Mailing AddressPost Office Drawer 7219
Austin, TX 78713
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University of Texas at Austin
(located at 21st Street and Guadalupe)
Austin, TX 78713
Phone: 512-471-8944
Fax: 512-471-9646
Email:
Web:
www.hrc.utexas.edu/Related Linkswww.austinmuseums.org/harry.htmlMuseum Hours |
| Mon.-Fri. | | 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. |
| Sat. | | 9:00 a.m. - 12 noon |
AdmissionsOpen to public
HistoryThe Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center is one of the world's foremost
institutions for literary and cultural research. Located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin, the Ransom Center houses approximately thirty million manuscripts, one million books, five million photographs, and 100,000 pieces of art, in addition to major holdings in theater arts and film. The Ransom Center is an approachable, user-friendly institution that provides a variety of services to users.
The University committed itself to acquiring and preserving special collections for
research in 1918, when it purchased the John Henry Wrenn Library, a distinguished collection made up of nearly six thousand first and rare editions of English and American authors. But it was in 1957, through the vision of Dr. Harry Huntt Ransom, that the Ransom Center was established as it exists today.
Ransom installed a collection development unit and launched a new era of intense
purchasing and acquisition, focusing on English, American, and French literature. Much of what Ransom acquired were rare books, first editions, and manuscripts of important works. Often entire libraries, collections, and archives were purchased at once, enabling Ransom to assemble a major research library in a very short period of time.
Ransom wanted to create an institution where scholars could study not only the works of an author, but also his/her creative process. This desire compelled Ransom to collect writers entire libraries and manuscripts collections, including personal correspondence, drafts of their major literary works, and such personal effects as Gertrude Stein s eye glasses and Edgar Allan Poe s writing desk.
Some of the Ransom Center's most important collections began as complements to the literary collections: portraits and photographs of and by literary greats, drawings by
prominent book illustrators, cartoons and caricatures by famous writers, sketches of theatre sets and costumes, works of art created by celebrated writers and poets.
Artifacts CollectionsThe vast holding of the Ransom Center include collections of manuscripts, rare books, photography, theatre arts, and visual art.
Manuscript Collection: The Ransom Center's nine million manuscripts include unpublished materials, annotated typescripts, revised manuscripts, and corrected proofs, as well as personal memorabilia and correspondence. The manuscript collection is strongest in
20th-century literature, but begins in the 15th century. The principle strengths of the collections are in British, American, and French literature. Several collections are world renowned: Carlton Lake French Literary Collection, German collection, history of science,
American literature, and British literature. A sampling of authors represented are Samuel Beckett, Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Graham Green, Lillian Hellman, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Arthur Miller, Anne Sexton, George Bernard Shaw, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and Tennessee Williams.
Rare Book Collection: The Ransom Center's one million rare books include examples of first and subsequent editions, translations, abridgements, fine printing, noteworthy bookbindings, and books on vellum, as well as historically important or unusual books by famous writers, novelists, poets, and dramatists. Highlights of the collection include a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, the Medici Collection of Italian history (1502-1800), Ptolemaic papyri (3rd to 1st century B.C.), three Shakespeare first folios, and the Pforzhgeim Library of English Literature (1475- 1700). Also included are the personal libraries of famous individuals such as James Joyce, Evelyn Waugh, and e. e. cummings. A variety of archival collections from publishing companies, literary agents, book dealers, writers' organizations, small presses, and magazines provide a broad context for literary study. Further documentation comes from important literary presses: Aldine Press (1495-1588), Elsevier Press, Foulis Press, Kelmscott, The Golden Cockrell, Grabhorn, and Nonesuch presses.
Photography & Film Collection: The Ransom Center s Photography Collection is one of the most important collections of the history of photography in the country. The Ransom Center's five million photographic prints and negatives represent over 1,200 photographers
and range from fine art photography to photo journalism (Life magazine) to the archives of an early Texas portrait studio. The first photograph ever taken resides in the collection, as well as contemporary photographs. The strength of the collection is 19th- and 20th-century American, British, and European photographs. The Photography Collection was established in 1963 withthe purchase of the Gernsheim Collection, a major collection documenting the history of photography. This collection includes famous authors using camera (e.g. Lewis Carroll), as well as visual artists using imagery from literature. Gems of the photography collection include the entire Gernsheim Collection of Victorian photographs and the Hill and Adamson collection, as well as photographs by Ansel Adams, Julia Margaret Cameron, Eliot Elisofon, Walker Evans, Julia Goldbeck, Russell Lee, Edward Steichen, and William Henry Fox Talbot. The collection is supplemented by archives, manuscripts, a library of 35,000 volumes on photography, and a sampling of historic photographic apparatus (3,500 pcs.).
