Harry Ransom Center

Ransom Center Receives Big Read Grant from National Endowment for the Arts

The Center has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) to host The Big Read in Austin, focusing on Edgar Allan Poe's stories and poems. The Big Read gives communities the opportunity to read, discuss and celebrate American and world literature.

Harry Ransom Center Presents "Orientalist Silents" Film Series

In conjunction with the exhibition "The Persian Sensation: 'The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám' in the West," the Ransom Center presents the "Orientalist Silents" film series throughout the summer.

More than 50 Research Fellowships Awarded by the Harry Ransom Center

These fellowships support research projects in the humanities that require substantial use of the Center's collections of manuscripts, rare books, film, photography, art and performing arts materials.

Frida Kahlo's "Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" To Be Displayed Beginning Cinco de Mayo

The Center celebrates the homecoming of one of its most famous and frequently borrowed art works, the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo's "Self-portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird" (1940) on Cinco de Mayo, May 5.

"Other Worlds: Rare Astronomical Works" Exhibition Examines Evolution of Astronomy

The exhibition, running September 8 through January 3, 2010, showcases items from the Center's science collection that survey some of the most important astronomical discoveries of the last 500 years. Drawing from a variety of sources, the exhibition features books, photographs and original illustrations.

De Niro's Film Materials Collection Opens at Ransom Center

The materials, donated in 2006 by actor, director and producer Robert De Niro, document his professional career from the 1960s through 2005. The collection includes more than 1,300 boxes of papers, film, movie props and costumes.

Actress Ann Savage's Collection Acquired by Harry Ransom Center

The collection includes Savage's annotated film scripts, scrapbooks, photo collections, clippings, business contracts, feature film prints, home movies and 35mm slides. Many of the items have not been published or publicly displayed.

Ransom Center Hosts Marathon Reading of "Shake-speares Sonnets"

In a special Poetry on the Plaza event in honor of National Poetry Month and the 400th anniversary of the publication of "Shake-speares Sonnets," Shakespearean scholars, poets, actors and students will read the entirety of the 1609 volume, including all of the sonnets and "A Lover's Complaint." Cake will be served at this free event to honor the anniversary and William Shakespeare's upcoming birthday.

Online Collaborative "Rubaiyat" Complements Harry Ransom Center Exhibition on Persian Poem

The Ransom Center has has introduced The Collaborative "Rubaiyat," an online edition of Edward FitzGerald's five published versions of the "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam" that can be annotated by Web visitors.

Web Exhibition Explores Work of Novelist Sanora Babb

The Ransom Center has introduced the Web exhibition "Sanora Babb: Stories From the American High Plains," which highlights the work of American novelist Sanora Babb (1907-2005). Babb drew on the natural beauty of the American High Plains and the difficult conditions of her childhood there to give voice to a people who left little written record of their own lives and who have received scant representation in history.

African, African-American and Native-American Literature Collection Acquired

The Ransom Center has acquired a collection of African, African-American and Native-American literature from Charles R. Larson, a professor at American University who is highly regarded for his work on African and Third World writers.

Ransom Center Receives NEH Grant To Preserve Papers of Morris Ernst

The Ransom Center has received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to support a two-year, $392,213 project to arrange, describe and preserve the papers of lawyer Morris Leopold Ernst (1888-1976).

Fritz Henle's Family on Fritz

Three video clips share an intimate personal and professional portrait of Henle through the eyes of his children Tina and Martin and his wife Marguerite.

Exhibition Banner Bags Now Available

These limited-edition stylish and durable bags are recycled from past exhibition banners which were on display in front of the Harry Ransom Center. Each bag is one-of-a-kind.

Ransom Center Director Discusses Importance of Writing in Washington, D.C.

Thomas F. Staley will join Kathleen Blake Yancey, National Council of Teachers of English writing researcher, to discuss the centrality of writing in school, the workplace and society.

Ransom Center Presents "Rubáiyát Film Series" in Spring

The films to be screened are William Dieterle's "The Lives, Loves, and Adventures of Omar Khayyam" (1957), Abbas Kiarostami's "The Wind Will Carry Us" (1999), and Kayvan Mashayekh's "The Keeper: The Legend of Omar Khayyam" (2005).

2008 literary honors for Ransom Center authors

Several authors from the Ransom Center's collections were recognized in 2008 for their work. View the list of authors and find out which books were praised.

Join The Omar Khayyám Club on Facebook

We urge you to join, trade Rubáiyát facts, and even compose your own poems, in celebration of Edward FitzGerald's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of his translation.

The Mystery of the "Victorian Blood Book"

This large, oblong decoupage book contains over 40 collages consisting of carefully cut out and assembled engravings from books. The emphasis throughout is on images of the Crucifixion, birds, and snakes, all dripping with blood.

"Fritz Henle: In Search of Beauty" open now through August 2, 2009

Featuring more than 125 seminal works that span the six decades of Henle's career, the exhibition documents his enduring quest to find beauty in all forms of artistic genres and throughout the world.

"The Persian Sensation: 'The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam' in the West" open now through August 2, 2009

This exhibition draws on the Center's expansive Rubaiyat collections, ranging from Persian manuscripts and miniature editions to parodies and playing cards, to reveal how the Rubaiyat phenomenon constructed an idealized Orient even as Omar Khayyam and his poems helped readers understand their own lives.

Ransom Center Holds Archive of 2008 Costa Book of the Year Award Winner

The Center holds the archive of Sebastian Barry, the recipient of the 2008 Costa Book of the Year award, an internationally recognized literary prize for books by writers based in the United Kingdom and Ireland.