Eugene O'Neill, Jr. collection

The Eugene O'Neill, Jr. Collection contains correspondence, writings of Eugene O'Neill, Jr., legal documents, course materials, ephemera, and photographs. The dates of the collection span the years 1862 to 1964, but the bulk of the material is from 1932 to 1950. The collection is housed in fourteen boxes and is organized into four series: Correspondence, Writings, Personal Papers, and Photographs.

Series I, Correspondence , is organized into two subseries: Eugene O'Neill, Jr. Correspondence, and Correspondence Regarding Eugene O'Neill, Jr.'s Estate. The Eugene O'Neill, Jr. Correspondence mainly contains letters to O'Neill, Jr., although there are some carbons of letters from him. Most of the correspondence is of a professional nature, relating to his work in classical studies and in radio. There is some personal correspondence, however, including many letters from his father, Eugene O'Neill, from 1928 to 1950 (folders 26-35). There is also correspondence with Barbara Burton (Agnes Boulton's daughter), Mary Elizabeth Greene (O'Neill, Jr.'s first wife), Elsie and Frank S. Meyer (friends and neighbors of O'Neill, Jr. in Woodstock, New York), and Norman Holmes Pearson (O'Neill, Jr.'s Yale classmate and friend). The subseries is arranged alphabetically.

Correspondence Regarding Eugene O'Neill, Jr.'s Estate relates to O'Neill, Jr.'s funeral and the settlement of his estate. Eugene O'Neill paid for the funeral expenses through his lawyer, Winfield E. Aronberg. Some of the correspondence in this series is between Aronberg and other people (including Pitt-Smith's lawyer, Nathaniel J. Palzer) regarding these expenses. There is also correspondence between Frank S. Meyer and other people about funeral-related expenses and about the disposition of O'Neill, Jr.'s belongings.

Series II, Writings , is organized into six subseries: Articles, Lectures, Poems, Reviews, Other Writings, and Writings of Others. Each subseries is arranged alphabetically. Articles contains drafts and printed versions of articles by O'Neill, Jr. mainly on topics in the field of classical studies. Lectures contains holograph and typescript drafts of notes for lectures, also mainly on topics in the field of classical studies. The files include lectures that O'Neill, Jr. delivered at the American Philological Association, the Classical Club of Yale University, Vassar College, and Wellesley College. There is also a printed version of his 1947 commencement address at Connecticut College. Poems mainly contains draft versions of poems by O'Neill, Jr. The published poems are mostly early works that appeared in The Horace Mann Quarterly; there is one published poem from The New Yorker in 1950.

Reviews contains clippings as well as reprints of reviews by O'Neill, Jr. of books in classics. Many are inscribed by O'Neill, Jr. to friends and relatives. Other Writings contains a play, two short stories, letters to the editor of The Key Reporter and PM, O'Neill, Jr.'s successful submission for the Noyes-Cutter Prize as an undergraduate at Yale University, a research paper, a transcript from a 1944 radio discussion on the talmud, and some notes. Writings of Others contains Thomas Cutt's 1936 dissertation, inscribed to O'Neill, Jr.; a 1923 burlesque play by O'Neill's Jr.'s teacher at the Horace Mann School, Clifton Joseph Furness; and two printed copies (from 1925 and 1926) of The Horace Mann Quarterly.

Series III, Personal Papers , is organized into three subseries: Legal Materials, University Study and Teaching, and Other. Each subseries is arranged alphabetically. Legal Materials contains a 1912 document regarding Eugene O'Neill's divorce from Kathleen Pitt-Smith; O'Neill, Jr.'s 1948 lease for a house in Woodstock, New York; receipts for his bank loans from 1947 to 1949; and his 1947 will. University Study and Teaching contains materials regarding O'Neill, Jr.'s undergraduate and graduate studies at Yale University, including commencement programs, grade reports, and certificates for awards that he received. There are also materials from 1932 to 1933 regarding his graduate study in Germany at Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, as well as syllabi and examinations from courses that O'Neill, Jr. taught at Yale University and at the New School for Social Research. Other contains various emphemera, including O'Neill, Jr.'s address book; some autobiographical notes; two photostats of his birth certificate; clippings about him and other topics; a typed list (probably made by Elsie Meyer) of inscriptions to him from his father; a list of people who received items from his estate; materials relating to the Pardee Morris House; a scrapbook of clippings and photographs, mostly relating to O'Neill, Jr.'s radio career, from 1945 to 1946; and his wallet, containing various identification cards.

Series IV, Photographs , is organized into five subseries: Family, Other People, Places, Albums, and Other. Each subseries is arranged alphabetically and then chronologically. In addition to photographic prints, there are negatives in this collection (though stored separately). In the case of negatives for which there was no corresponding print, the Library had one copy print made; this information is specified after the folder title.

Family contains photographs of O'Neill, Jr.'s maternal great-grandfather, Henry S. Camblas; his first wife, Mary Elizabeth Greene; his maternal grandmother, Kate Camblas Jenkins; his stepmother, Carlotta Monterey O'Neill; his father, Eugene O'Neill; his third wife, Sally O'Neill; his stepbrother, George Pitt-Smith, Jr.; and his mother, Kathleen Pitt-Smith. There are also many photographs of O'Neill, Jr. himself, from 1922 until the late 1940s. Other People contains photographs of O'Neill, Jr.'s friend, Lois Williams Bry, her husband, and her children; the Coleman Brothers musicians; and the art agent Ruth Reade Lander. There are a few unidentified people. Places contains photographs of Germany, the Netherlands, and Iceland from O'Neill, Jr.'s time in graduate school, from 1932 to 1933. There are also photographs of Lois Williams Bry's ranch in Ennis, Montana in 1939; of a boat trip near Northport, New York that O'Neill, Jr. took in the early 1930s; and of the Pardee Morris House.

Albums consists of four albums from the 1920s to 1940. The first, from the 1920s to the 1930s, contains photographs of scenes at a military academy (location undetermined) and around Northport, New York, as well as copies of photographs of Eugene O'Neill and Carlotta Monterey O'Neill that were sent to O'Neill, Jr. The second and third albums, which are from O'Neill, Jr.'s trip to Europe in 1932-1933 to attend graduate school in Germany, contain views in Germany, Iceland, and the Netherlands. The fourth album is from 1937 to 1940 and contains photographs from O'Neill, Jr.'s visit to the Brys' ranch in Ennis, Montana in 1939, plus earlier photographs with the Brys, from 1937 to 1938. There are also photographs from his visit with Eugene O'Neill and Carlotta Monterey O'Neill at Tao House in 1939, as well as many photographs of cats in New Haven, Connecticut in 1940. The contents of each album are listed in the Appendix to this finding aid. Other contains photographs of house cats; of O'Neill, Jr.'s Soldiers Memorial Foote Fellowship certificate, which he received at Yale University in 1932; of animals at a German zoo; and of a drawing of boats.

Series V, 2001 Addition features approximately 80 pieces of correspondence, chiefly autograph letters, signed, from Lois Williams Bry to Eugene O'Neill, Jr. dating from 1928 through 1949. Other materials from Bry, most likely enclosed originally with letters, include cards, clippings, photographs, picture postcards of Montana, and printed ephemera. Accompanied by four autograph letters, signed, to O'Neill, Jr. from others, including Ivan M. Linforth and Walter Porzig.