The film and television collection consists of over hundreds of thousands of feet of film footage. The collection explores all aspects of the industry from special effects, set and costume design, scriptwriting, musical composition, and promotion. The collection includes archives of individuals, such as Gloria Swanson as well as institutional archives such as those from the Interstate Theater Circuit in Texas (ca.1905). The gem of the collection is the David O. Selznick Archive (Gone With the Wind, Rebecca, Duel in the Sun), which spans the career of the Hollywood producer (1902-1965). Another highlight of the collection is the archives of screenwriter and novelist, Ernest Lehman (The King and I, West Side Story, The Sound of Music, North by Northwest).
Theatre Arts Collections: Hoblitzelle Theatre Arts Library & Collections is a major resource for a wide variety of materials and archives on many areas of the performing arts, including theatre, film, opera, ballet, dance, circus, magic, and puppet theatre. The collections include biographical materials, playbills, posters, photographs, engravings, manuscripts, and books. The collections delve into every aspect of theatre, from scriptwriting and production to promotion and critique. Included in the collections are original costumes, stage designs, memorabilia, and vast archives on theatrical history. Highlights of the collection include sketches, drawings, models, and photographs of set and costume design of Norman Bel Geddes, as well as his personal library; archives of the costuming firm B. J. Simmons and Company; ten original costumes for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes; and the archives of Sir Donald Albery, John Gassner, Merle Armitage, Robert Downing, Dame Edith Evans, and Sir Henry Irving.
Art Collections: The Art Collection of the Ransom Center, housed separately in the Flawn Academic Center, comprises 80,000 prints, 40,000 drawings, 1,000 paintings, and 100 pieces of sculpture. The collection is broad, spanning 15th- through 20th-century English, American, French, and Oriental materials, with an emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century English, American, and French materials. As expected, one of the primary functions of this collection is to complement the vast collection of manuscripts and literary materials. The collection includes paintings and drawings of and by famous literary figures, such as D. H. Lawrence, e. e. cummings, and Tennessee Williams. The collection includes drawing by famous book illustrators, as well.
Some of the more important groupings include European intaglio and relief prints from 15th through 19th c.; a few modern suites by Robert Rauschenberg, Robert Motherwell, and Jasper Johns; 20th-century Latin American art (Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, Rufino Tamayo); a collection of art from France ( Jean Cocteau, Henri Matisse, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Pablo Picasso); 19th-century Japanese prints; a cartoon and caricature collection; and a sculpture collection (Eric Gill and Demetre). Some of the other artists represented in the collection include Aubrey Beardsley, Max Beerbohm, Honoré Daumier, André Derain, Marcel Duchamp, Edward Gorey, Odilon Redon, and Georges Rouault.
French Collection: The Ransom Center's Carlton Lake French Collections on modern French literature, art and music are the finest outside of Paris. Lake and Ransom were kindred spirits, unaware of each other yet collecting in the same vein long before anyone else. Both men went through the same progression from collecting books (1st editions), to manuscripts, then archives, then photographs, art, and memorabilia. Both men developed the same philosophy in their collecting: that they were not simply collecting the works of people, but rather, they were collecting materials that would allow one to research the person, as a person and as an artist, and thus the creative process itself.
The Ransom Center houses the most complete collection of original manuscripts of 20th-century French composers, including eight percent of the works by Gabriel Fauré, forty percent of the works by Maurice Ravel, and half of the works by Albert Roussel, as well as significant contributions on Claude Debussy and Paul Dukas). It includes manuscripts, galleys,page proofs, authors correspondence, and diaries. The collections also include many illustrated letters and manuscripts filled with drawings, doodles, and mathematical equations, which can provide additional insights to both the artist s personality and creative process. The collection covers a broad range of writers and artists including: Pierre Albert-Birot, Samuel Beckett, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Jean Cocteau, Edouard Dujardin, Jean Genet, André Gide, Remy de Gourmont, Georges Hugnet, Valentine Hugo, Francis Jammes, Alfred Jarry, Pierre Louÿs, Maurice Ravel, Henri-Pierre Roché, Jean-Paul Sartre, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, and Paul Valéry. These collections are complemented by related archives of publishers, designers, printers, engravers, and critics.
Other collections areas include:
American Studies: new world exploration; Native Americans (George Catlin, Oliver LaFarge); Colonial and Revolutionary periods (Henry David Thoreau); Civil War; World Wars I and II; law and politics; modern life.
Architecture: 15th- through 20th-century books on architecture, including the first ever from 1485, by Leon Battista Alberti.
Book Arts: rare and unusual books, such as Ptolemaic papyri, illuminated manuscripts; typography collection of engravings, copper plates, lithographs, woodblocks, calligraphy.
Cartography: maps, atlases, and globes from 16-17th century, including Joan Blaeu's great world map of 1648.
Classical Studies: includes 700 volumes of rare books and manuscripts, including Edward Alexander Parson's library.
History: Africa, Asia, Australia, Central and South America, France, Great Britain (and colonies), Italy, Mexico, Middle East, Russian Empire, Soviet Union, Spain.
History of Science: botany, astronomy, meteorology, seismology, nuclear fission, and the Albert Einstein collection.
Linguistics: study of linguistics, dictionaries, grammar studies, dialect studies.
