UM acquires huge OW collection from Beatrice Welles

[Wellesnet]

University of Michigan acquires Orson Welles papers, unproduced scripts from daughter Beatrice Welles:
http://www.wellesnet.com/university-of- ... ce-welles/

[Le Chiffre]

Thanks the kind of shock and awe I like! A huge selection of vital and unseen, although much-discussed written work by Welles. Bravo to Beatrice for putting this in the right hands, and bravo to the University of Michigan for acquiring it. Also, a big shout out to Wellesnet's own Ray Kelly for helping bring the two together!

I had the pleasure of going to UM last week and reading several unpublished Welles scripts from the Oja Kodar archive, including SANTO SPIRITO, MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, CRAZY WEATHER, SURINAM, and perused parts of THE DEEP and BECAUSE OF THE CATS. Some are in a more advanced stage than others, but all of them are fascinating reading and come across as Welles films that happen to exist on paper instead of film. As Peter Conrad, author of ORSON WELLES: THE STORIS OF HIS LIFE put it: "(Welles's) essays, journalistic articles, works of fiction, and unproduced screenplays are an invaluable guide to his motives, too seldom consulted by critics." Looks like this relatively unexplored Wellesian frontier is starting to open up!

I also had a nice chat with Phil Hallman, who purchased the archive from Beatrice Welles, and who was the guiding force behind UM's 2015 centennial celebration of Welles. Mr. Hallman said the unpublished scripts should be the first things from the Beatrice archive to be made available to the public, probably within the next six months. Can hardly wait.

In the meantime, here's an index of all of UM's other Welles-related collections:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead?type ... mit=Search

Orson Welles - Oja Kodar Papers
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umic ... son+welles
Creator: Welles, Orson, 1915-1985
Creator: Kodar, Oja
Bulk dates: Bulk, 1965-1985
Inclusive dates: 1910-2000
Extent: 41.5 Linear feet (27 record center boxes, 15 manuscript boxes, 4 flat oversize boxes, and 1 oversize drawer )
Extent: 27 record center boxes, 15 manuscript boxes, 4 flat oversize boxes, and 1 oversize drawer
Abstract: The Orson Welles – Oja Kodar Papers includes scripts, production documents, photographs, and other materials from Orson Welles's work in film and other media. General correspondence, topical files, papers related to Oja Kodar, and personal materials also make up a portion of collection. The bulk of the papers date from the 1960s to the 1980s with a smaller amount of material from the 1930s-1950s. The Additions to the Welles-Kodar Papers series, acquired in 2015, complements the scripts, correspondence and photographs already held, but also include annotated typescripts of drafts for a planned memoir, additional on-the-set photographs from films, television, and other projects, personal photographs, and documents from collaborations between Welles and Kodar.
Search Results: 99 matches in Entire Finding Aid
search terms in context | standard view | full text File Size: 346 K bytes
Request Material From This Collection for Use in the Special Collections Library

Orson Welles - Chris Welles Feder Collection
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umic ... son+welles
Creator: Welles, Orson, 1915-1985
Creator: Feder, Chris Welles
Inclusive dates: 1931-2009
Extent: 2.0 Linear feet (1 record center box and 1 oversize box)
Abstract: The Orson Welles-Chris Welles Feder Collection is an assortment of material on Orson Welles collected by his eldest daughter Chris Welles Feder. She was born Christopher Welles in 1938 to Orson Welles and Virginia Nicolson Welles. The collection includes letters written by Orson Welles to his first wife, Virginia Nicolson, and family photographs. Also included are clippings and articles, audiovisual materials such as movies or TV shows dedicated to Orson Welles, and miscellaneous material such as postcards, exhibition programs, and catalogs. The collection has five series: Correspondence, Clippings and Articles, Photographs, Audiovisual, and Miscellaneous.
Search Results: 38 matches in Entire Finding Aid
search terms in context | standard view | full text File Size: 20 K bytes
Request Material From This Collection for Use in the Special Collections Library

