Joan Didion and John Dunne, 1970s. All images courtesy of NYPL
A collection of never-before-seen items belonging to writer Joan Didion and her husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, will be on display at the New York Public Library next month. The library, which acquired the archive in 2023 and spent two years processing the material, will make the items publicly available to researchers and writers on March 26 in the Manuscripts and Archives Division at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
Spanning six decades, the collection provides a look at each writer individually, as well as their work collaboratively, with a spotlight on their personal and professional relationship.
The archive highlights Didion’s writing process and research methods, with drafts and revisions from her award-winning memoir “The Year of Magical Thinking,” and notes from her political reporting in the 1980s and ’90s for the New York Review of Books.
There are hundreds of photos showing the couple’s travels and family life, 26 screenplay drafts Didion and Dunne collaborated on, and letters to and from cultural icons like Margaret Atwood, Nora Ephron, Diane Keaton, Jacqueline Onassis, and others.
“Few writers have shaped the world of letters as profoundly as Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne,” Brent Reidy, Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries at The New York Public Library.
“The opening of this archive provides scholars and writers alike with an unparalleled opportunity to explore Didion and Dunne’s intellectual journeys, collaborations, and enduring impact on literature, journalism, and criticism.”
Other highlights include notes from Didion’s interviews with former Manson Family member Linda Kasabian, transcriptions of the “confessions” from the Central Park jogger case (later proved to be false), poetry and drawings of Didion and Dunne by their daughter Quintana Roo, and much more.
Housed in the Manuscripts and Archives Division at the flagship branch, the collection will be on view to anyone with an NYPL library card.
“After two years of careful processing and preparation, the Library is thrilled to make the papers of Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne available to our communities of researchers,” Julie Golia, Associate Director, Rayner Special Collections Wing, and Charles J. Liebman Senior Curator of Manuscripts, said.
“The opening of this rich, expansive, and deeply personal collection will spark a new generation of scholarship on Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne, their extraordinary lives and careers, and their impact on American literature, journalism, and popular culture.”
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