Music: manuscript and printed music, musicians correspondence, opera libretti, recordings , clippings, programs (also see Carlton Lake French Collection). Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin,Handel, Stravinsky, Ravel, Liszt, George and Ira Gershwin, Charlie Parker.
Philosophy: history of logic includes manuscripts of O. K. Bouwsma, Gabriel Marcel, Leslie Paul, Bertrand Russell, George Santayana, L. Susan Stebbing.
Publishing: archives from magazines, journals, publishers, literary agents (William and Jenny Bradley who represented F. Scott Fitzgerald, D. H. Lawrence, Gertrude Stein, Evelyn Waugh).
Religious Studies: collections of bibles, prayer books, Judaica, mysticism, spiritualism.
Texana: archives and library of J. Frank Dobie, artwork depicting Texas and photo archives documenting life in Texas.
Women's Studies: manuscripts, correspondence, artwork, photographs of many famous women. Simone de Beauvoir, Charlotte Brontë, Colette, Valentine Hugo, Storm Jameson, Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Lange, Alice Liddell (Lewis Carroll's model for "Alice"), Georgia O'Keeffe, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
ConservationThe Ransom Center has three laboratories for conservation treatment: book, paper
(manuscript), and photo. The laboratories are staffed with seven full-time conservators of various skill levels. Since Columbia University moved its conservation program to UT, the Ransom Center has enjoyed an increase in qualified interns. The photography facilities are staffed by one full-time technician. The staff s schedule does not currently leave room for outside work. They are available in an advisory capacity and would assist in a disaster situation for expenses only.
LibraryThe Ransom Center has a non-circulating library and reading room, as well as viewing rooms for the Ransom Center's photography, film, theatre arts, and television collections. The art collection can be viewed by appointment only. Library and reading room hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Photography and film study rooms are open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and are closed Saturdays and Sundays.
Since the Ransom Center does not circulate books, it provides a reading room for
scholarly research that is open to the public. A photo i.d. card is necessary for admittance into the reading room. Ransom Center staff provides an orientation on using the available research aids and on properly handling objects. All research is staff-assisted. A letter in advance, stating a narrowly defined area of research, is greatly appreciated. Notes may only be taken in pencil on yellow paper. Backpacks, bags, and purses will be checked before entering the reading room.
To research the collections of the Ransom Center, contact the Director, Curator, or
Research Librarian by letter. They will send the appropriate forms and schedule an
appointment. The Ransom Center makes reproductions of its photography collection available for educational purposes or for publication. A duplication fee will be charged. The burden of copyright restrictions is placed on the borrower.
ServicesResearch Fellowship Awards are given annually to scholars engaged in post-doctoral or similar research based on the Ransom Center's collections. The fellowships allows for a one-to three-month residency at the Ransom Center.
PublicationsA Guide to the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, published by UT Austin,
1990, is available for sale from the Ransom Center for a nominal fee. The book provides a solid overview of the Ransom Center's collections. For a current list of books in print relating to the Ransom Center's collections, contact the administrative offices
FacilitiesWheelchair-accessible.
The Ransom Center shares its main building with the Huntington Art Gallery which occupies the first two floors. The Ransom Center administration is housed on the third floor. The fourth floor is the location of conservation laboratories, as well as an exhibition space. The reading room and another small gallery occupy the fifth floor. The photography and film collection and viewing rooms are on the sixth floor. The seventh floor houses the theatre arts
and film collections, along with another gallery. The art collection is housed on the fourth floor of the nearby Flawn Academic Center.
ProgramsLecture series,Symposia,Adult Education,Children's programs.
Generally, the Ransom Center's programming is aimed at the students and faculty of the University of Texas. They hold regular public lecture series in conjunction with their exhibitions.
StaffThomas Staley, Director
Phone: 512-471-9111
Sue Murphy, Associate Director,Ransom Center art collection
Phone: 512-471-8944
Mary Beth Bigger, Associate Director,Technical services
Phone: 512-471-8944
Sally Leach, Associate Director
Phone: 512-471-8944
Roy Flukinger, Curator of Photography.Ransom Center photo collection;
History of Photography
Phone: 512-471-9124
Peter Mears, Assistant Curator of Art
Phone: 512-471-4663
David Coleman, Assistant Curator of Photography
Phone: 512-471-9124
Rich Oram, Head Librarian
Phone: 512-471-9119
Cathy Henderson, Research Librarian
Phone: 512-471-9119
Kris Keisling, Head of Dept. of Manuscripts & Archives
Phone: 512-471-8944
Curator of French Collection
Phone: 512-471-9115
Assist. Curator of French Collection
Phone: 512-471-9115
Curator of Theatre Arts &
Hoblitzelle Theater Arts Library
Phone: 512-471-9124
Curator of Italian Collections
Phone: 512-471-8659
Chief Conservation Officer
Phone: 512-471-9117
Public Information Officer
Phone: 512-471-8944
Registrar
Museum TypeArtLibraryUniversityGovernance
Type: 501 (c) (3); administered through the University of Texas System
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