How to Submit to the ICWP Archives

Some general information on the ICWP Archives, and how to submit material:

The ICWP Archives are the official repository of the ICWP. Individual collections are maintained for each writer represented. Although the physical material becomes the property of The Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute upon donated, intellectual property rights remain with the copyright holder. That is: we own the paper copy, and allow people to read it. We have no control over performance or publication rights, and refer any requests for production, publication, or any other use of the material to the person who owns the copyright.

Materials appropriate for the archive are anything to do with the creation, promotion, presentation, etc. of your work. That can include manuscripts, correspondence, production photos, programs, copies of reviews, and anything else. We'd rather have hard copies instead of e-mailed files, since our staff is small, and printing them out is a time consuming chore. And, more importantly, the way the author prints/formats/makes choices about presentation of the manuscript is an important (if small) part of the whole process of artistic creation, so we'd like to have your choices rather than ours.

Generally, it's preferable that archival material be in whatever order, etc., that you keep it in. The general principle is to preserve the organization of the person who created the material--the organization itself can be important. Since readers access the materials by a finding guide, which lists box and folder number, the actual order signals how the creator kept her work, and what she considered important about organizational ideas.

What happens when material arrives here: all metals (paper clips, staples, ring binders, etc.) are removed and discarded--they will eventually destroy the paper material. Documents are removed from binders, folders, etc., and rehoused in acid free folders, which are placed in acid free library storage containers. So if you keep all materials pertaining to a single play together, they'll stay together. If your files are organized by classification (plays together, reviews and PR material separated out, contracts separate, programs and photos separate, etc.), then that's how we
keep them.

We then prepare an initial inventory, which is available on site here in the Institute (and eventually, various goddesses and funding agencies willing, on line), and a collection-level record, which is available through the University Libraries' website and through several of the web search engines. The collection then is listed in greater detail by a cataloguer, to at least the folder level (i.e., each folder gets a listing), which becomes part of the website. This last step may or may not take a bit longer, depending on the volume of material in an individual collection, and the volume of cataloguing taking place. Examples of both kinds are available at the OSU Libraries website, http//library.ohio-state.edu/search/a (which gets you to the author search page)do a search for "Perlman, Sandra" and you'll get entries for each of the plays Sandra's donated, plus a collection level record (it's No. 15, "Sandra Perlman Collection"). If you click on that record, you’ll find a link to the ICWP Archive itself, with all the scripts listed that are in the catalog. Entry No. 243 is the collection-level record for the overall ICWP Archive. Check it out!

The Archive itself is non circulating. We make it clear that copyright is retained by the original writer, and that reading or receiving a copy of a script (or any other material) is for research purposes only: any performance
or public reading must be approved by the copyright holder.

To submit: mail material to:

ICWP Archives
The Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute
Preserving the art of the present for our great-great grandchildren
The Ohio State University
1430 Lincoln Tower
1800 Cannon Drive
Columbus, OH 43202-1230