"The creation of a musical is the most satisfying thing in the world..." Sandy Wilson, talk given at Oxford, May 5, 1955

The papers of British author, composer, and lyricist Sandy Wilson include his produced and unproduced plays, mostly musicals but also plays for stage and TV, as well as drafts of his published and unpublished works including an autobiography, illustrated book, novels, articles, and short stories, along with correspondence spanning a 60 year period from the 1930s to 1990s. His musicals, produced worldwide, especially his long-running play (1952-1994), are well-represented. Material related to productions of his plays includes scripts, scores, lyrics, programs, reviews, production photographs, correspondence, and scrapbooks. Wilson organized his papers prior to donating the collection to the Ransom Center. His descriptions are used throughout the following inventory. Wilson wrote drafts of his works in lined notebooks, often followed later by typescripts. To avoid repetition of the entry holograph notebook in the folder list, assume that his writings appear in these notebooks, unless otherwise noted.

The collection is arranged in three Series: Series I. Works, 1936-1994, Series II. Career-Related Material, and Series III. Correspondence, 1953-1996.

Series I is subdivided into Subseries A. Major Works, 1943-1994 and Subseries B. Notebooks and Drafts, 1936-1981. The produced and unproduced, published and unpublished works in Subseries A are arranged alphabetically by title, regardless of literary form. Within titles, the order follows the creative process from notes and drafts to the completed work. For example, for the musical the script sequence begins with a holograph manuscript, proceeds through two typescript versions, and ends with the rehearsal script. If production materials are present, the sequence may include lyrics, scripts, correspondence, photographs, programs, and reviews. Some of Wilson's plays are based on the works of other writers such as Cecil Beaton ( ), Barbara Comyns ( ), Ronald Firbank ( ), Christopher Isherwood ( ), John Collier ( ), Compton Mackenzie ( ), and R. B. Sheridan ( ), as well as his own original material.

The largely unpublished writings in Subseries B, arranged chronologically from 1936-1981, are also predominantly in the form of holograph notebooks, often with multiple works contained in a single notebook. Included are plays, novel fragments, short stories, lyrics, sketches, talks, scripts, notes for musicals, memoirs, articles, and reviews, some of which represent drafts of works present in Subseries A.

The career-related material in Series II includes articles by and about Wilson, newspaper clippings, photographs, programs, scrapbooks, sheet music, sketches, and songs, for the most part not directly related to materials in Series I.

Personal and professional correspondence from 1953-1996 forms the bulk of Series III. Also included are fan mail and correspondence related to Wilson's long-time friend and agent, Joan Rees.