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Series II. Manuscripts and Notes, 1907-1994

Scope and Content Notes:

This series contains manuscripts of works by Mary Roberts Rinehart. Many of the documents are typescripts; some are handwritten. In some manuscripts, parts of pages are pinned to other pages with straight pins. Pins have been left in place to preserve the edited forms of the manuscripts. Also in this series are notes and notebooks related to Mary Roberts Rinehart's writing. In addition to works by Mary Roberts Rinehart, this series contains manuscripts of adaptations of Mary Roberts Rinehart's works by others. Some folders of notes also contain documents written by people other than Rinehart.

Folders are in alphabetical order by title of work, or by subject in the absence of a title. For manuscripts in which the published title is known and is different from the title on the manuscript, the published title is used, with the draft title noted as an alternate title in the scope and content notes for the folder. Larger manuscripts are in alphabetical order in legal-sized document boxes at the end of the series. Notebooks are housed in the last box of the series.


Box 2
Folder 1 "America - 1941"
Folder 2 "Are Our Women Slackers?", circa 1942
Folder 3 "Are You Voting This Year?"
Folder 4 The Avenger. A One Act Play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Stanley Marshall Rinehart
Folder 5 "Bar Harbor - Before and After"
Folder 6 The Bat - A Play of Mystery in Three Acts by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood - copy 1, circa 1945

Original folder note: "as revised by Mary Roberts Rinehart in 1945."

Folder 7 The Bat - A Play of Mystery in Three Acts by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood - copy 2, circa 1945

Original folder note: "as revised by Mary Roberts Rinehart in 1945."

Folder 8 The Bat - new adaptation and screenplay by Crane Wilbur
Folder 9 The Bat - adapted for television by Walter Kerr, 1960

For "The Dow Hour of Great Mysteries"

Folder 10 "Before the Drums Beat"
Folder 11 "Behind the Scenes with the Charity Ball"
Folder 12 "Being a 'Good Scout,'" circa 1925
Folder 13 "'Bob' Davis"
Folder 14 The Breaking Point, 1923
Folder 15 "Building a Marriage," circa 1942
Folder 16 "A Cake for Mr. Hitler: A Tish Story"
Folder 17 "Can Women Stop Crime?"
Folder 18 "Capital Punishment"
Folder 19 "The Country's Stepchildren," 1945

Box 3
Folder 1 Dangerous Days scenario

Continuity by Charles Kenyon.

Folder 2 "Dear Mr. President"
Folder 3 "Dinner for the Ambassador"
Folder 4 "The Door That Would Not Stay Closed"
Folder 5 "Dorothy Dresses for Dinner"
Folder 6 "Drama in Everyday Living," circa 1938
Folder 7 "The Fallacy of Freedom"
Folder 8 "The Family Pays the Bill," circa 1935
Folder 9 "The Girl Who Hated to Fish"
Folder 10 "God's Fool" scenario

Continuity by J.G. Hawks.

Folder 11 "Going Back" and other articles
Folder 12 "Hazard" circa 1949

"Hazard" is the published title. Alternate titles include "Dog-sitter," "One Snowy Night."

Folder 13 "The Hero" and "The Tragedy" - notes, circa 1928
Folder 14 "I Speak for Wives," circa 1937

Alternate title: "The Case for Wives."

Folder 15 "If I Had a Daughter"
Folder 16 "If Only It Were Yesterday" circa 1949

Alternate title: "The Perfect Alibi"

Folder 17 "The Increasing Repute of the Crime Story"
Folder 18 "The Inside Story"
Folder 19 The Lark - original motion picture scenario, 1926
Folder 20 "The Little Lamp"
Folder 21 "A Lodge in Some Vast Wildnerness"
Folder 22 "Looking for the Magic Word"
Folder 23 "The Mad Hatter's Tea Party"
Folder 24 "The Man Upstairs," circa 1949
Folder 25 "Marian's Ghost," 1944
Folder 26 "The Medical Quick Lunch Counter"

Box 4
Folder 1 "The Missing Make-up"
Folder 2 "Mr. Caswell Looks Out the Window"
Folder 3 "Mrs. Forsyth and the Milkman," circa 1945
Folder 4 "My America"
Folder 5 "My Country, Right or Left, My Country," 1936
Folder 6 "A New First Lady Becomes Hostess for the Nation"

Draft title: "A New First Lady Enters The White House."

Folder 7 "One Night in Spring"
Folder 8 "The origin of 'The Dog in the Orchard'"
Folder 9 "Our House"
Folder 10 "Passing the Theatrical Buck"
Folder 11 "The Pattern," 1941
Folder 12 "The Philanderer's Wife"
Folder 13 Power and Glory - [book review]
Folder 14 "The Right to Live," 1947
Folder 15 Roses
Folder 16 Saturday Evening Post piece
Folder 17 "The Scandal"
Folder 18 "The Second Marriage"
Folder 19 "The Secret"
Folder 20 "Sidney's Wife"
Folder 21 "Sophie Kerr"
Folder 22 "The Splinter"

Draft title: "The Empty Room."

Folder 23 "The Splinter"

Draft title: "The Splinter Clue."

