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Creator
Copeland, Joanne
Call number
MssCol 186404
Physical description
1.42 linear feet (2 boxes)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Joanne Carson papers related to Truman Capote, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library
Repository
Manuscripts and Archives Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Joanne Carson (1931-2015) was an American model, flight attendant, and television host who was close friends with Truman Capote. Capote (1924-1984) was an American author and frequent house guest at Carson's Bel Air, California home. The Joanne Carson papers related to Truman Capote primarily consist of manuscripts, notes, and ephemera Capote left behind in Carson's house when he died there, as well as manuscripts written by Carson and candid photographs of Capote, Carson, and their friends.

Biographical/historical information

Joanne Carson was an American model, flight attendant, and television personality who was the second wife of Tonight Show host Johnny Carson. Born Joanne Copeland in 1931, she was married to Johnny Carson from 1963 to 1972. In the 1960s she co-hosted a game show called Video Village. In the early 1970s she hosted a Joanne Carson's VIPs, a talk show about celebrities' health and fitness habits. After her divorce, Carson moved from New York City to Bel Air, California. In later years, Carson was an animal welfare philanthropist and activist. She died in 2015.

Truman Capote was an American author born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1924. His published works include Other Voices, Other Rooms (1948), which deals frankly with gay themes; the novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's (1958), upon which the movie starring Audry Hepburn is based; and In Cold Blood (1965), one of the first literary non-fiction novels. Fascinated by social status, gossip, and wealth, Capote was a colorful bon vivant with a skill for befriending socialites, debutantes, and celebrities and their wives, often mining these connections for literary inspiration. Although he did not complete his novel Answered Prayers during his lifetime, a chapter from it, "La Côte Basque," was published in Esquire magazine in 1965. It revealed many embarrassing secrets of Capote's famous friends, who reacted angrily, rendering Capote a social outcast.

Carson and Capote met and became close friends in 1966 while Capote, Joanne Carson, and Johnny Carson were neighbors within the United Nations Plaza apartment building in New York City. During her divorce, Capote helped Carson choose her California home and was a frequent guest there once the sale was completed, always occupying the same two rooms whenever he visited. Capote died in Carson's Bel Air house, probably of a drug overdose, in 1984. Carson read a eulogy for Capote at his funeral and arranged for a portion of his ashes to be interred with her own.

Scope and arrangement

The Joanne Carson papers related to Truman Capote, which date from 1928 to 2015 (bulk dates 1970-1984), consist of manuscripts, notes, ephemera, and candid photographs of Capote, Carson, and their friends. Many items in the collection were left behind by Capote in Carson's house when he died there. Other materials related to Capote were collected by Carson.

Among the items left in behind by Capote is a three-page fragmentary handwritten manuscript titled "Yachts and Other Observations on the Current Conditions of Hospitality." This draft may have been intended for inclusion within Answered Prayers, which Capote worked on intermittently while staying at Carson's house. Other items belonging to Capote include notes for and the transcript of Capote's June 1968 appearance on the Tonight Show; a handwritten list of gifts Capote gave with purchase prices included; a letter from Irving Lazar to Capote; and stationery and blank checks imprinted with his name.

Writings by Joanne Carson are also present, including a memoir chapter draft heavily edited by Capote; typescript drafts for several Coronet magazine articles; and a book proposal entitled, "Carson, Capote, & Co."

Small photograph albums and loose photographs included in the collection primarily consist of candid snapshots of Truman Capote alone, with Carson, or with other friends. The snapshots depict meals, holiday celebrations, and leisure time at the swimming pool. Several Polaroids appear to show Capote using cocaine. Of particular note are a set of snapshots of the interior of the rooms Capote kept at Carson's house. One print is a copy photograph of Capote as child in 1928. A few photographs post-date Capote's death and show some of Carson's other celebrity friends including Betty White and Roddy McDowall.

A file of full-page New York Post clippings about Capote's 1984 death and a file on Carson's 2015 memorial service are also present.

Arrangement

Manuscripts, notes, and ephemera are arranged chronologically, with photographs ordered at the end of the collection.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Edward Rada in 2023.

Processing information

Processed by Heather Halliday in 2025.

Separated material

A first edition copy of Capote's The Grass Harp was separated from the collection and transferred to the Rare Book Division.

Related Material

Truman Capote papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library. George Plimpton papers, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library.

Using the collection

Location

Manuscripts and Archives Division
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building
Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788
Brooke Russell Astor Reading Room, Third Floor, Room 328