Harold B. Lee Library

Adaptations and Ephemera

Selected film, theatrical, and musical adaptations of Alcott novels and stories

The Alcott Collection contains copies of several motion pictures based on Alcott’s novels, including three adaptations of Little Women: the 1933 RKO release directed by George Cukor and starring Katharine Hepburn; the 1949 MGM release starring June Allyson and Peter Lawford; and 1994 Columbia release starring Winona Ryder and Susan Sarandon. Printed material issued as companion pieces to the motion pictures (such as editions illustrated with film images or adaptations based on the films) are also available. Other motion pictures in the Alcott Collection include a 1997 version of Little Men, and Wakakusa Monogatori, a Japanese anime adaptation of the Little Women novels.

Stage adaptations housed in the Alcott Collection include:

Little women: a comedy in four acts by Marian De Forest. New York, London: Samuel French, 1921.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1017 .L52 D4 1921

Little women: opera in two acts. Libretto and score by Mark Adamo. Chester, New York: G. Schirmer; Milwaukee, WI: Distributed by Hal Leonard, 2001.

Call number: Alcott Collection Quarto M 1503 .A196 L57 2001

Sound recording (recorded live, Mar. 17-18, 2000, Cullen Theater, Wortham Theater Center, Tex.) Helsinki: Ondine, 2001.

Call number: Alcott Collection AC 1100 .A1 no.7

The sweet revenge of Louisa May: a musical adapted from the thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. Book by Burton Cohen, music by Stephen Hoffman, lyrics by Mark Campbell. 1993.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .C65 1993

Louisa’s little women. Adapted by Beth Lynch and Scott Lynch-Giddings. 1997.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 3612 .Y5413 L68 1997

Selected works based on Alcott and her family

Becoming little women: a novel about Louisa May at Fruitlands by Jeannine Atkins. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers, 2001.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 A85 2001

Louisa and the missing heiress: a Louisa May Alcott mystery by Anna Maclean. New York: Signet, 2004.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 3563 .A3169 L68 2004

Louisa May & Mr. Thoreau’s flute by Julie Dunlap. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2002.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1018 .D85 2002

Miss Alcott’s e-mail by Kit Bakke. Boston: David R. Godine, 2006.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 3602 .A589 M57 2006

Fictional works based on Alcott’s novels and characters

Little Women journals series by Charlotte Emerson. New York: Avon Books, 1998-99.

Four titles in the Alcott Collection (various call numbers).

Portraits of Little Women series by Susan Beth Pfeffer. New York: Delacorte Press, 1997-2000.

Fifteen titles in the Alcott Collection (various call numbers).

March by Geraldine Brooks. New York: Viking, 2005.

Call number: Alcott Collection PR 9619.3 .B7153 M37 2005

Little Vampire Women adapted by Lynn Messina. New York: HarperTeen, 2010.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1017.L53 M47 2010

Selected Alcott-related printed ephemera

Printed ephemera in the Alcott Collection includes toy books, including Little Women paper dolls and coloring books; pamphlets, programs, and calendars produced by Orchard House Museum and the Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association; vintage postcards; and advertising leaflets from Alcott’s publisher, Roberts Brothers. The following are but a few examples:

Little Women: giant coloring book. New York: Modern Publishing, 2004.

Call number: Alcott Collection Quarto PS 1017 .A1a #109

The Poetry of Louisa May Alcott. Concord, Mass.: Louisa May Alcott Memorial Association, 1997.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1017 .A1 #37

Postcards of Louisa May Alcott and Orchard House, circa 1910.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1017 .A1 #43

Publisher’s advertising leaflet for “Jo’s Boys, and How They Turned Out.” Boston: Roberts Brothers, circa 1886.

Call number: Alcott Collection PS 1017 .A1 #16