Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm82017301
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of Hume Cronyn, actor, director, producer, and writer, and Jessica Tandy, actor, were deposited in the Library of Congress between 1966 and 2000 and converted to a gift in 2003. Additional material was received between 2003 and 2010. A small portion of the papers was donated to the Library in 1967.
Preliminary processing on early accessions was conducted in 1967. Part I of the collection was arranged and described in 1996 by Laura Kells with the assistance of John Maniha, and material received between 1998 and 2010 was processed as Part II by Kathleen O'Neill with the assistance of Jeffery Bryson in 2011. The finding aid was updated in 2024 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial division of the Library. Some photographs and posters have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division. Film and sound recordings have been transferred to the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy papers.
Copyright in the unpublished writings of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy in these papers and in other collections in the custody of the Library of Congress is reserved. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division for further information.
The papers of Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Roman numeral designating the Part followed by a colon and container number, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Hume Cronyn (1911-2003) and Jessica Tandy (1909-1994) span the years 1885-2007 with the bulk of the material covering the period 1935-2000. The papers are organized into two parts with subjects, correspondents, and time periods common to both parts. The papers document the lives and careers of a distinguished husband and wife acting partnership. Separately and together the two worked in various capacities for over sixty years on the Broadway and London stages, in regional theater productions and repertory companies, in films, on television, and on radio.
Part I of the Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy Papers spans the years 1885-1994 with the majority of the material concentrated in the period 1935-1993. Part I is organized into five series: Family Papers ; Annual File; Productions and Projects ; Miscellany ; and Oversize .
The Family Papers series contains correspondence between Cronyn, Tandy, and members of their families. Cronyn retained typescript copies of much of his correspondence, which are filed with the incoming letters under the name of the correspondent. In addition to discussing family events and concerns, some of these letters offer details about Cronyn and Tandy's professional lives. Cronyn's letters to his sisters in the 1940s describe his thoughts about his early films, and his later letters to his children detail Cronyn and Tandy's activities. Cronyn and Tandy's letters to each other discuss projects that kept them apart, such as her work on the play
The Annual File contains yearly correspondence and subject files apparently maintained by Cronyn's secretary. The bulk of these files covers the years of Cronyn and Tandy's marriage and relates to their personal and professional activities and contacts. Hume Cronyn is the main correspondent, although his letters and memoranda often describe Tandy's activities and concerns as well. Files on agents, motion picture studios, publicists, theatrical organizations, lawyers, accountants, and office staff document different aspects of Cronyn and Tandy's careers. Correspondence with friends and professional contacts is filed in individual alphabetical files for each year. Subjects include optioning one-act plays by Tennessee Williams in 1941 for fifty dollars a month, files from 1955 in which Cronyn refuted charges that caused him to be blacklisted, and Cronyn and Tandy's support for regional theater such as the founding of the Guthrie Theater and their work as the first members of Tyrone Guthrie's Minnesota Theatre Co. Prominent correspondents include Richard L. Coe, Cheryl Crawford, Sir John Gielgud, Jerome Hellman, Alfred Hitchcock, Elia Kazan, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Robert Whitehead, Cronyn's cousin.
The Productions and Projects series relates to Cronyn and Tandy's professional endeavors. The material is organized into sections on films, radio, television, theater, writings, and miscellaneous productions and projects. Within these sections, material is arranged by title of the work or production. Also included are “deal” memoranda which outline terms of agreements for impending film, television, and theater projects. Cronyn and Tandy's projects are filed together within each section. During the course of their careers, Cronyn and Tandy performed works from a wide range of playwrights, including Edward Albee, Samuel Beckett, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Noël Coward, Jan de Hartog, Sean O'Casey, William Shakespeare, Tennessee Williams, and Edmund Wilson. They were directed by such stage and screen directors as José Ferrer, Sir John Geilgud, Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Alfred Hitchcock, Elia Kazan, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Mike Nichols, and Alan Schneider.
The largest section in this series relates to theatrical productions and contains files on plays in which Tandy and/or Cronyn performed as well as those which Cronyn directed or produced. On some projects Cronyn worked in more than one capacity, and these responsibilities are reflected in the files. For example,
Although it is not comprehensive, the television section documents Cronyn and Tandy's work on live dramatic anthology programs in the early years of the medium as well as their work in later years on televised film specials. There is an extensive file on their own series,
The Miscellany series contains a number of small sections relating to various personal and professional matters. Financial material includes records on corporations and theatrical productions in which Cronyn invested, and office material contains files maintained by office staff. Among personal files is material relating to Tandy's life prior to her marriage to Cronyn, including personal correspondence, fan mail relating to her stage performances in the 1930s, and a small amount relating to her relocation to the United States and search for employment. Residence files include records on the purchase of an island in the Bahamas, building a home there, and the construction of another dwelling years later in New York. Other sections contain material relating to the theater and over twenty-five years of correspondence between Cronyn and Tandy and their friends William H. Wright and Greta Wright.
