- unitid
-
{"value"=>"24831", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"b21756371", "type"=>"local_b"}
{"value"=>"MssCol 24831", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1973-1974", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1973/1974"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Truman Capote papers regarding \"Houston Diary\""}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"2 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>".46 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Manuscripts and Archives</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"Truman Capote (1924-1984) was a celebrated American author whose major works include <span class=\"title\">Other Voices, Other Rooms</span>; <span class=\"title\">Breakfast at Tiffany's</span>; and <span class=\"title\">In Cold Blood</span>. John O'Shea (John Matthew O'Shea, 1929-2014) was a married Long Island banker who became Truman Capote's lover and business manager in the early summer of 1973. The Truman Capote papers regarding \"Houston Diary,\" 1973-1974, consist of materials pertaining to Capote's writing interest in the mass murders committed in Houston, Texas by Dean Corll, discovered in August 1973, and his intended coverage of the 1974 trial of Elmer Wayne Henley, one of Corll's accomplices. Capote's trial coverage was to be syndicated by the Washington Post under the title \"Houston Diary,\" but the project did not come to fruition. The collection, created in part and apparently maintained by John O'Shea, contains letters received by Truman Capote from members of the press; two holograph manuscripts by Truman Capote relating to the <span class=\"title\">Washington Post</span> project; O'Shea's business papers concerning publishing negotiations, chiefly with the Post; a scrapbook of newspaper and magazine clippings; loose clippings; and photographs. Correspondents include <span class=\"title\">Washington Post</span> editor Ben Bradlee and <span class=\"title\">Village Voice</span> journalist Arthur Bell."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Capote, Truman, 1924-1984", "type"=>"persname", "role"=>"cre"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Truman Capote (1924-1984) was a celebrated American author whose major works include <span class=\"title\">Other Voices, Other Rooms</span>; <span class=\"title\">Breakfast at Tiffany's</span>; and <span class=\"title\">In Cold Blood</span>. John O'Shea (John Matthew O'Shea, 1929-2014) was a married Long Island banker who became Truman Capote's lover and business manager in the early summer of 1973. For a time he held the position of Executive Vice President of Capote's corporation Bayouboys, Ltd.</p> <p>John O'Shea dealt with publishers seeking Capote's coverage of what became known as the Houston Mass Murders, discovered in August 1973. The Texas murders were committed by serial killer Dean Corll over a period of several years, some with the assistance of two teenage accomplices, Elmer Wayne Henley and David Owen Brooks. Henley killed Corll in self-defense on August 8, 1973, and contacted the police that day. He and Brooks then led police to the burial locations of the young male victims, and the story immediately broke in the national press. By the end of August 1973 there were 27 known deaths.</p> <p>O'Shea negotiated a lucrative contract with the <span class=\"title\">Washington Post</span> to cover Henley's trial in Houston, Texas, scheduled for January 1974. The syndicated articles would be called \"Houston Diary.\" Capote and O'Shea traveled to Houston to attend pre-trial hearings on January 14. As recounted in Gerald Clarke's <span class=\"title\">Capote: A Biography</span> (1988, page 449), when Henley was first brought into the courtroom, the author of <span class=\"title\">In Cold Blood</span> remarked \"I've seen this before,\" and immediately left. Capote was hospitalized shortly thereafter, the illness serving to break the contract. Henley's first trial took place in San Antonio in July 1974, and Brooks was tried in 1975.</p>"}
- custodhist
-
{"value"=>"<p>The papers were found by the seller upon her inheritance of a house in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which had been rented by Truman Capote and John O'Shea in 1976. The scrapbook and a file labelled \"Houston Diary\" were left behind in a closet.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Truman Capote papers regarding \"Houston Diary,\" 1973-1974, consist of materials pertaining to Capote's writing interest in the mass murders committed in Houston, Texas by Dean Corll, discovered in August 1973, and his intended coverage of the 1974 trial of Elmer Wayne Henley, one of Corll's accomplices. Capote's trial coverage was to be syndicated by the Washington Post under the title \"Houston Diary,\" but the project did not come to fruition. The collection, created in part and apparently maintained by John O'Shea, contains letters received by Truman Capote from members of the press; two holograph manuscripts by Truman Capote relating to the <span class=\"title\">Washington Post</span> project; O'Shea's business papers concerning publishing negotiations, chiefly with the <span class=\"title\">Post</span>; a scrapbook of newspaper and magazine clippings; loose clippings; and photographs. Correspondents include <span class=\"title\">Washington Post</span> editor Ben Bradlee and <span class=\"title\">Village Voice</span> journalist Arthur Bell.</p> <p>There are three original letters received by Capote from journalist Arthur Bell, editor Rob Cole of the <span class=\"title\">Advocate</span>, and Houston attorney Charles Owen Melder, 1973, as well as copies of articles written by Bell, mailed to Capote in January 1974. Capote's holograph manuscripts consist of a promotional piece written in the third person, \"Truman Capote's Houston Diary,\" (4 pages, in ink), 1973, and an introductory writing entitled \"Houston Diary / 2020 Lamar Street\" (6 pages, in pencil), 1973 or 1974, both with his emendations. The promotional piece includes his reasons for covering the trial, and his intended writing approach. The document bears John O'Shea's filing comments, and is accompanied by a typed copy on <span class=\"title\">Washington Post</span> letterhead, 1973 December 16, with minor changes from the holograph text. O'Shea's business papers, 1973, include his notes and his annotated copies of letters and documents, among these a letter from Ben Bradlee of the <span class=\"title\">Washington Post</span> to Capote, 1973 September 12. Photographs, 1973 or 1974, are 5 x 7 inch black-and-white copies of photographs of Dean Curll and his family, unidentified and undated.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Purchased from Bonnie Miskolczy, 2018.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Susan P. Waide</span>, <span class=\"date\">2019</span></p>"}
- date_start
-
1973
- keydate
-
1973
- date_end
-
1974
- date_inclusive_start
-
1973
- date_inclusive_end
-
1974
- extent_statement
-
.46 linear feet (2 boxes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"Truman Capote papers regarding \"Houston Diary\", Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library"}