Welcome to the William Inge Collection at the ICC Library

About the Collection

The ICC Library serves as the official archival depository for the papers of William Inge. At the heart of the Collection are some four hundred manuscripts, including full-length plays, screenplays, one-act plays, novels, and short stories. The Collection also includes William Inge's book collection, record collection, some correspondence, movie posters, and other artifacts belonging to Inge or relating to his plays. Finally, the Collection serves as the archive for the William Inge Center for the Arts, collecting all Inge Center publications as well as scholarly papers delivered at the annual William Inge Theatre Festival.

To arrange a tour and/or research time, contact Sarah Owen via email or 620-332-5468.

Accessing the Collection

The following policies govern access to materials in the William Inge Collection, as well as the room in which the Inge Collection is housed:

1. The Director of Library Services serves as the curator for the William Inge Collection, and the final decision about acquisition, deselection, arrangement, preservation, and use of items in the Collection rests with him or her, except as governed by legal arrangements with the Inge estate and its designees.
2. Items in the Collection may not be loaned, but must be used in the room housing the Collection. Exceptions to this policy will be reviewed by the Director of Library Services, on a case-by-case basis.
3. Ordinarily, materials may not be photocopied or otherwise duplicated. Researchers who want to access the Collection, but cannot make the trip to Independence, may request an exception to this policy. Exceptions will be reviewed by the Director of Library Services on a case-by-case basis. All photocopy requests for manuscripts and correspondence must be approved by the Inge estate or its designee. Photocopied materials may not be duplicated, in part or in whole, and the recipient must agree to return the photocopy to the library upon completion of his or her research.
4. Researchers using the Collection should plan to leave coats, briefcases, and any other personal property not essential to research at the Library’s circulation desk. The only items that researchers are permitted to bring into the Collection are looseleaf paper, a pencil, and a laptop computer. No marks are to be made on any items, and ink-based writing implements are not permissible. Damaging, defacing, or attempting to remove materials from the Collection without proper authorization shall be grounds for suspension of research privileges, and serious offenses may be referred to law enforcement officials.
5. Researchers are strongly encouraged to contact library staff in advance of their visit to the Collection, to ensure that library staff will be available to assist with research.
6. No food or drink may be brought into the room housing the Collection, even if the room is being used for a meeting or other function unrelated to research.

New! Inge Digital

We are excited to announce that ICC Library and the University of Kansas Libraries have come to an agreement that KU Libraries will host our Inge Festival conference papers on KU ScholarWorks, an open-access digital repository for scholarly works.  We are very grateful to KU Libraries for allowing us to host our Inge Digital Collection articles there, where they are accessible for scholars and the general public. We have just begun uploading papers, and we look forward to seeing this collection grow!