Mary Harron Papers
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Abstract
Mary Harron (1953- ) is a Canadian-born filmmaker, screenwriter, and journalist. Harron's journalism dates from primarily the 1960s-1990s, where she focused on music and culture, particularly the early punk scenes in both London and New York. In the late 1980s, Harron began her film career by writing and directing documentaries for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In the 1990s, after moving to New York, she worked as a producer for the PBS show Edge, which focused on pop culture. In 1996, Harron wrote and directed her first feature film, I Shot Andy Warhol. She went on to write and direct American Psycho (2000) and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005), and direct Charlie Says (2018). As of 2025, she has continued to direct feature films, television episodes, and miniseries. The Mary Harron Papers (dated 1939-2018) consist of materials in paper, electronic, and analog audiovisual formats created and collected by Harron documenting her career as a screenwriter, filmmaker, and journalist. Materials documenting her career as a filmmaker include research materials, pre-production documentation, and production documentation (e.g., schedules, casting, scripts), as well as clippings and publications that contain reviews or served as source material. Notable projects documented in this collection include I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho, and The Notorious Bettie Page. The collection also documents Harron's career as a journalist, focusing on early punk music and culture reporting. Music and culture journalism is documented through notes and transcripts of interviews, interview recordings, and published writings.
Biographical Note
Mary Harron (1953- ) is a Canadian-born filmmaker, screenwriter, and journalist. Harron's journalism, which focused on music and culture, dates from primarily the 1970s-late 1980s. She often wrote about the early punk scenes in both London and New York. She was a writer for Punk magazine in the mid-1970s, served as the drama critic for The Observer in London, and served as a music critic for The Guardian and the New Statesman. In the late 1980s, Harron began her film career by writing and directing documentaries for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Additionally, she directed episodes of the British arts show The Late Show, and in the 1990s, after moving to New York, she worked as a producer for the PBS show Edge, which focused on pop culture. In 1996, Harron wrote and directed her first feature film, I Shot Andy Warhol; it received an Independent Spirit Award nomination and opened part of the Cannes Film Festival. Harron became known for her independent films, many of which focused on women and/or controversial subjects, such as pornography and explicit violence. She went on to write and direct American Psycho (2000) and The Notorious Bettie Page (2005), and direct Charlie Says (2018). She continued to direct television episodes and miniseries, including Pasadena (2002), Big Love (2006), Six Degrees (2006), The Nine (2007), and Anna Nicole (2013). As of early 2025, she has continued to direct feature films, television episodes, and miniseries.
Arrangement
The collection has been arranged into five series, one of which has been further arranged into subseries. The series and subseries arrangement is as follows:
Series I. Personal
Series II. Journalism and Teaching
Series III. Television
Series IV. Film
Subseries IV.A. I Shot Andy Warhol
Subseries IV.B. American Psycho
Subseries IV.C. The Notorious Bettie Page
Subseries IV.D. Charlie Says
Subseries IV.E. Shorts and Documentaries
Series V. Unrealized Projects
Each series and subseries are arranged alphabetically.
Scope and Contents
The Mary Harron Papers (dated 1939-2018) consist of materials in paper, electronic, and analog audiovisual formats created and collected by Harron documenting her career as a screenwriter, filmmaker, and journalist. Materials documenting her career as a filmmaker include film elements (such as voiceovers, interviews, director's cuts, and network cuts) on various media in analog and digital formats. Also included is documentation for these films, such as correspondence, research files, production books, calendars, contracts, budgets, press releases, and published reviews. Films by Harron represented in this collection include I Shot Andy Warhol, American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page, and Charlie Says. Short films and documentaries represented in the collection include "Streatham Ice Rink" and Holding Fast. Television shows and specials directed or produced by Harron include the The Late Show, South Bank Show, Edge, Big Love, The Nine, and Anna Nicole. The collection also documents Harron's career as a journalist, focusing on early punk music and culture reporting for publications including The Guardian, Punk, and The Village Voice. Related materials consist of notes and transcripts of interviews, interview recordings, drafts and manuscripts, correspondence with publishers, and published writings. Unrealized projects are documented through screenplay drafts, manuscripts, and research materials. A small amount of personal material is included in the collection, mainly as correspondence, photographs, journals, and daily planners. All of the materials in the collection, especially those related to her feature films, documentaries (such as Holding Fast, about a Tiben Refugee Camp), television movies (such as Anna Nicole), and unrealized projects (such as "Love Affair" which focused on Ruth Kligman, who was in a relationship with Jackson Pollock) reflect Harron's continuous focus on controversial topics or, as Harron stated in 2020 in New York Magazine, topics that "bring history to light."
Source Cited
Shapiro, Lila. "In Converation: Mary Harron." New York Magazine, April 22, 2020. https://www.vulture.com/2020/04/mary-harron-american-psycho-in-conversation.html
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Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open without restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
This collection is 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; Mary Harron Papers; MSS 608; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.
Location of Materials
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Sold by Boo-Hooray on behalf of Mary Harron in December 2021, and transferred to NYU in January 2022. The accession number associated with this purchase is 2022.004. An accretion was purchased in January 2023; the accession number associated with this purchase is 2023.007. An additional accretion was sold by Boo-Hooray for Mary Harron on March 26, 2024. The accession number associated with this donation is 2024.018.
Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures
Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact Fales Library and Special Collections, special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596 with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.
Born-Digital Access Policies and Procedures
Advance notice is required for the use of computer records. Original physical digital media is restricted. An access terminal for born-digital materials in the collection is available by appointment for reading room viewing and listening only. Researchers may view an item's original container and/or carrier, but the physical carriers themselves are not available for use because of preservation concerns.
Appraisal
Off-air recordings, in both analog and digital formats, have been appraised out of the collection due to copyright limitations. These recordings include commercial music recordings, any recording from a copyrighted broadcast or cable television transmission, and local television recordings. Broadcast recordings of which Mary Harron was a producer, director, writer, or researcher have been retained.
About this Guide
Processing Information
At the time of accessioning, materials were rehoused in archival boxes, with loose materials foldered in their original order. Born-digital items were identified, physically separated, and inventoried, but were not forensically imaged, analyzed, or described. Materials in Boxes 14-15 were vacuumed and cleaned due to the presence of water damage and minor mold.
At the time of 2024 accessioning, materials with evidence of mold were photocopied and the originals were discarded.
At the time of processing in 2025, the collection was arranged and described into series. Materials were placed into acid-free legal boxes and folders, and oversized materials were rehoused in appropriately sized boxes. Scrapbook pages were removed from their binders, and additional items were removed from non-archival sleeves. Duplicate publications and documents, publications widely available online or in NYU's catalog holdings, and documents with sensitive personal information were removed.
50 CDs, DVDs, floppy disks, and flash drives were forensically imaged, analyzed, and arranged in Forensic Toolkit. New York University Libraries follow professional standards and best practices when imaging, ingesting, and processing born-digital material in order to maintain the integrity and authenticity of the content.
