COLLECTIONS A-Z

Lobby card from the United Artists production of G.B. Shaw's Major Barbara starring Wendy Hiller, Rex Harrison, and Robert Morley, 1941

Performing Arts Collections



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  • American Television Scripts, [ca. 1953-1988]
    Unpublished scripts representing approximately 730 different television programs (sitcoms, cop shows, satires, soap operas, musical specials) documenting American popular culture from the Truman era to the Reagan era. The collection reflects changes in American attitudes towards family, sex, politics, history, etc ...more information

  • Asa Cushman Collection of Plays in Parts and Prompt Copies
    Plays in manuscript parts and prompt copies, the working library of a mid-19th century actor-manager. Includes 24 American and 21 English plays in manuscript, and 385 English and American printed plays of the 18th and 19th century, with Cushman's notes. Notable for a copy in parts of Uncle Tom's Cabin; Cushman was the original Tom Loker in the 1852 production of George Aiken's version of the play. ...more information

  • Barker (Sarah Elizabeth Minchin) papers, 1844-1988
    Sarah Elizabeth Minchin Barker (also known as Sally Barker) was an actress and director whose career was highlighted by the work with The Players at the Talma Theatre and the Barker Playhouse Theatre. She was active in dramatic events at Pembroke, where she taught theatre. Her husband, Henry Ames Barker, 1861-1929 (Brown class of 1893) was a guiding influence and a director of the Players. He was the son of Mayor Harry Barker of Providence and active himself in the civic and cultural affairs of the city. ...more information

  • Brown (Ben W.) papers, 1916-1952
    These papers consist of notebooks, manuscripts, speeches and addresses, and correspondence documenting the teaching career of Ben W. Brown at Brown University. He was professor of English, theatre and public speaking, as well as Director of the Sock and Buskin, from 1921 to 1955. ...more information

  • Brown University Theatre Collection
    This collection contains theatre programs, photographs, posters, museum objects, announcements and newspaper clippings of productions mounted by various theatrical groups at Brown University, including Hammer and Tongs, Sock and Buskin, Komians, Brownbrokers, Rites and Reason, and Production Workshop.

    1872 to the present. ...more information

  • Eddy (Clifford M. and Ruth M.) musical compositions, 1920-1967
    This collection consists primarily of printed and manuscript music composed by Clifford M. Eddy, Jr. and his daughter Ruth M. Eddy. Also includes correspondence and poetry. ...more information

  • Fuller (William O.) papers, 1849-1968 (bulk 1849-1859)
    The William O. Fuller papers consist of 58 items for the period 1849-1968. The papers include letters from Fuller to his family, as well as several letters to Fuller from Franz Liszt, Carl (Charles) Mayer, and others. Fuller (1828-1910) was a music teacher in Providence, Rhode Island. ...more information

  • H. Adrian Smith Collection of Conjuring and Magicana
    The H. Adrian Smith Collection of Conjuring and Magicana, long considered one of the finest private libraries on conjuring and magic, includes 16th century titles on natural magic, alchemy, astrology, religious rites, and witchcraft. Later holdings include sections on conjuring, card tricks and games, magicians as performers, magic periodicals and other works intended for practicing magicians, posters, ephemera, and realia. The Collection is the gift and bequest of the collector, class of 1930, who as an undergraduate put himself through Brown by giving magic performances. ...more information

  • Hamilton (Mary) letters, 1905-1926
    The Mary Hamilton letters contain fourteen letters to or about Mary Hamilton, covering a period of two decades, from 1905 to 1926. Within this group are letters from George Bernard Shaw, Harley Granville-Barker, J.E. Vedrenne, John Galsworthy, Algernon Blackwood, Lena Ashwell, and David Belasco. The seven letters from G.B. Shaw provide great insight into Shaw’s own philosophies and the workings of early 20th century American and British theatre. Associated with the November 2, 1908 letter from G.B. Shaw is a photograph of him with his signature on the back. Letters from the others also offer much information about how theatres were managed and directed, actresses were chosen and playwrights collaborated. ...more information

  • Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays
    The Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays is composed of approximately 250,000 volumes of American and Canadian poetry, plays, and vocal music dating from 1609 to the present day. It is perhaps the largest and most comprehensive collection of its kind in any research library. The works of most well-known (and many thousands of little-known) American and Canadian poets and playwrights, from the 18th century to the present day, are held comprehensively. There are significant holdings of early American literature, hymnals, songsters, little magazines, contemporary fine printing, extensive collections on Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe, women's writings, gay and lesbian literature, modern first editions, Yiddish-American literature, and French-Canadian literature. The Collection is fully cataloged, with records available in Josiah, the Library's online catalog.. Includes periodicals, broadsides, recordings, films, electronic resources, manuscripts, prints and photographs. ...more information

