William Hauptman Papers
Scope and Contents
Drafts, manuscripts, typescripts, notes, photographs, and correspondence comprise this collection, with dates ranging from 1956-1993. The bulk of the collection is comprised of manuscript and typescript drafts of Hauptman’s works, mostly his plays and screenplays, with sparse correspondence and publicity. Early works include a 1956 short story titled Wild Life in Canada (1956), complete with drawings of characters. A letter from Hauptman to Roger Miller regarding their collaboration on the award-winning play Big River, is located with the typescript of that play. Of additional note are the poetry, journal entry, and short story which developed into the novel, Storm Season, as well as correspondence from Hauptman to editor Debbie Futter, at Bantam, Doubleday, Dell, regarding, among other things, the title of the novel.
Published works cataloged separately.
Dates
- 1954-1993
- Majority of material found within 1975-1993
Creator
- Hauptman, William, 1942- (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
Materials from the Wittliff Collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. The user assumes responsibility for determining copyright status, obtaining permission to publish, and abiding by U.S. copyright laws. https://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/research/visit/policies/publication.html
Biographical Notes
Playwright and novelist William Thornton Hauptman was born November 26, 1942, in Wichita Falls, Texas. As a child in Wichita Falls, Hauptman attended many plays, readings, and magic shows in the large municipal auditorium there, and saw such actors as Charles Laughton and Gene Autry. He graduated from Wichita Falls Senior High School in 1961, and earned a B.F.A. in Drama from the University of Texas in 1966. His undergraduate degree focused on acting; Hauptman did not decide until graduate school that he wanted to pursue playwriting. He completed an MFA in playwriting at Yale University School of Drama in 1973. He then went on to teach playwriting at Adelphi College in Garden City, NY, 1973-75, and at Yale University School of Drama, 1976.
Hauptman is a successful dramatist. He won a Obie Award for Domino Courts/Comanche Café 1978. For Denmark Vesey (1981 PBS teleplay) he won a NAACP Freedom Foundation Award and an Emmy Award nomination. For Big River (1985), a Broadway musical based on Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, with music written by Roger Miller, he earned a Tony Award for Best Musical Book. For the play Gillette, he won Los Angeles Drama League Award (1986).
His non-stage writing is equally well-recieved.For Good Rockin’ Tonight and Other Stories (1986), he received the Jesse Jones Award for Best Fiction by a Texas Author from Texas Institute of Letters.
Hauptman served as Associate Professor at the Texas Center for Writers in 1996, and returned in 2000 to continue teaching. His novel, The Storm Season, originally published by Bantam Books in 1992, was published as a reprint edition by the University of Texas Press in Fall 2000, as part of the Southwestern Writers Collection Series.
Extent
4 Linear Feet
4 boxes (Plus one map drawer folder.)
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- The descriptive data created for this finding aid is licensed under the CC0 Creative Commons license and is free for use without restriction.
Abstract
The William Hauptman Collection contains drafts, manuscripts, typescripts, notes, photographs, and correspondence with dates ranging from 1956-1993.
Physical Location
Materials may be stored off-site. Advance notice is required for use: https://www.thewittliffcollections.txstate.edu/research/makearesearchappointment.html.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Hauptman, 1994.
- Title
- Guide to the William Hauptman Papers
- Author
- Amanda Oates
- Date
- 2000
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- 2021: Revised for ArchivesSpace by Susannah Broyles.
Repository Details
Part of the The Wittliff Collections Repository
