Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center

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The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center is a library and archive at the University of Texas at Austin, USA, specializing in the collection of literary and cultural artifacts from the United States and Europe. The Ransom Center houses 36 million literary manuscripts, 1 million rare books, 5 million photographs, and more than 100,000 works of art. The Center has a reading room for scholars, and the Ransom Center Galleries host exhibitions of works and objects from the collections.

1 Notable possessions
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Notable possessions

The two most prominent possessions in the Ransom Center's archive are a copy of the Gutenberg Bible and the first successful permanent photograph, produced by Nicéphore Niépce. Both of these objects are on display in the main lobby. Beyond these, the Center houses many culturally important documents and artifacts. Other notable possessions include:

[edit] Literature

Three copies of the First Folio of William Shakespeare
A suppressed first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, of which 23 copies still remain
Extensive collections of (among others) Lewis Carroll, Roald Dahl, James Joyce, T.E. Lawrence, D.H. Lawrence, Norman Mailer, Vladimir Nabokov, Anne Sexton, John Steinbeck, and Evelyn Waugh. Such possessions include first editions, manuscripts, and literary criticism.
Edgar Allan Poe's writing desk
A large collection of rare and valuable comic books
A writing journal kept by Jack Kerouac in preparation for writing On the Road

[edit] History

A 16th century globe designed by Gerardus Mercator
An official declaration from Napoleon Bonaparte
The entire collection of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's notes, interviews, manuscripts, and other documents relating to the Watergate scandal

[edit] Theatre and film

The papers of Robert DeNiro, Gloria Swanson, David Selznick, Arthur Miller (complete), Tom Stoppard (complete), Stella Adler and George Bernard Shaw
The wardrobe, various drafts of the script, storyboards, and taped auditions from Gone with the Wind. These are part of the David O. Selznick Collections.
Unused props designed by Salvador Dalí to have been used in the dream sequence in Vertigo
The sunglasses worn by Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard

[edit] Art

Several paintings by Frida Kahlo, including her best-known Self Portrait with Necklace of Thorns
A she-wolf statue carved in stone and coated with gold leaf (now worn off) by Eric Gill, creator of Gill Sans
Busts of various authors and playwrights (on display in the Ransom Center lobby and reading room)