Part II of the collection spans the years 1909-2007, with the majority of the papers concentrated in the period 1942-2000. The papers supplement files in Part I and pertain principally to Cronyn and Tandy's career in film, television, and theater. Part II is organized largely according to the arrangement of Part I and includes seven series: Family Papers ; Correspondence ; Annual File ; Productions and Projects ; Scrapbooks and Photograph Albums ; Miscellany ; and Oversize .
The Family Papers series complements the material in Part I. Included is correspondence, legal and financial papers, and school records.
The Correspondence series includes condolence letters on the death of Jessica Tandy, Hume Cronyn's special correspondence, and fan mail primarily relating to Jessica Tandy's performance in
The Annual File in Part II contains yearly correspondence and subject files relating chiefly to Cronyn's and Tandy's personal and professional activities and contacts. Prominent correspondents include Alec Guinness, Zoë Dominic, Roddy McDowall, Mike Nichols, Charles Nelson Reilly, Lynn Slotkin, and Sigourney Weaver.
The Productions and Projects series complements and mirrors the arrangement in Part I. This series includes Cronyn and Tandy's film, radio, television, and theater contracts, correspondence, costume sketches, playbills, publicity materials, and shooting schedules. There are photographs for almost every production. The series also includes comprehensive material relating to the development and writing of Cronyn's autobiography,
The Scrapbook and Photograph Album series spans the years 1935-1991 with the bulk of the material from 1954 to 1988. While the subjects include awards and professional portraits, these scrapbooks are largely personal in nature covering Cronyn and Tandy's 1965 safari in Kenya, vacations in the Bahamas, and family weddings. For scrapbooks featuring Cronyn and Tandy's professional endeavors, researchers should consult the Part II: Oversize series. This Scrapbook and Photograph Album series also includes an index for the oversize scrapbooks. This index provides a detailed account of the material for every page of each scrapbook. Researchers are encouraged to consult this index in conjunction with the indices for the letterbooks in Part II: Special Correspondence.
Subjects in the Miscellany series include awards and honors, finances, memorials, and residences. The series includes professional photographs and the planning materials for Jessica Tandy's memorial in 1994. The photographs in the office file are organized as received.
The majority of Oversize material consists of scrapbooks documenting Cronyn and Tandy's careers in film, television, and theater. The scrapbooks contain a wealth of anecdotes from rehearsal and performance as well as correspondence, photographs, reviews, telegrams, and other ephemera. Scrapbook N for
The collection is arranged in twelve series in two parts:
Part I:
Part II:
Correspondence, legal papers, school records, diaries, notes, clippings, and scrapbooks.
Arranged by type of material and therein alphabetically by name of family member.
Correspondence, memoranda, calendars and appointment books, reports, contracts, financial documents, notes, and printed matter.
Arranged chronologically by year and therein alphabetically by name of person or subject.
Scripts, correspondence, memoranda, notes, telegrams, playbills and programs, contracts, schedules, financial records, set plans, clippings, holograph and typewritten manuscripts of plays, screenplay treatments, and writings, and other material relating to Cronyn and Tandy's acting performances as well as Cronyn's producing, directing, and writing projects.
Arranged by type of production or project and therein alphabetically by title or topic.
Financial, office, personal, and residence files; theatrical material; accountant files; and correspondence.
Financial, office, and theatrical files are arranged alphabetically by name or topic. Personal files are arranged under Cronyn's or Tandy's name and therein alphabetically by topic. Correspondence with William H. Wright and Greta Wright is arranged chronologically.
Set plans and sketches, blueprints, maps, an advertisement, a theatrical program, and a scrapbook.
Described according to the series, folders, and boxes from which the items were removed.
Correspondence, legal and financial papers, and school records.
Arranged by type of material and therein alphabetically by name of family member.
Unbound letters and letterbooks.
Unbound letters are arranged alphabetically by correspondent name and letterbooks were arranged by Hume Cronyn.
Correspondence, financial documents, medical files, notes, and printed matter.
Arranged chronologically by year and therein alphabetically by name of person or subject.
Correspondence, contracts, memoranda, writings, notes, playbills and programs, cast and crew lists, scripts, clippings, and other material relating to Cronyn and Tandy's acting performances as well as Cronyn's producing and writing projects.
Arranged by type of production or project and therein alphabetically by title or topic.
Photographs, correspondence, clippings, and reviews grouped in two sets.
Set I is arranged alphabetically by title or topic. Set II is arranged primarily as received.
Contracts, financial files, and office and residence files including correspondence, theatrical material, blueprints, and photographs.
Contracts are arranged under Cronyn's and Tandy's name, then by type of contract, and therein chronologically. Financial, office, and residence files are arranged alphabetically by topic. The photographs are arranged as received.
Scrapbooks, photographs, costume sketches, and photo layouts.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from the which the items were removed.