“Have you had a look in the Knopf collection?” Rick Watson, the head of reference services at the Ransom Center, sounded casual, and I wasn’t sure I had time to take the detour he was suggesting. I spent a month at the Ransom Center last year, working mainly with the… read more
Articles
Recent acquisitions
Poet, translator, and editor Miller Williams (1930–2015) is known for writing poetry in plainspoken language that captured meaning in everyday experiences. The Ransom Center recently acquired his archive, which documents the career and writings of this influential American poet.
Doctors Wenn and Camia, I Presume? Inside Ian McEwan’s papers
One of the delights of processing the papers of an author I enjoy reading is seeing evidence of the work taking shape, unfolding, and ultimately becoming the final story that is published. Revised drafts with lines crossed out and new passages added, early jottings of ideas and character names, original… read more
Gutenberg Bible Page Turning: Genesis, Chapter XI, Volume I:9r
Fall is here and with the turning of the leaves it is time to turn another page of the Ransom Center’s Gutenberg Bible. Our copy of the Bible is full of signs of previous readers and their interactions with the text. A rather interesting example of close reading is found… read more
Video: Fellow looks into never-made Selznick film of Hersey’s The Wall
Jeremy Treglown is a Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of English Studies at the University of London. He has visited the Ransom Center on multiple occasions, including time spent researching Roald Dahl.
Anne Frank and the archive
It has been over 60 years since The Diary of Anne Frank was first published in the United States. Frequently listed among the most significant books of the twentieth century, the classic account of the 13-year-old girl who hid from the Nazis with her family in an attic in Amsterdam… read more