Frances Herriott Sargent papers (Ms. 80.6)

The collection includes a variety of items, among them the following: correspondence; lighting, property, and costume plots; news clippings; a book containing the original score of "Porgy and Bess" autographed by George Gershwin, Du Bose Hayward, and Rouben Mamoulian; photographs; and scattered museum pieces. Most of the material in the collection is from the creative period 1928 to 1942, during which the novel Porgy was undergoing a transformation, first to the format of the theater and ultimately to its most familiar form, the opera "Porgy and Bess".

Among the personal correspondence are letters and telegrams from George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Dudley Diggs, Du Bose Heyward, Rose McClendon, and Todd Duncan.