Folder 24 "Spreading Christmas Through the Year," 1935
Folder 25 "Strange Journey: A Tish Story"
Folder 26 "The Street of Seven Stars" - user copy, pages 1-201

Box 5
Folder 1 "The Street of Seven Stars" - user photocopy, pages 202-428
Folder 2 "The Street of Seven Stars" - user photocopy, pages 440-595
Folder 3 "The Striking Storks," 1907
Folder 4 Suffrage and voting
Folder 5 "Taking the Cure in Europe"
Folder 6 "The Tall Tree"
Folder 7-10 "Thoughts" column

Collection of short pieces, some of which were published in Mary Roberts Rinehart's "Thoughts" column in Ladies' Home Journal, circa 1931-32.

Folder 11 Three Weeks by Elinor Glyn - [book review], circa 1955
Folder 12 "Tish Disposes of a Body: a Tish Story"
Folder 13 Tish - film adaptation by Annalee Whitmore and Thomas Seller, 1941
Folder 14 "To Mother, With Love"
Folder 15 Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Folder 16 "Two Clues to Murder"
Folder 17 "The Uselessness of Fear"
Folder 18 Washington Naval Conference pieces

Folder contains "New Ways for Old: War Has Ceased to Be a Profitable Business."

Folder 19 Washington Naval Conference pieces

Folder contains "The End of the Pageant."

Folder 20 Washington Naval Conference pieces

Folder contains "The Evidence Against Japan" and "A Liability or an Asset: Which is Japan to Be?"

Folder 21 Washington novel - notes

Includes manuscript: "Confessions of a Congressman as told to Oliver P. Newman."


Box 5A
Folder 1-3 "The Street of Seven Stars"

Restricted use: very fragile holograph original. See user photocopy in this series.


Box 6
Folder 1 "Welcome Home: A Christmas Story," 1953
Folder 2 "Who Will be Nominated?"

Draft title: "Since I Lost My Vote."

Folder 3 "Willkie Campaign 1940"
Folder 4 "Women on a Dude Ranch"
Folder 5 "The Worst Job in the World," 1931

Draft title: "The Human Side of the Presidency." Folder includes letter from The White House.

Folder 6 "The Young Visitor"
Folder 7 "Your America, and Mine"
Folder 8 "Your Child and the Movies"

Box 7
Folder 1 "The Burned Chair," circa 1949

Folder includes memorandum with comments on manuscript.

Folder 2 "The Frightened Wife"
Folder 3 "Great House"
Folder 4 "I Want an Island"
Folder 5 "The Lighted Candle," 1935

Folder includes author's proofs.

Folder 6 "The Little Red Book," circa 1950
Folder 7 "The Love Affairs of a Freak"
Folder 8 "The Night of the Party"
Folder 9 "Parole Refused," 1951
Folder 10 Poems and stories

Some are fragile. Titles include "Moving Day," "The Cat at the Dog Show," "The Paces of Pegasus," "The Mother Tree," "To My Mirror," "The Tragedy of a Tatooed Man," "The New Union," "In De Full O' De Moon," "Lilies for Peace," and "Out on the Hills Away."

Folder 11 "The Poisoned Pigeons" - copy 1

Alternate title: "The Dead Pigeons." Typescript and holograph, with pins.

Folder 12 "The Poisoned Pigeons" - copy 2

Alternate title: "The Dead Pigeons." Typescript.

Folder 13 The Spider: A Play in One Act

Box 8
Folder 1 "A Time for Living"
Folder 2 "To My Boys"

This manuscript of Rinehart's life story was intended for her sons. The content of this hand-written document differs from her published autobiography My Story. The original manuscript is not located in the collection. However, there is a preservation facsimile available for researcher use.

Folder 3 "To My Boys" - typed transcription prepared by Charlotte Macleod, 1994
Folder 4 Untitled short story
Folder 5 World War I notes
Folder 6 World War I notes - diary of a German officer killed at the Yser, 1914

English translation is included in "No Man's Land" by Mary Roberts Rinehart, published as a magazine article and as chapter 9 of Kings, Queens and Pawns.

Folder 7 World War I notes - meeting with Albert I, King of the Belgians

Forms the basis of "A Talk With the King of the Belgians" by Mary Roberts Rinehart, published as a magazine article and as chapter 5 of the book Kings, Queens and Pawns. Folder includes envelope given to Mary Roberts Rinehart by King Albert to write on when she interviewed him; the envelope is referenced in chapter 26 of her autobiography My Story.

Folder 8 World War I notes - report draft
Folder 9 World War I notes - report notes and draft

Box 9
Folder 1 World War I notebook - The Business Year Book, 1915
Folder 2 World War I notebook - note pad with cover missing
Folder 3 World War I notebook - Reporters' Note Book
Folder 4 World War I notebook - Letts's Notebook No. 12
Folder 5 Notes for stories - 240 Page Composition Book
Folder 6 "Time for Living" and other notes - brown notebook with black tape binding
Folder 7 U.S. presidency notes - 2 notepads - Scratch Book, No. 4026
Folder 8 Autobiographical notes - Pocket Notes Memo Book
Folder 9 Autobiographical notes - brown spiral-bound notebook