Lee Blessing:

A Preliminary Inventory of His Papers at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

Scope and Contents

The papers of American playwright Lee Blessing consist primarily of typescripts of plays, teleplays, and screenplays covering his entire career from his college years in the early 1970s to date. Blessing organized his materials by title, with corresponding publicity, reviews, and associated material, prior to delivery to the Ransom Center. The small amount of correspondence in the collection pertains mostly to collaboration and performance issues.

The collection is organized into two series: Works and Personal. Blessing's scripts, usually a series of dated drafts, are arranged alphabetically, followed by programs and reviews. His critically acclaimed play "A Walk in the Woods" is particularly well-represented. Numerous screenplays, often in collaboration with his wife Jeanne Blake and others, are also present as are teleplays and episodes for television series such as "Picket Fences,""Homicide," and "Nothing Sacred." Posters of performances of Blessing's plays, as well as other's works, are included in the collection, as are slides from performances of several of his plays.

Series II contains material from his high school and college years in the 1960s and 1970s, mostly programs of plays with which we was associated. Blessing's participation in National Playwrights Conferences for nearly twenty years, as well as articles and interviews by him are also present.

Awards, books, serials, and videotapes of performances received with the collection have been transferred to the appropriate custodial units within the Ransom Center.

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Restrictions

Access

Open for research

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Administrative Information

Acquisition

Gift, 1999 (Gift no. 11507)

Processed by

Liz Murray, 1999

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Lee Blessing Papers--Folder List

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