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Start Over Subject Theater Form Playbills

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Hedgerow Theatre Company records, 1901-2016 (inclusive)

Extent:
59.5 linear feet (67 boxes)
Abstract:
The Hedgerow Theatre Company was established in 1923 by Jasper Deeter, a New York based actor and director. Located in the Rose Valley Arts and Crafts Community of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, Hedgerow holds the distinction as the longest serving Repertory Theatre in America. The Hedgerow Theatre Company records contains a wide variety of materials, from business records and show materials to member ephemera and photographs. The collection provides both a practical and intimate look into the workings of this repertory theatre.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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19th Century playbills, 1852-1902 (bulk) 1803-1939 (inclusive)

Extent:
29.25 linear feet (117 volumes (many volumes are boxed))
Abstract:
The 19th Century playbills collection contains a range of material related to theater culture in nineteenth century Philadelphia and in selected other theaters across the northeastern United States. Researchers will find nineteenth century playbills from the following Philadelphia theaters: the Walnut Street Theatre, the Academy of Music, the Arch Street Theatre, the Chestnut Street Theatre, National Theatre (Walnut Street), the National Theatre (Chestnut Street), the Melodeon, and the Continental Theatre. There are also playbills from the Chestnut Street, Arch Street, and 11th Street opera houses. This collection contains an assortment of scrapbooks which include newspaper clippings, photographs, and reviews of actors and performances. The majority of scrapbooks were assembled by various theater enthusiasts; however ten were compiled by theater producer and director Paul E. Glase, who was active in the Philadelphia theater scene during the early twentieth century. Because the...(see more)

Held at: Free Library of Philadelphia: Rare Book Department [Contact Us]

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Bartholomew family theatrical scrapbooks, 1852-1948 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.6 linear feet (2 boxes)
Abstract:
The Bartholomew family scrapbook collection consists of five volumes compiled by Ethel C. Bartholomew (born 1889), William H. Bartholomew (born 1832), and Sallie Apt Bartholomew (1863-1934). These scrapbooks document the theatrical careers of the Bartholomews from the early 1870s to the late 1940s and include photographs of the Bartholomew family and unnamed people, notices and reviews of performances, newspaper clippings, correspondence, and notes.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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Alfred Hermann Gumaer theater and music scrapbooks, 1877-1937 (inclusive)

Extent:
3 linear feet (11 boxes)
Abstract:
Alfred Hermann Gumaer (1873-1945) was a professor of architectural history at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. He had a lifelong interest in theater and music and collected performance programs and playbills from a 60 year period and compiled them into scrapbooks.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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"Theatricals in Philadelphia" scrapbooks, 1838-1936 (inclusive) 1838-1897 (bulk)

Extent:
6 linear feet (22 volumes)
Abstract:
The "Theatricals in Philadelphia" scrapbooks consists of a set of 15 scrapbooks on theatrical subjects and contains programs, playbills, newspaper clippings, images, and portraits of artists of the stage, dating from the second half of the 19th century. These materials mostly relate to theaters and other performing venues located in Philadelphia, although there are also some items from New York, Boston, and other U.S. cities. Because of its extent (about 3,500 pages), its chronological and geographical focus, the richness of its materials, and the breadth of theatrical genres covered in the scrapbooks, this collection represents a unique and invaluable resource for anyone interested in the theatrical and cultural history of Philadelphia in the second half of the 19th century.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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Arthur Henry papers, 1893-1936 (inclusive)

Extent:
0.4 linear_foot (1 box)
Abstract:
Arthur Henry (1867-1934) was an author and a playwright who enjoyed a close friendship with Theodore Dreiser. This collection includes one of Henry's marriage licenses; a draft typescript of The Night Before, a play he co-wrote with his daughter, Dorothy Henry Van Auken; and two typescripts of his semi-autobiographical novel, "Roger Allen."

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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Louis Lippa papers, 1953-2017 (inclusive)

Extent:
14.5 linear feet (16 boxes)
Abstract:
Louis Lippa (1928-2018) was an American playwright, actor, theater director, and teacher of the dramatic arts. An experimental and prolific playwright, he was influenced by the dramatic theories of Bertolt Brecht and concerned with political, historical, and social issues. This collection contains material produced and collected by Lippa, primarily but not exclusively related to his work as a playwright-in-residence at the People's Light and Theatre Company in Malvern, PA.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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Arthur Hobson Quinn papers, 1801-1961 (inclusive) 1907-1960 (bulk)

Extent:
46.2 linear feet (93 boxes)
Abstract:
Arthur Hobson Quinn (1875-1960) was a professor and dean of English and History at the University of Pennsylvania and an internationally recognized authority on the history of American drama. This collection contains material representative of Quinn's entire professional life: correspondence, manuscripts of books and articles, lecture notes, reviews of contemporary plays, his collection of playbills and libretti, and material related to his research on Edgar Allan Poe and the American realist playwright James A. Herne.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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Richard Wilson McCredy scrapbook of Philadelphia and New York City playbills, 1869-1906 (inclusive) 1869-1905 (bulk)

Extent:
0.2 linear_foot (1 volume)
Abstract:
The son of Thomas McCredy and Emma Dolores Wilson, Richard Wilson McCredy (1854-1924) was an iron merchant and alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania (Class of 1874). A gift by McCredy, this scrapbook consists of a collection of about 750 playbills and programs from Philadelphia and New York City, arranged in chronological order and pasted onto a volume of more than 200 pages.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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Carolina Playmakers collection of playbills and programs, 1918-1953 (inclusive)

Extent:
1 linear_foot (4 boxes)
Abstract:
The Carolina Playmakers was the theatrical company in residence at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, from 1918 to 1976, when it was succeeded by the PlayMakers Repertory Company. Although they often staged classic and contemporary plays, the Playmakers specialized in the writing and production of folk plays, a dramatic genre "concerned… with the legends, superstitions, customs, environmental differences, and the vernacular of the common people." The Carolina Playmakers collection of playbills and programs consists of about 350 items documenting the theatrical activities organized or sponsored by the Playmakers, Frederick H. Koch, and, more generally, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, between 1918 and 1953.

Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]

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