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Articles

, Filed Under: Art, Conservation

Before and After: Repairing a poster

A poster in the Ransom Center’s Harry Houdini collection arrived just like Houdini would’ve wanted: folded up to an eighth of its size. Stephanie Watkins, Head of Paper Conservation, and her team faced a daunting project: the brittle paper couldn’t easily be unfolded without causing damage to the item. Once… read more 

, Filed Under: Authors, Books + Manuscripts

Norman Mailer’s "real" Facebook

Facebook. No doubt you’ve heard of it. But did you know that the origin of Facebook really comes from the concept of a “freshman facebook”? Many universities publish and distribute a yearbook of sorts to its incoming freshman students that includes registrants’ photos and a few biographical details about them.… read more 

, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Film, Research + Teaching

Screenwriter and director Paul Schrader donates collection to Harry Ransom Center

Screenwriter and director Paul Schrader has donated his collection to the Harry Ransom Center. Schrader wrote screenplays for such iconic films as Taxi Driver (1976), Blue Collar (1978), Raging Bull (1980), American Gigolo (1980), The Mosquito Coast (1986), and Affliction (1997). Schrader had previously donated Robert De Niro’s costume from… read more 

, Filed Under: Theatre + Performing Arts

John Cage Uncaged

John Cage pushed classical music’s limits. He stuck screws and weather stripping into pianos, composed a silent piece, and chose notes at random based on ancient Chinese divination. The Ransom Center holds Cage correspondence in several different collections. These letters reveal Cage’s early efforts to establish a center for experimental… read more 

, Filed Under: Authors, Books + Manuscripts

"The archives are a window into his mind"

Bonnie Nadell, longtime literary agent of David Foster Wallace, shares her thoughts on what scholars can learn from Wallace’s archive about his creative process: Organizing David Wallace’s papers for an archive was not a task I would wish on many people. Some writers leave their papers organized, boxed, and with… read more