Scope and arrangement
The Nancy Hamilton Papers consists of personal and professional files of the actress, playwright, lyricist, director and producer Nancy Hamilton. The papers include material from as early as 1912 and as late and 1985, but the bulk of the material is between 1927 and 1972. This collection contains personal items, such as business files, clippings, correspondence, photographs and writings by Hamilton. It also contains professional files pertaining to the stage productions she wrote or appeared in, such as Maggie Here, Mary Poppins, New Faces (1934), One for the Money (1939), Our Best Girl, Peter Pan (1954), Pride and Prejudice (1935), Three to Make Ready (1946) and Two for the Show (1940), the radio program, Fashions in Rations (1943-1944) and the documentary film, The Unconquered (1954). This collection contains scores, photographs scrapbooks and production materials, including contracts, correspondence, scripts, programs and publicity materials pertaining to these works.
The Nancy Hamilton papers are arranged in five series:
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1927-19853 boxes
This series contains personal items, such as artwork, awards, biographical materials, business files, clippings, correspondence, identification cards, notebooks and wills. Also included are writings by Hamilton, such as articles, poems and stories as well as sketches and lyrics, which were not written for a particular production.
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1912-197716 boxes
This series contains production materials for works that featured Hamilton or included material written by her. This series contains materials her film, television and radio projects, most notably the wartime radio program, Fashions in Rations that starred Billie Burke. Most of this series pertains to stage productions, including the series of revues she wrote with composer Morgan Lewis, One for the Money (1939), Two for the Show (1940) and Three to Make Ready (1946). Shows she contributed material to, including New Faces (1934) and Peter Pan (1954), as well as unproduced projects such as Maggie Here, Mary Poppins and Our Best Girl are also documented. Materials in this series are cast lists, background research materials, contracts, correspondence, scripts, programs and publicity materials.
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1931-19504 boxes
This series contains scores for shows with lyrics by Nancy Hamilton, such as Maggie Here, Mary Poppins, One for the Money, Our Best Girl, Two for the Show and Three to Make Ready and for individual songs by Hamilton. This series also includes a score for the Helen Keller documentary The Unconquered (1954), scripted, directed and produced by Hamilton with a score by her frequent collaborator, Morgan Lewis.
All scores are unpublished piano/vocal, unless noted.
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1914-19722 boxes
This series contains both candid and posed portraits of Hamilton and various friends and colleagues. Also included are production shots of shows with material written by Hamilton, or in which she performed, including New Faces, One for the Money, Pride and Prejudice (1935), Three to Make Ready and Two for the Show.
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1 box
This series contains one scrapbook of clippings and other publicity materials pertaining to One for the Money and Two for the Show.