Paulette Goddard Papers
Call Number
Date
Creator
Extent
Language of Materials
Abstract
Paulette Goddard was an actress and socialite, most famous for her roles in Modern Times and The Great Dictator, which she starred in with her then husband Charlie Chaplin. In addition to her marriage to Charlie Chaplin, she also was married to actor Burgess Meredith and novelist Erich Maria Remarque. The Paulette Goddard Papers date from 1919 to 1987 and mostly contain scrapbooks of clippings of Goddard in the press, focusing on films she was in, her relationships, events she attended, and other publicity as a movie star. The collection also contains some personal material, including family photographs, correspondence with her mother and her husband Remarque, and awards.
Biographical Note
Paulette Goddard was an actress and socialite, most famous for her roles in Modern Times and The Great Dictator, which she starred in with her then husband Charlie Chaplin. Goddard was a member of the Ziegfield Follies and starred in at least 65 films, mainly for Paramount Pictures throughout the 1940s and 1950s. In addition to her marriage to Charlie Chaplin, she also was married to actor Burgess Meredith and Erich Maria Remarque, a German novelist most known for All Quiet on the Western Front. After her film career, she remained famous as a socialite and through her personal wealth. Goddard gave New York University a substantial gift named in honor of Remarque. She died on April 23, 1990. Goddard Hall, a freshman dorm, is named for her.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into two series:
Series I: Personal
Series II: Professional
Each series is arranged alphabetically by folder title.
Scope and Contents
The Paulette Goddard Papers date from 1919 to 1987 and mostly contain scrapbooks of clippings of Goddard in the press, focusing on films she was in, her relationships, events she attended, and other publicity as a movie star during the peak of her career in the 1930s through the 1950s. Other professional materials include bound screenplays, headshots, film stills, and posters. The collection also contains some personal material, including family photographs, correspondence with her mother and her husband Erich Maria Remarque, and awards.
Subjects
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by Erich Maria Remarque were transferred to New York University in 1977 by Paulette Goddard. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from repository. Please contact Fales Library & Special Collections, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Materials not created by Remarque are protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use materials in the collection in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date; Paulette Goddard Papers; MSS 197; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library & Special Collections, New York University.
Custodial History
The majority of Paulette Goddard's estate was bequeathed to New York Unversity in 1986. It is unknown when the collection came to Fales but likely after her death in 1990.
Separated Materials
29 engraved books to Goddard, Charlie Chaplin, and Burgess Meredith were separated to the Fales Library Collection and will be cataloged individually:
Aldous Huxley: A Biography; Bedford, Sybille
Algeria From Within; Bodley, R. V. C.
Adventures in Genius; Durant, Will
Two copies of Transition: A Sentimental Story of One Mind and One Era; Durant, Will
Art and the Life of Action; Eastman, Max
Jinx: The Story of Jinx Falkenburg; Falkenburg, Jinx
The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám; Fitzgerald, Edward and Whinfield, E. H.
Beau James: The Life and Times of Jimmy Walker; Fowler, Gene
Gina; Glay, George Albert
A Guide for the Bedevilled; Hecht, Ben
Four Plays; Hellman, Lillian
The Gap of Brightness; Higgins, F. R.
Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Toward Self-Realization; Horney, Karen
The Magic Curtain; Lagner, Lawrence
The Importance of Wearing Clothes; Langer, Lawrence
A Mouse is Born; Loos, Anita
Return to the Vineyard; Loos, Mary and Duranty, Walter
Im Westen nichts Neues; Maria Remarque, Erich
The Selected Poetry of Robinson Jeffers
Brave Men; Pyle, Ernie
World's End; Sinclair, Upton
Between Two Worlds; Sinclair, Upton
All Things Considered; Sterne Carrington, Elaine
The Male Animal; Thurber James and Nugent, Elliott
Out of the Night; Valtin, Jan
Things To Come; Wells, H. G.
While Rome Burns; Woollcott, Alexander
About this Guide
Processing Information
Prior to the processing of the collection in 2024, the collection was inventoried by unknown archivists.
In 2024, materials were arranged into two series and placed in new acid-free folders and boxes. Framed materials were removed from the frame and put into folders. Scrapbooks were stabilized using tissue and/or rehoused into custom boxes. Photographs were put in envelopes, duplicates, wax paper, and mats were discarded.
Repository
Series I: Personal, 1919-1969, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
Series I contains correspondence with Goddard's mother, Alta, her third husband Erich Maria Remarque, and other friends and colleagues, including Louella Parsons, Carmel Snow, Diego Rivera, Walter Plunkett, Helga Löwenstein, and Catherine Hunter, secretary of Chaplin Studios. There is also some correspondence from fans and veterans who saw her shows touring with the United Service Organizations.
The series also includes personal photographs of her travel and family, art, awards, and other personal materials related to her and Remarque's publishing activities. Goddard's portrait was drawn by multiple different artists and included in the collection. There is also some material related to her other husbands, including photographs from her wedding to Burgess Meredith and pictures of her with Charlie Chaplin.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by format.
Award Certificates, 1940s, inclusive
Book Plate, undated
Correspondence, 1935-1949, inclusive
Correspondence, 1951-1963, inclusive
Correspondence, 1952-1960, inclusive
Correspondence, 1959, inclusive
Correspondence, 1959-1961, inclusive
Correspondence, 1961, inclusive
Correspondence, undated
Correspondence--Alta Goddard, 1952-1964, inclusive
Drawing, undated
Drawing of Goddard, 1935, inclusive
Drawings of Goddard, 1940-1961, inclusive
Fine Art Reprints--Lillian MacKendrick, Diego Rivera, circa 1950s, inclusive
Jewelry Box, undated
Photo Album, 1919-1929, inclusive
Photographs--Burgess Meredith, 1940s, inclusive
Photographs--Charlie Chaplin, circa 1936-1942, inclusive
Photographs--Mexico, 1949, inclusive
Photographs--Mexico Trip, undated
Photographs--Remarque, 1950s-1960s, inclusive
Photographs--Wedding to Burgess Meredith, 1944, inclusive
Receipts, 1961, inclusive
Ron Rico Membership Certificate, 1943, inclusive
Telegrams, 1957-1962, inclusive
The Black Obelisk Poster, 1956, inclusive
United Jewish Welfare Fund Award, undated
Series II: Professional, 1926-1987, inclusive
Extent
Scope and Contents
The majority of Series II contains scrapbooks of clippings that mention Paulette Goddard in the press, dating from the 1930s-1950s. The clippings cover her time as a her time as a Ziegfeld Follies girl, her relationship with Charlie Chaplin, the making of Modern Times, her work with the United Service Organizations (USO), and publicity for other films in the American and foreign press. The series also includes posters and screenplays from movies Goddard starred in, as well as film stills. Other photographic material include headshots of Goddard, as well as other actors and actresses, some of which are signed.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by format then chronologically.
