Scope and arrangement
The John Simon papers (1892-2011) document Simon's career as a writer and critic, and his education, personal life, and family history. The collection contains his writings, including reviews, lectures, poetry, and notes; correspondence; professional papers such as calendars, contracts, and lecture programs; writings about Simon; personal and family papers; materials from Simon's education; and photographs of Simon and his colleagues, friends, and family. Correspondence and clippings document the reception of Simon's work by readers, playwrights, screenwriters, actors, directors, and other critics. Most of the material is in English, but the collection also includes material in German and Hungarian.
Writings consist primarily of reviews, essays, and lectures on the arts and cultural topics, dating from the 1960s to 2011. Simon wrote his articles by hand before typing them, and the collection includes his handwritten drafts with minor edits. Writings also include typescripts of articles and essays; transcripts and texts of lectures and papers; and clippings and printouts of his work from New York, Esquire, The New Criterion, Bloomberg News, and other publications. Most of the writings are arranged by subject, such as "theater," "film," and "music." There are also notebooks containing handwritten reviews and essays from 2007 to 2011. Some loose notes are also present. There are extensive notes from books that Simon was reading, some of which he reviewed. Simon's poetry dates from the 1940s to the 2000s, and includes his translations of poems by others.
Correspondence comprises letters to Simon from friends, colleagues, editors, and readers, and a small number of letters by Simon. Incoming letters contain reactions to specific reviews, discussions of films and plays and their critical reception, and responses to Simon's ideas about language and culture. Simon's outgoing letters are mostly responses to criticism of his work. Many of these can be found in a file labeled "Letters by John Simon," but copies of some of his outgoing letters can also be found scattered throughout the correspondence files. His letters to his parents can be found in his personal and family papers. Letters from readers date from the 1960s to the 2000s, and include printouts of emails and letters to the editor that were forwarded or copied to Simon. These letters often touch on contemporary social issues and cultural trends. Files labeled "Controversy" and "Contretemps" contain letters and clippings regarding various public debates and disagreements involving Simon, mostly dating to the 1970s; they also include a file concerning Simon's 1991 review of Norman Mailer's book, Harlot's Ghost. Unsorted correspondence files contain personal and professional letters from a range of Simon's friends, colleagues, and readers.
Simon's frequent correspondents include actor Keith Baxter; author James Dickey; composer Ned Rorem; and critics Dwight Macdonald, Frank Noack, Digby Ricci, and Jörg von Uthmann. There are a number of letters, mostly in German, from Leni Riefenstahl; these were written in the 1990s and discuss Riefenstahl's health, her travels, her underwater film project, and a potential film adaptation of her memoirs. The correspondence includes enclosures sent to Simon by his correspondents, such as clippings sent to him by fellow critics, sheet music sent by Rorem, and photographs sent by Riefenstahl.
The collection contains miscellaneous professional papers, including professional biographies, publicity materials, programs for Simon's public appearances, press passes, calendars, and teaching materials. The calendars are from August 2006 to July 2009 and show the dates of films and performances, and the dates his reviews were posted online. Publicity materials are for Simon's lectures and writings. There is a small amount of material from drama courses that Simon taught, comprising notes and a syllabus. Professional papers also include a 1990 "Dickie" Award for sexist film criticism from the National Women's Theatre, and a roll of paper printed with pictures of John Simon, intended to look like toilet paper.
Writings about John Simon include copies of articles about or referring to Simon; published letters to the editor regarding his articles; interviews with Simon; reviews of his books; student papers written about Simon; and printouts of internet comments, among other materials. Simon's personal and family papers include his correspondence with his parents and official documents such as passports, citizenship papers, and naturalization papers. Correspondence is in Hungarian and dates mostly to the 1940s. A 1940 scrapbook containing images of movie stars is also present.
Simon's education at Harvard from 1942 to 1959 is represented by his school papers on literature, a copy of his dissertation, and notes from his courses. There is also material concerning Simon's involvement in theatrical productions as a writer, actor, or director while he was at Harvard, including a notebook documenting meetings and productions of the Harvard Radio Workshop. Yearbooks from Simon's junior and senior years of high school are also present.
Photographs in the collection include publicity photographs of John Simon, photographs of Simon at various professional events, and photographs of his family. The earliest materials in the collection are photographs from Simon's family dating from 1892 to the 1920s, depicting his parents and other ancestors.
The collection also contains audio and video recordings of Simon's television appearances and public speaking, mostly from the 1980s to the 2000s. Inquiries regarding audio and video recordings in the collection may be directed to the Billy Rose Theatre Division (theatre@nypl.org). Audio and video recordings will be subject to preservation evaluation and migration prior to access.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in seven categories: Writings, Correspondence, Professional Papers, Writings about John Simon, Personal and Family Papers, Education, and Photographs.