Scope and Content Note
The Neil Simon Papers span from 1927 to 2018, the life of its namesake playwright, screenwriter, and author. The bulk of the collection dates from 1968 to 2003 and consists primarily of writings by Simon. Other materials include clippings, correspondence, and ephemera related to Simon's productions; drawings and sketches by Simon; and, a small amount of personal papers and memorabilia.
By far the largest series, Writings encompasses Simon's written creative output and mostly consists of complete and partial drafts of musical librettos, screenplays, teleplays, and scripts for stage. More than 210 different titles are identified and many works consist of multiple drafts showing the evolution of a particular work. The collection contains almost no scripts from the early decade of Simon's career in television, and the majority of work dates after 1961, the year of his first full-length Broadway production, Come Blow Your Horn. The series also contains Simon's articles, essays, notes, speeches, and handwritten and typescript drafts of two autobiographies: Rewrites (1996) and The Play Goes On (1999).
Production Files contains material related to specific productions of Simon's work. Clippings, correspondence, notes, photographs, programs, and other ephemera document productions between 1961 and 2018 across the United States and include international productions performed in Australia, Israel, Japan, and countries throughout Europe.
Letters, notes, and business communications sent to and from Simon are organized under Correspondence. Though the series identifies folders for 48 individuals, the majority of these contain only one or two short pieces of correspondence.
Personal Papers holds materials related to Simon's career, personal life, and public persona. Clippings document the breadth of Simon's career, and interviews provide insight into his creative process. Personal materials include address books, a birth certificate, a passport, and the marriage certificate to his first wife, Joan Baim. Simon's collection of signed baseballs and other personal memorabilia is also present in this series.
In addition to being a prolific writer, Simon created visual art in sketchbooks and on notebook pages. His cartoons, drawings, sketches, and watercolors are collected in Artwork.
Window cards, posters, and large format advertisements for Simon's productions are discoverable in Posters. For the most part, posters document productions on Broadway, but the series does include performances elsewhere in the United States, Australia, and nine European countries.
Numerous awards, certificates, citations, plaques, and trophies given to Simon throughout his career are collected in Awards and Honors including his first Tony Award for The Odd Couple (1965), Golden Globe awards for The Goodbye Girl (1977), and the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Lost in Yonkers.