Archival box from the Dashiell Hammett collection at the Harry Ransom Center.

After doing some detective work of his own, Andrew Gulli, managing editor of The Strand Magazine, located a previously unpublished short story by Dashiell Hammett at the Ransom Center. Untitled but nicknamed “So I Shot Him,” the short story has been published for the first time in The Strand’s current issue, released today. (Learn more here about how unpublished manuscripts are unearthed at the Ransom Center.) Perhaps best known for his novel The Maltese Falcon, Hammett is considered the father of hardboiled detective fiction. Hammett’s archive at the Ransom Center includes 14 other unpublished works, drafts, unfinished works, and personal correspondence. We talked to Gulli about his decision to publish “So…

Each Friday, the Ransom Center shares photos from throughout the week that highlight a range of activities and collection holdings. We hope you enjoy these photos that reveal some of the everyday happenings at the Center.

A student walks past the Ransom Center’s etching of Eadweard Muybridge’s ‘Horse in Motion.’ Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

Volunteer Kathleen Dowling handles a vest from the Gertrude Stein personal effects collection, working to create custom interior supports for the vest for display. Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

A visitor to the Ransom Center’s exhibition ‘Culture Unbound: Collecting in the Twenty-First Century.’ Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

The Reading Room at the Harry Ransom Center. Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

Research in archival libraries like the Harry Ransom Center can be a bit of a treasure hunt. Every so often, researchers strike scholarly gold: locating and publishing previously unpublished works.

The most recent unearthing at the Ransom Center are unpublished short stories by crime writer Dashiell Hammett, whose archive resides at the Ransom Center. Andrew Gulli, managing editor of The Strand Magazine, located one short story, untitled but nicknamed “So I Shot Him,” which he will publish in the February 28 issue of The Strand.

This story has received much attention, raising the question: how do discoveries at the Ransom Center come about?

Molly Schwartzburg, Ransom Center Curator of Literature, calls…

Actors from Different Stages Theater Company perform scenes from 'Night of the Iguana' by Tennessee Williams at the 'Wild at Heart' exhibition opening.

The Harry Ransom Center celebrated the opening of its exhibitions, Becoming Tennessee Williams and Culture Unbound: Collecting in the Twenty-First Century, with the “Wild at Heart” event on Friday, February 11. Guests enjoyed informal tours of the exhibition, readings of “Night of the Iguana” by Different Stages Theater Company, cocktails courtesy of Balcones Distilling, hors d’oeuvres, and more.

Pam Berry was the lucky winner of the “Wild at Heart” Prize. Congrats, Pam!

View photos in front of the streetcar.

View photos from the reception.

Become a member to receive complimentary admission and valet parking at exhibition opening parties. Members of the Harry…

Each Friday, the Ransom Center shares photos from throughout the week that highlight a range of activities and collection holdings. We hope you enjoy these photos that reveal some of the everyday happenings at the Center.

Preservation housing is being constructed for Norman Bel Geddes’s personal radio, which was made by Philco. Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

A close-up of Norman Bel Geddes’s personal radio, which was made by Philco. Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

A class of graduate students meeting at the Ransom Center. Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

‘Culture Unbound: Collecting in the Twenty-First Century’ highlights some of the Center’s major acquisitions in this new century. Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

Cover of 'The White Negress: Literature, Minstrelsy, and the Black-Jewish Imaginary' by Lori Harrison-Kahan

Lori Harrison-Kahan, Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Boston College, spent a week at the Ransom Center in July 2009 to conduct research for her recently published book, The White Negress: Literature, Minstrelsy, and the Black-Jewish Imaginary. Her research was supported by a Dorot Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Jewish Studies. Cultural Compass spoke with Harrison-Kahan about her new book and her experience researching at the Ransom Center.

Q: What inspired you to write this book?

A: It was a reaction to what’s gone on in scholarship about how Jews appropriated black culture in order to become white and assimilate into mainstream white culture by taking on its racist…

Each Friday, the Ransom Center shares photos from throughout the week that highlight a range of activities and collection holdings. We hope you enjoy these photos that reveal some of the everyday happenings at the Center.

Students in Department of Theatre and Dance Professor Susan Zeder’s 'Playwriting' course visit the Ransom Center’s exhibition 'Becoming Tennessee Williams.' Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

Students in Department of Theatre and Dance Professor Susan Zeder’s 'Playwriting' course visit the Ransom Center’s exhibition 'Becoming Tennessee Williams.' Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

Eli Reed, Magnum photographer and Professor of Photojournalism at The University of Texas at Austin, spoke about a selection of his work to the Ransom Center’s Friends of Photography. Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

Students in Professors Robert Abzug and Steven…

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Cover of Volume 23, Numbers 2/3 of 'The Library Chronicle'

Volumes of The Library Chronicle from 1970 to 1997 are now digitized and available online in a full-text, keyword-searchable digital library. The Library Chronicle was an award-winning journal that included scholarly articles on collection materials, complete exhibition catalogs, and descriptions of important rare book and manuscript holdings at the Ransom Center and other libraries at The University of Texas at Austin. Published from 1943 to 1998, The Library Chronicle is an important resource for information about the Ransom Center’s collections.

This project was funded by Google Books and the Hathi Trust.

These volumes are also searchable in two indexes: a subject index and an index of authors of journal articles.

More information about searching the database can be found…

Jorge Luis Borges with Dr. Miguel Gonzalez-Gerth at The University of Texas at Austin. Photo by Larry Murphey.

Ever since Daniel Defoe set the paradigm for the shipwreck in Robinson Crusoe, desert-island lists have remained a popular setting for apocalyptic scenario decisions. Considering the books he would choose should he suffer the fate of the character, the poet André Gide included Cousin Bette, Dangerous Liaisons, and Madame Bovary. Faced with the same problem, G. K. Chesterton’s sensible selection was Thomas’ Guide to Practical Shipbuilding. In a query made by The New York Times at the turn of the nineteenth century, the ten most popular books for a desert island included “the Bible for comfort, . . . Boswell in lieu of society,” and—with…

Each Friday, the Ransom Center shares photos from throughout the week that highlight a range of activities and collection holdings. We hope you enjoy these photos that reveal some of the everyday happenings at the Center.

Norman Mailer’s paper-clipped and marked-up copy of “American Tragedy” by Lawrence Schiller and James Willwerth. Photo by Pete Smith.

Additional materials for the Norman Mailer papers were received and inspected. Photo by Pete Smith.

Students in the ‘Culture Unbound’ exhibition, specifically in the reading nook filled with books featured in the exhibition. Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

A student walks by the exterior banner for the exhibition ‘Becoming Tennessee Williams.’ Photo by Anthony Maddaloni.

Undergraduate intern Kelsey Harmon shows some of John Fowles’ personal effects: his desk, typewriter, and a…

Continue Reading Photo Friday