Indiana native Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) wrote short stories, novels, non-fiction, essays, and more. His break-through novel, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) was based on his own experiences as prisoner of war in Dresden, Germany, during the Allied bombings that leveled the city in 1945. Slaughterhouse-Five was a must-read novel of the Vietnam War era, marking Vonnegut as a sad, but wise, advocate of peace and sanity in violent world. 

Vonnegut's papers at the Lilly Library are found in several collections, including: Vonnegut mss. holds the bulk of his writings and correspondence. Vonnegut mss. II are letters he wrote to his youngest daughter, Nanette, known as Nanny.