Scope and arrangement
The Joseph O. Kesselring writings date from 1932 to 1970 (bulk dates 1930s-1940s) and document his career as an American dramatist. His original writing is represented through scripts and short stories.
Arsenic and Old Lace (1941) is the most prominent play in this collection. There are several versions of the script with accompanying edits and notes, including the original "Bodies in Our Cellar" draft. The television adaptation is represented with a script written by Robert Hartung, and rehearsal schedules for the 1962 Hallmark Hall of Fame production. There are also a few published versions of the play, and a program from the 1969 Pitlochry Festival Theatre production.
Scripts for the plays Appleby, Maker of Men (1933), There's Wisdom in Women (1935) Four Twelves Are 48 (1951), and Mother of That Wisdom (1963) are also included in this collection. Kesselring's wife, Charlotte E. Kesselring, annotated many of the scripts to record copyrights, draft dates, and notes about transcriptions.
There are also several short stories typescripts such as "Hills of Kansas," "The Black Puncher," "Heads We Win," and "To Walk the Night." Most of the short stories include a word count and Kesselring's address, but it is not discernible if they were ever published or developed into plays.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged alphabetically by file type: scripts and short stories.