Sanford Friedman papers
Content Description
This collection consists of the personal and professional records of Sanford Friedman, novelist, playwright, and CIT Alumnus. It consists of manuscripts and notebooks related to Friedman’s writing and personal correspondence. Materials include correspondence, diaries, journals, manuscripts, and photographs dating from 1945 to 2009. The collection is arranged into six series.
Series I Biographical and Personal Files, 1945-2003: Documents Friedman’s personal life from young adulthood onward, including his early education at Horace Mann Barnard, his time as a theater student at Carnegie Institute of Technology, and his service in the U.S. Army.
Series II, Correspondence, 1946-2009; Contains personal and professional correspondence, arranged alphabetically by last name. Many of the individuals in this collection are noted are letters from noted artists, writers, directors, actors, poets, activists, historians, and journalists. CIT alums found in this series include Nancy Marchand, Sada Thompson, Rachmeal Ben Avram, William B. McCloskey, and Henry T. Weinstein. It also contains three folders of correspondence written by Friedman, letters sent to his parents, Leonard and Madeline Frieman, during his military service, and unsent letters and drafts to various correspondents.
Series III, Journals, 1947-2008: Contains journals and dream diaries documenting Friedman’s day-to-day life. This series is arranged chronologically.
Series IV, Professional Files 1948, 1980-2003; Contains awards, clippings, and materials related to teaching, nonprofit board membership, and a notebook with a section titled “Tevye and his Daughters.”
Series V, Writing by Friedman, 1948-2009; Documents Friedman’s career as a novelist and playwright. Materials include notebooks, manuscripts, drafts, subject files, reviews, correspondence, and records pertaining to copyright, royalties, and publication. This collection is arranged alphabetically by title.
Series VI, Writing by Others, 1963-1996, Contains works not written by Friedman. Materials include manuscripts, scripts, poems, and short stories. It contains dozens of poems by Friedman’s one-time partner, Richard Howard.
Dates
- Majority of material found within 1950-2010
Creator
- Friedman, Sanford, 1928-2010 (Person)
Biographical / Historical
Born in New York City in 1928, Sanford Friedman was a writer, playwright, and Carnegie Institute of Technology (CIT) alumnus (CFA 1949). After graduating from CIT, he served in the US Army as a military policeman US Army and was stationed in Korea from 1951-1953. After returning to civilian life, Friedman returned to his background in theater and writing. In 1957, he co-produced playwright Arnold Perl’s “Tevya and his Daughters,” a precursor to the play “Fiddler on the Roof”.
In addition to writing over a dozen plays, he authored several novels, including Totempole (1965), A Haunted Woman (1968), Still Life (1975), Rip Van Winkle (1980), and Conversations with Beethoven (published 2014). Friedman’s most well-known work, Totempole (1965), is a coming-of-age novel that tells the story of Stephen Wolfe, from childhood to his service as a military policeman, during which he has a love affair at 24 with a North Korean prison of war. Chapters related to the protagonists’ college experience are based on Friedman’s experience at CIT. The novel is noted for having one of the first instances of a Jewish and Gay protagonist in American fiction. In 1965, he received the O. Henry Award from the Society of Arts and Sciences for the short story “Ocean,” which would later be included as a chapter in Totempole.
In 1984, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters awarded Friedman the Award in Literature. On April 20, 2010, he died of a heart attack in New York at the age of 81.
His final novel, “Conversations with Beethoven” was published posthumously by the New York Review of Books (NYRB) in 2014.
Extent
12.5 Linear feet (12 boxes, 1 oversized box)
Language
English
Overview
This collection documents the professional life of playwright and novelist Sanford Friedman. Most records relate to Friedman’s writing career, including published and unpublished plays, novels, and short stories. A prolific letter writer, the collection contains personal and professional correspondence with noted artists, poets, writers, historians, actors, and theater directors. The collection includes journals, dream diaries, photographs, and records of his time as a Carnegie Institute of Technology student and his military service.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into six series:
Series I, Biographical and Personal Files, 1945-2003
Series II, Correspondence, 1946-2009
Series III, Journals, 1947-2008
Series IV, Professional Files 1948, 1980-2003
Series V, Writing by Friedman, 1948-2009
Series VI, Writing by Others, 1963-1996
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Crystal Johnson with assistance from Nicholas Mlakar during Spring 2024.
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Carnegie Mellon University Archives Repository