Scope and arrangement
The Carole Shelley papers, dated from 1940s to 2016, document her career as a featured actor on stage, in film, and on television. The collection spans her childhood in England, to her adult career in the United States. The collection has the following arrangement: correspondence, writings, photographs, scripts, awards and nominations, memorabilia, animation cels, costume sketches, posters, artifacts, and audio and moving image materials.
The correspondence hold letters from colleagues, prominent individuals in the entertainment industry, and fans. These files include good wishes and congratulations for Shelley's nomination and Tony Award for her portrayal of Mrs. Kendal in The Elephant Man. Related material located in other groups are the photographs from the stage production with actors Philip Anglim and Mark Hamill in the title role; posters from the Off-Broadway and Broadway productions; and sketches with fabric samples for her costumes.
The writings include daybooks, and notes for productions that include Arms and the Man, As You Like It, The Cherry Orchard, The Merchant of Venice, Stepping Out and The Taming of the Shrew and some poetry by Shelley.
The scripts, utilized for rehearsals, have extensive underlining, lines edited out or added, comments in the margins, and doodling by Shelley. These scripts occasionally include notes, the schedule of performances, the author of the script, location of the production, score, different editions of the script, and letters to Shelley from the director regarding her character in the stage production Cabaret.
The photographs offer strong evidentiary visual information about Shelley in productions. The files have pictures of Shelley performing with other actors; preparing for her roles; publicity shots and portraits of Shelley. Many of the photographs are in black and white, with the name of the photographer occasionally identified. Early photographs of Shelley are located in scrapbooks in the Memorabilia section.
Other files are the animation cels from the Disney animation The Aristocats, posters, and costume sketches.
The Audio and Moving Image section holds mostly audio recordings from the productions where Shelley was credited in the production. The video recordings document Shelley's work in film, television and stage productions.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into the following groups: Correspondence; Writings; Photographs; Scripts; Awards and Nominations; Memorabilia; Animation Cells; Costume Sketches; Posters; Artifacts; Audio and Moving Image Materials.