Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Joan Didion’s official archive is opening at the New York Public Library next month
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Feb 17, 2025
Modified Mar 27, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
John Bryson/Getty Images
By
Hannah Frishberg
Published Feb 17, 2025
Modified Mar 27, 2025
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
The New York Public Library is opening up its archives of Joan Didion and her husband Gregory Dunne to the public beginning March 26.
The Library acquired the late writers' archives in 2023, just over three years since Didion’s 2021 death at age 87. Dunne died in 2003, aged 71.
The dual collection comprises a total of 336 boxes “most of which have never been seen publicly” and which represents “the most comprehensive collection of the authors’ materials” according to the library’s announcement.
These materials feature a vast array of both professional and personal documents from the couples’ lives, including six decades of correspondence, hundreds of photographs and 26 screenplay drafts the pair worked on together. The 1971 film “The Panic in Needle Park” and 1976’s “A Star Is Born” are among them. Visitors will also find annotated typescripts from Didion’s political reporting in the 1980s and ‘90s, and reference material for her books “The Year of Magical Thinking” and “Blue Nights.”
Portrait of American author Joan Didion as she poses outdoors, Berkeley, California, April 1981.
Janet Fries/Getty Images
There are also drawings and poetry by Didion and Dunne’s daughter, Quintana Roo, and over 140 letters between Didion and her family during the time she was in college and working at Vogue. As well, there are Didion’s notes from interviews with sources including former Manson Family member Linda Kasabian, Joan Baez and members of the rock group The Doors.
“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,” said Julie Golia, Associate Director, Rayner Special Collections Wing, and Charles J. Liebman Senior Curator of Manuscripts in a press release. “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.”
The archive will be housed in the Manuscripts and Archives Division at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building on Fifth Avenue. It will not be on public display, but is accessible to anyone with a library card, preferably by appointment.
Tagged
culture
Hannah Frishberg
Hannah Frishberg covers New York City arts and culture. Got a tip? Email Hannah at [email protected].
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .