until finally meeting a chillydemise in a freezer.The treatment of mold, a specialty of Olivia Primanis, the chiefbook conservator with the Center, has likewise changedtack over the years. “Previously, everyone tried to killmold,” she says. But its ubiquity and tenacity proved that an impossibletask. Now, mold is instead removed and contained—mainly by changingits environment by eliminating heat and, especially, humidity. Buteven when mold is removed—even if it could be killed—its properties,such as allergens and toxins, still remain. So moldy items are marked assuch, to serve as a sort of disclaimer to patrons, who may then choose towear a mask or even review moldy materials under a fume hood.“Mold is harder to get rid of, but bugs are sneakier,” Baughman says.Case in point of this sly cunning: A Japanese book of law dating from thelate nineteenth century with a tiny hole no bigger than a freckle in thespine. Open the book and the handiwork of a beetle larva is revealed,an inch-long tunnel snaking through the pages. But there willbe no light at the end of this tunnel; the bug wasstopped in its tracks via deep freeze.Eliminating bugs in paper products may be a snap—especiallyin the Center’s walk-in freezer—but some materials, such as leather,ivory, and painted canvas or wood, can be damaged by freezing. Sprayingwith pesticides is not anoption, as this can harm both collection materials and the scholarswho stick their noses in them. Besides, treating with pesticides is seldomeffective because bugs usually live within the materials, not on thesurfaces.Instead, materials that show signs of previous insect encampments maybe placed under observation, like the painting on a wooden panel thatBaughman has sealed in a double-sided Plexiglas frame so she can spotthe possible emergence of adult beetles. And if the beetles do surface?Then what? The object might earn a four-month stretch in an oxygen-freeenvironment.And afterwards, you can trust that Baughman and the other conservatorswill still be keeping an eye on it.Office supplies thatbug archivistsMary Baughman may be loatheto wish extinction on thenatural pests of archive materials,but she’s not so generous when itcomes to man-made banes—rubberbands, staples, paper clips, and,perhaps most despised, packingpeanuts. Rubber bands crush fragileedges and, with aging, stick to anddiscolor paper. Staples and paperclips rust, shedding black flakes thatstain pages and mimic bugdroppings. A packing peanut cancause damage as it works its waybetween papers and pages. Andthose environmental darlings, thedissolving peanuts, are even morenefarious; made of cellulose, theseserve as tantalizing bug food.Her best advice for homepreservationists? Keep it clean,keep it off the floor, and, above all,keep it dry. “Once things get wet,”she says, “I think they give offan aroma to bugs that says,‘Dinner’s ready.’”— Suzy BanksRansom Edition : : 12 Ransom Edition : : 13

CALENDARHarry Ransom CenterSPRING/SUMMER 2007THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 3:30 P.M.JESSEN AUDITORIUMPANEL Journalists Bob Woodward and CarlBernstein participate in panels on presidentialaccountability and the impact of the press in theWatergate scandal. Additional panelists includePulitzer Prize–winner David Oshinsky, Professorof Government Bruce Buchanan, and AustinAmerican-Statesman Editor Rich Oppel. Eventbrought to you by the Austin American-Statesmanand statesman.com.Details at www.hrc.utexas.edu/watergate.THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 7 P.MTOUR Curator Rodney Phillips leads a gallerytour of the exhibition The American Twenties.FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 7 P.M.JanuaryfebruaryPERFORMANCE The Violet Crown RadioPlayers produce a live radio broadcast of JamesJoyce’s “The Dead,” in celebration of the writer’s125th birthday.WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, NOONREADING Poetry on the Plaza: Jazz PoetryTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 7 P.MLECTURE Kate Holliday, Assistant Professor ofArt History at Southwestern University, presents“Humanism and Modernism: The Idea ofAmerican Art Deco.”THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 7 P.M.PERFORMANCE Department of Theatre andDance graduate students premiere a set of originalperformance pieces in the Voices of the AmericanTwenties museum theater series, which bringscharacters from the 1920s to life.TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 7 P.M.ROBERT DE NIRO FILM SERIES Brian DePalma’s Greetings (1968), starring Robert De Niro,Gerrit Graham, and Jonathan Warden. AssociateCurator of Film Steve Wilson introduces the