Joan Didion’s Essential Packing List

The succinct travel list below, taped inside Joan Didion’s closet door in Malibu for many years, consisted of everything the author needed when she set out on assignment. It was printed, along with Didion’s own analysis of it, in her 1979 collection of nonfiction, The White Album.

To Pack and Wear:

2 skirts
2 jerseys or leotards
1 pullover sweater
2 pair shoes
stockings
bra
nightgown
robe
slippers
cigarettes
bourbo...