Another noteworthy addition is the Bill Barnes Papers, acquired from Faulkner House Books, which had obtained it indirectly from the Barnes estate. With the exception of a passport Williams was issued in 1969, the papers consist of correspondence primarily written by Williams from 1971 to 1979. The letters from Tennessee to Bill Barnes cover many topics, both professional and personal. Vieux Carré and The Red Devil Battery Sign are discussed frequently. In a letter dated October 19, 1973, Tennessee writes, “I just now realized that this year is the tenth anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas which gives the opening of ‘Devil’ a special pertinence. I think the panic and rot of our present era really did first manifest itself in full when those murders of JFK and Oswald took place in Dallas: it was the elevation of that Red Devil Battery Sign.” Tennessee’s sister, Rose, is mentioned frequently. In a letter dated July 1, 1976, Tennessee wrote, “As for Miss Rose, I have talked to Dr. Murille on the phone…and he is right, that she can only take short vacations, needs a ‘structured environment’ to return to. I’m glad that it’s been established that she can get out for weeks at a time, like Zelda Fitzgerald could, but must have an institution to go back to.” In addition to the letters from Williams to Bill Barnes, there are a few that appear to be for Bill Barnes’s review. For example, there is a May 20, 1973, letter from Williams to Hugh Hefner expressing displeasure over an article that appeared about him and an October 3, 1972, rant to Walter Cronkite complaining about the negative way in which he was covering the McGovern presidential campaign.

MSS 562, Fred W. Todd Tennessee Williams Collection, Additions, accession number 2002-62-L