Scope and arrangement
The John Steinbeck and George Bernard Shaw legal files collection dates from 1926 to the 1970s, and contains legal documents and correspondence written between the partners at Stern & Reubens, a law firm, and their clients. While the collection predominantly consists of letters from the Steinbeck and Shaw files, it also holds Noël Coward's 1940 last will and testament, and a letter from Maurice Maeterlinck to Gabriel Pascal about the Walt Disney Company optioning La vie des Fourmis and La vie des Termites. There are a few documents, such as Harry Buchman's 1955 Supreme Court of the United States bar admission certificate and correspondence between Buchman and Alfred and Blanche Knopf, that pertain solely to Buchman's professional life.
The majority of the collection is composed of the personal and professional correspondence between John Steinbeck and Harry Buchman, dating from the 1940s to 1966. Some topics mentioned in Steinbeck and Buchman's correspondence feature discussion of Gwyndolyn and Elaine Steinbeck; Steinbeck's sons; Rocinante, Steinbeck's truck from Travels with Charley; legal matters, including Steinbeck deferring jury duty; Steinbeck soliciting feedback from Buchman for his 1962 Nobel Prize speech; and Steinbeck's purchase of a Sag Harbor house and New York City apartment. Present are a copy of Rocinante's vehicle registration and 1961 bill of sale. In addition to the correspondence, there are copies of Steinbeck's March 20, 1964 will; Elaine Steinbeck's 1959 will; hairpins folded inside of Steinbeck stationery; three handwritten letters from Elaine Steinbeck to Buchman; a letter from Gwyndolyn Steinbeck to John Steinbeck; and two legal documents appointing Elizabeth R. Otis (Steinbeck's literary agent) as Steinbeck's attorney.
The collection also features correspondence and legal documents, dating from 1926 to the 1940s, that relate to George Bernard Shaw. The Shaw correspondence consists of letters mainly about legal matters with some personal discussion of Shaw's and Benjamin H. Stern's health. The legal matters discussed constitute copyright lawsuits, such as whether or not Shaw authorized the film The Chocolate Soldier to borrow material from Shaw's play Arms and the Man; contracts; copyright registrations; right of privacy; and United States tax issues.
Arrangement
The collection is grouped by client's last name and filed in received order. Materials related solely to Harry Buchman are grouped together. The groupings are as follows: Buchman, Harry; Coward, Noël; Maeterlinck, Maurice; Shaw, George Bernard; and Steinbeck, John.