From the Arthur Miller Archives

The Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin has acquired the archives of Arthur Miller, from his first play “No Villain” (1936), written when Miller was at the University of Michigan, to “Finishing the Picture” (2004), produced just months before his death.

Here are some items from the 322 linear feet of material, with captions largely provided by the Center.

John Huston, Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller on the set of The Misfits

Selections from Arthur Miller’s three-volume FBI file, 1985. After requesting his FBI file through the Freedom of Information Act in 1985, Arthur Miller learned that the government had been tracking him from the mid-1940s until at least the late 1960s.

Arthur Miller’s identification card for University of Michigan, 1937-1938.

Arthur Miller and his mother Augusta Miller], ca. 1920.

Elia Kazan and Arthur Miller making the first rough stage set for After the Fall], 1963, photographed by Inge Morath

Among the many unpublished works in the archive is an essay first written by Miller in 1962, expressing anger and frustration over the death of his second wife Marilyn Monroe. He revisited this piece several times over a number of years, making substantial revisions, but it was never published. Arthur Miller was known to be a prolific writer, but his archive reveals that as much as he published, there was a substantial amount of material never seen by the public.

Typed letter 1952. When Arthur Miller refused to support Elia Kazan’s decision to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and provide names of suspected communists working in film or theatre, Kazan’s wife Molly lashed out at Miller. Miller was just beginning work on The Crucible, and Molly Kazan argued that the parallels Miller was making from witches to communists was not helpful. Miller responded by carefully outlining why he felt his argument was sound, why the play would work, and why her husband was still wrong to testify.