One of the most significant additions is the diary of Edwina Dakin Williams for the years 1931 to 1934. Acquired by Fred Todd from the Gotham Book Mart—along with an interesting 1930 letter from Edwina to her father—the diary was the subject of an article by Robert Bray in the Winter 2003 issue of The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarterly. Much of the diary tells of the domestic troubles of the Williams family. On July 26, 1933, Edwina wrote: “I locked my door. The lock did not hold and he [Cornelius] burst in the door with me behind it knocking me unconscious. When I regained my senses, I heard Rose, screaming and a strange voice in the hall, and Cornelius telling him to go away.” The diary also comments on the family’s domestic situation, as well as on Rose’s deteriorating mental condition.

MSS 562, Fred W. Todd Tennessee Williams Collection, Additions, accession number 2002-79-L.2