film anddiscusses selected items from the De Niro collection.TUESDAY, JANUARY 30, noon–7 P.M.BIRTHDAY PARTY University students,faculty, and staff are invited to a party celebratingthe Ransom Center’s 50th anniversary withactivities scheduled throughout the day.WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 7–9 P.M.BIRTHDAY PARTY Austinites are invited to aparty celebrating the Ransom Center’s 50thanniversary with special gifts for those named“Harry” and those who will turn 50 in 2007.THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 7 P.M.PFORZHEIMER LECTURE DanielPosnansky, Professor Emeritus of HarvardUniversity, presents “What Arthur Conan DoyleThought of the United States… God BlessAmerica,” illustrated with original materials fromhis personal collection.FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 6 P.M.ELEPHANT ROOM315 Congress AVEnue*AMERICAN ’20s MUSIC SERIES Enjoy1920s jazz performed by the Jazz Pharoahs andthe Alex Coke/Rich Harney Quintet. Details atwww.hrc.utexas.edu/music.SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 8 P.M.ANTONE’S, 213 W. 5th Street*AMERICAN ’20s MUSIC SERIES AliceSpencer and the Monkey Butlers, legendary pianoplayer Pinetop Perkins and friends, and SteveJames perform rural blues. Details atwww.hrc.utexas.edu/music.TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 7 P.M.ROBERT DE NIRO FILM SERIES RogerCorman’s Bloody Mama (1970), starring ShelleyWinters, Don Stroud, Bruce Dern, and RobertDe Niro. Associate Curator of Film Steve Wilsonintroduces the film and discusses selected itemsfrom the De Niro collection.Harry Ransom Centeron theSPRING/SUMMER 2007MARCHFRIDAY, MARCH 2, 9 P.M.CONTINENTAL CLUB,1315 S. Congress Avenue*AMERICAN ’20s MUSIC SERIES Join theAsylum Street Spankers, Guy Forsyth, andGloverTango for an evening of prohibition tunes.Details at www.hrc.utexas.edu/music.SATURDAY, MARCH 3, NOON–5 P.M.FAMILY Explore UT Day: Family fun of a culturalnature, including make-your-own cyanotypesand books.SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 8 P.M.EMO’S, 603 Red River*AMERICAN ’20s MUSIC SERIESBe transported to a twenties-style vaudevilleextravaganza, featuring the Ephemerata Family Band,the White Ghost Shivers, and a 1920s fashion show.Details at www.hrc.utexas.edu/music.on the PLAZAGOOD MORNING, DADDY!From “Dream Boogie” by Langston HughesAIN'T YOU HEARDTHE BOOGIE-WOOGIE RUMBLEOF A DREAM DEFERRED?TUESDAY, MARCH 6,7 P.M.READING Dana Gioia, poetand Chairman of the NationalEndowment for the Arts, readsa selection of poetry. A questionand answer session follows.WEDNESDAY,MARCH 7, NOONREADINGPoetry on the Plaza:All the King’s MenGOOD MORNING, DADDY!From “Dream Boogie” by Langston HughesTHURSDAY,MARCH 8, 7 P.M.PERFORMANCEThe Violet Crown Radio Playersproduce William Faulkner’s ARose for Emily in a live recreationof a 1920s radio broadcast.PLAZAAIN'T YOU HEARDMONDAY, MARCH 19, 7 P.M.ROBERT DE NIRO FILM SERIES John D.Hancock’s Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), starringMichael Moriarty, Robert De Niro, and VincentGardenia. Associate Curator of Film Steve Wilsonintroduces the film and discusses selected itemsfrom the De Niro collection.TUESDAY, MARCH 20, 7 P.M.PERFORMANCE O. Henry Short Story Prize–winning stories are adapted to the stage by actorsLynn Miller and Ev Lunning. Co-sponsored by theDepartment of English and the Department ofTheatre and Dance.THURSDAY, MARCH 22, 7 P.M.LECTURE Don Crafton, Notre Dame Professor ofMusic, presents “1927: The Advent of Sound” aboutthe emergence of sound in movies.THE BOOGIE-WOOGIE RUMBLEOF A DREAM DEFERRED?on theTUESDAY, MARCH 27, 7 P.M.ROBERT DE NIRO FILM SERIES MartinScorsese’s Mean Streets (1973), starring HarveyKeitel and Robert De Niro. Associate Curator of FilmSteve Wilson introduces the film and discussesselected items from the De Niro collection.SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 6 P.M. & 9 P.M.PERFORMANCE Joe Ely performs an acousticevening of stories and songs, in conjunction with theUniversity of Texas Press and their new publicationof Ely’s book Bonfire of Roadmaps.*Tickets or cover charge required. Age restrictions of the venue may apply.GOOD MORNING, DADDY!From “Dream Boogie” by Langston HughesPLAZAAIN'T YOU HEARDTHE BOOGIE-WOOGIE RUMBLEOF A DREAM DEFERRED?Woodward and Berstein,1973. © Mark Godfrey.Hat worn by “Johnny Boy” in Mean Streets (1973).Robert De Niro collection. Harry Ransom Center.Ransom Edition : : 14 Ransom Edition : : 15

SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 3 P.M.PERFORMANCE Joe Ely performs a matinee repriseof stories and songs inspired by Bonfire of Roadmaps.TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 7 P.M.LECTURE Pioneer color photographer MarieCosindas, best-known for her unique portraitsand still lifes, talks about her work and career.WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, NOONREADING Poetry on the Plaza: The Cruelest MonthTHURSDAY, APRIL 5, 7 P.M.LECTURE Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, Professor ofComparative Literature at Stanford and Fellow ofthe American Academy of Arts and Letters, presents“In 1926: Why and How?”SATURDAY, APRIL 7, NOON–4 P.M.AMERICAN ’20s MUSIC SERIES Enjoy a free,all-ages concert on the plaza with the Pistol FamilyBand, the Biscuit Brothers, and more. Details atwww.hrc.utexas.edu/music.WEDNESDAY, MAY 2, NOONREADING Poetry on the Plaza:The Book of PoetryTHURSDAY, MAY 3, 7 P.M.BOOK SIGNING Join us for the publication debutof Celebrating the Imagination: The First Fifty Yearsof the Ransom Centerand a panel discussionwith the bookcontributors.april MONDAY, APRIL 16, 7 P.M.PANEL Cary D. Wintz, Professor of History atTexas Southern University, Martha Jane Nadell,Assistant Professor of English at Brooklyn College,CUNY, and Shirley Thompson, Assistant Professorof American Studies at The University of Texas atAustin, discuss the Harlem Renaissance and itsimpact on America.MAY WEDNESDAY,APRIL 18, NOONREADING Poetry on the Plaza:Living PoetsFRIDAY, APRIL 20, 7 P.M.LECTURE In “1922: The Emergenceof a Concept,” Marc Manganaro,English Professor at RutgersUniversity, examines the impact of1922, an anno mirabilis in literatureand the humanities.THURSDAY, MAY 10, 7 P.M.LECTURE Austin historian Ed Van De Vortdiscusses Austin in the 1920s. Co-sponsoredby the Heritage Society of Austin.SATURDAY, MAY 12, 10 A.M.–6 P.M.*TOURS The Ransom Center and the HeritageSociety of Austin present the 15th-annual HeritageHomes Tour, featuring 1920s homes in the Duval/Hemphill Park neighborhoods. Visit the RansomCenter’s exhibition The American Twenties forrefreshments and a special gift. Tour ticketsavailable at www.heritagesocietyaustin.org.THURSDAY, MAY 24, 7 P.M.LECTURE American Studies scholar DanielleSigler discusses the role of religion in America in“Father Divine, Daddy Grace, and Pop Evangelismin the 1920s.”Harry Ransom CenterSPRING/SUMMER 2007THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 7 P.M.SILENT SILVER SCREEN SERIES D. W.Griffith’s Orphans of the Storm (1921), starringLillian Gish. Live music by Graham Reynoldsand friends.THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 7 P.M.LECTURE Author Raye Virginia Allen tells thestory of Gordon Conway, the Texas-born designerwho helped define the look and lifestyle of theflapper world-wide in “Fashioning a New Woman:Gordon Conway.”THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 7 P.M.SILENT SILVER SCREEN SERIES BusterKeaton’s immortal The General (1927) with livemusic by Graham Reynolds and friends.julYTHURSDAY, JULY 12, 7 P.M.CONCERT The Austin Chamber Music Centerpresents “Gershwin, Copland, and the RoaringTwenties” as part of the city-wide Austin ChamberMusic Festival.TUESDAY, JULY 17, 7 P.M.PERFORMANCE/LECTUREJack Judson, owner of the MagicLantern Castle in San Antonio,brings alive the world of the magiclantern, a form of animated optical projection usedto educate and delight audiences for centuries.*Tickets or cover charge required.Age restrictions of the venue may apply.juneTHURSDAY, JULY 19, 7 P.MSILENT SILVER SCREEN SERIES KingVidor’s The Big Parade (1925) with live musicby Graham Reynolds and friends.THURSDAY,JULY 26, 7 P.M.PERFORMANCEThe Violet Crown RadioPlayers produce DorothyParker’s Big Blonde, ina live recreation of a1920s radio broadcast.CALENDARBuster Keaton in The General, Albert Daviscollection, Harry Ransom Center.Gordon Conway. Presentation drawing inthe “Jazz Lint” series. Ca. 1924–1928.Ransom Edition : : 16 Ransom Edition : : 17

mailer visitsransom centerThe 2006 Flair Symposium, The Sense of Our Time: Norman Mailer andAmerica in Conflict, culminated with a public panel, “A ConversationWith Norman Mailer,” featuring panelists Norman Mailer, Gay Talese,and Lawrence Schiller. The panel was moderated by Steven Isenberg.After the panel, Mailer read from his forthcoming book, The Castle inthe Forest, which will be released in January.During his visit, Mailer also sat down for interviews with his sonJohn Buffalo Mailer and his sister Barbara Mailer Wasserman.8Listen to audio clips from these interviewsand view more photos from Flair athttp://www.hrc.utexas.edu/ransomeditionChange Service RequestedThe University of Texas at AustinHarry Ransom CenterP.O. Box 7219Austin, TX 78713-7219Non-Profit Org.U.S. PostagePAIDAustin, TexasPermit No. 391