Orson Welles Dead Reckoning/The Deep Papers
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umic ... son+welles
Creator: Welles, Orson, 1915-1985
Bulk dates: 1967-1971
Inclusive dates: 1966-1975
Extent: 1.0 Linear feet (1 record center box)
Abstract: The papers, originally from the files of Orson Welles's London agent, Bill Cronshaw, consists of film clippings, film rolls, and photographs; production and post-production notes and schedules; portions of the script (some annotated by Welles); business and and financial materials; and correspondence related to the film "Dead Reckoning, later, "The Deep." A limited amount of miscellaneous materials not associated with the film are also included.
Search Results: 9 matches in Entire Finding Aid
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Request Material From This Collection for Use in the Special Collections Library

Orson Welles - Alessandro Tasca di Cutò Papers
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umic ... son+welles
Creator: Welles, Orson, 1915-1985
Creator: Tasca di Cutò, Alessandro, 1906-2000
Bulk dates: 1964
Inclusive dates: 1947-1995
Extent: 7.0 Linear feet (2 record center boxes, 4 oversize boxes, and 1 portfolio)
Abstract: The Orson-Welles and Alessandro Tasca di Cutò papers reflect the working and personal relationship between Orson Welles and Alessandro Tasca di Cutò. He was a producer for many of Orson Welles’s films, but two were especially significant for Orson Welles: The Chimes at Midnight (also known as Falstaff, 1965) and Don Quixote (1955-73, unfinished). In both cases, Welles shot the material over a period of years, and on a shoestring budget. The majority of the archive consists of an assortment of letters, handwritten notes, and telegrams that Welles sent to Tasca di Cutò concerning the day-to-day working needs of the filmmaker.
Search Results: 26 matches in Entire Finding Aid
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Request Material From This Collection for Use in the Special Collections Library

Richard Wilson - Orson Welles Papers
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umic ... son+welles
Creator: Wilson, Richard, 1915-1991
Creator: Welles, Orson, 1915-1985
Inclusive dates: 1930-2000
Bulk dates: 1930-1991
Extent: 61 boxes, 2 oversize drawers (approximately 63 linear feet)
Abstract: The collection includes business and personal correspondence, production materials, scripts, photographs, motion picture, and sound recordings related to Richard Wilson and Orson Welles's work in radio, theater, and film from the 1930s to the 1950s. Also included are materials related to each man's later solo careers and personal life.
Search Results: 161 matches in Entire Finding Aid
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Request Material From This Collection for Use in the Special Collections Library

[RayKelly]

Thanks for the kind words. The papers that Beatrice had in storage were simply amazing and I am glad she chose the University of Michigan.
I share your interest in the scripts, but the letters to "Dadda" Bernstein, the diary excerpts and routine correspondence are equally fascinating.
Beatrice had kicked around the idea of a museum in Spain long ago, but felt her father would have objected to a shrine. She made it very clear to me her father would likely have hated the idea of all of his papers in a university library too. But, as I pointed out at the start, the other option is they are scattered to the wind and end up in the hands of wealthy fans/collectors. Phil Hallman and the fine folks at U-M will make sure these papers are available to the public.
Having papers from Beatrice, Chris Welles Feder, Richard Wilson, Oja Kodar and Alessandro Tasca di Cutò in one place is grand.

[Le Chiffre]

I share your interest in the scripts, but the letters to "Dadda" Bernstein, the diary excerpts and routine correspondence are equally fascinating.

No question, all that stuff sounds great too, plus there is a lot of behind-the-scenes legal wrangling that is illuminating and compelling as well. I myself got caught up – in Box 2 (or maybe it was Box 6) of the Oja archive – in reading about the legal battle between her and Mauro Bonanni over the rightful ownership of the Don Quixote negative. There was a lot of interesting info I was not aware of before, and I basically just casually stumbled on those legal documents while randomly picking through the box. I took a few notes, but by that time it was late in the day and I was getting a bit of writer’s cramp (all notes have to be written in pencil). There’s just so much there already it’s amazing, and I'm sure Beatrice's archive will add so much more to it.

[Wellesnet]

From a deleted thread-

"First impressions of University of Michigan’s new Orson Welles papers" by Robert Kroll:
http://www.wellesnet.com/first-impressi ... es-papers/

Complete text of the Oja Kodar/Orson Welles collection contents summary:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/s/sclead/umic ... ?view=text