Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

The collection consists of the editorial and production archives of Random House, Inc. from its founding in 1925 to the 1990s. The correspondence and editorial files include many of the prominent novelists and short story writers from 20th-century American and European literature: Saul Bellow; Erskine Caldwell; Truman Capote; William Faulkner; Sinclair Lewis; André Malraux; Gertrude Stein and Thornton Wilder. Among the poets there are files for W. H. Auden; Allen Ginsberg; Robinson Jeffers; Robert Lowell; and Stephen Spender. In the area of theater there are files for Maxwell Anderson; Moss Hart; Lillian Hellman; Eugene O'Neill; and Tennessee Williams. Random House transacted business with many fine presses and noted typographers and the archives contain files for Nonesuch Press, Grabhorn Press and Golden Cockerel Press, as wll as for Bruce Rogers, Valenti Angelo, and Edwin, Jane, and Robert Grabhorn.

Papers of Stafford, reflecting a wide interest in psychedelic drugs, other drugs, and all aspects of the youth culture of the 1960s. Among the manuscript materials are drafts for chapters in his books, case histories, some correspondence, and materials showing the workings of the underground press. There are clippings, pamphlets, and books of both technical and popular interest.

Correspondence, notes, manuscripts, documents, photographs, audio tapes, and printed material of Louis G. Cowan. The files document Cowan's activites at CBS and Brandeis University, and in many other capacities. Approximately one-third of the collection consists of records and studies of the Broadcast Institute of North America. The papers also reflect a number of Cowan's various interests such as posters; the earliest item in the collection, a letter from General Charles P. Stone, 1885, is indicative of Cowan's active interest in the history of the Statue of Liberty. Among the prominent correspondents are Jacob Bronowski, Hubert H. Humphrey, William Phillips, and Jonas Salk.

These files have been compiled by the Rare Book and Manuscript Library from its origin in 1930 through the present day. The material derives largely from gifts, and the occasional purchase; much of the subject file in particular is made of ephemera included in the American Type Founders, Co. Library, purchased in 1942. Prospectuses and information sent by fine presses and book artists are added to the relevant files in an ongoing fashion. The files cover subjects from the beginning of printing to the current day.

Correspondence, manuscripts, typescripts, research files, documents, printed materials, photographs, and memorabilia of Mr and Mrs Hough. Correspondence includes both personal and business letters, dealing with wildlife conservation, civic interests, and birding. There is some correspondence of George A. Hough, Sr., father of H.B. Hough, who was editor of the New Bedford MA Standard. Most of the correspondence is arranged alphabetically, by personal name or subject, out-going and in-coming filed together. Henry and Elizabeth Hough's correspondence, for which there are no in-coming or related letters, are filed chronologically. Cataloged correspondents include Calvin Coolidge, Max Eastman, Helen Keller, John F. Kennedy, Emily Post, and James Reston.