  • Miller Collection of Wit and Humor
    The Miller Collection, consisting of approximately 40,000 volumes, is the personal library of Bernard, Saul, and George Miller, amassed over a period of fifty years. The brothers assembled the best collection of American humor in private hands, unequalled in any American institution, which they donated it to Brown University Library in the early 1990s.
    The Collection consists primarily of 20th-century American imprints, but also includes significant sections of 19th-century joke books, British imprints, works in Russian, Hebrew, French, German, and Italian, and 19th-century editions of classic works of humor. The Collection includes much important early humor material, such as Joe Miller's Jests, or The Wit's Vade-Mecum (London, 1739), and Yankee Notions, or, The American Joe Miller, by Sam Slick (London, 1839).
    The Collection includes works by Fred Allen, George Allen, Gracie Allen, Steve Allen, Woody Allen, Alan King, Allan Sherman, and H. Allen Smith. There is topical humor of every conceivable kind, such as sex, medicine, the law, sex, politics, sports, sex, and plumbing. There are also sections of comic novels, familiar essays by humorists, political satire, light verse, theatrical memoirs of comedy performers, American and European folk humor, ethnic humor, vaudeville routines, collections of political cartoons, paperback joke and cartoon books, and playscripts; and a notable section of "Army joke books", pulp periodicals from the World War II era. ...more information

  • Paterson (William) papers, 1919-2003
    The William Paterson Papers, dating from 1919-2003, includes photographs, plays in manuscript, an autobiography in manuscript, a pen and ink drawing, clippings, military decorations, acting awards, pamphlets, and other documents. Paterson, a Brown University graduate (Class of 1941) and a World War II veteran, was an actor by profession. He joined the Cleveland Playhouse in 1947 and worked there for the next 20 years. In 1967 he joined the American Conservatory Theatre where he remained for over 30 years. He also occasionally performed in television and film productions. ...more information

  • Phonorecords (Special Collections)
    Phonorecords in special collections include those collected for the Harris Collection, focusing on recordings of poets reading their works, American folk music, and cast recordings of musical plays. Other collections include approximately 1,000 78 recordings, primarily of popular music. The Archives has recordings of speeches and events at Brown University. A few other named collections include small sections of phonorecordings appropriate to the subjects of the collections. ...more information

  • Providence Symphony Orchestra
    A collection of historical programs for the Providence Symphony Orchestra. ...more information

  • Reynolds (Horace Mason) papers, 1802-1838
    Correspondence, account books, ledgers, invoices, documents, and music music relating to Gottlieb Graupner, John Rowe Parker and the music-publishing industry in Boston, Massachusetts from 1802-1838, collected by writer/editor Horace Reynolds. ...more information

  • Robert J. Tierney Collection of Entertainment Memorabilia
    Posters, scripts, tickets, photographs, and other ephemera related to theatrical and entertainment events in the local area over the past fifty years. The collection features over 350 radio and television scripts, representing musical variety, science fiction, drama, mystery, westerns, and comedies of the Fifties and the Sixties. In addition there are many scripts accompanied by correspondence related to their acquisition from producers, sponsors, etc.; numerous posters, programs, playbills, promotional brochures, handbills, photographs, and tickets to performances primarily in the Providence arena, gathered from local and regional theaters. Also included are itineraries for big bands, musicians, and other performers, as well as play lists for their performances ...more information

  • Sargent (Frances Herriott) papers, 1928-1942
    This collection of about 285 items traces the evolution and production of the play "Porgy" and its operatic expression, "Porgy and Bess". The collection is composed of the professional and personal papers of the assistant stage manager, Frances Herriott (later Frances Herriott Sargent), and provides insight into the major elements of production as well as the personal relationships of cast members and stage professionals. ...more information

  • Screenplays, 1938-1980
    Collection consists of 81 dialogues and post production scripts. Motion picture studios represented include: ABC, Paramount, Columbia, MGM, RKO, Republic, 20th Century Fox, United Artists, Universal, Warner Brothers, World Entertainment, and British film companies. Includes scripts for well-known films such as Chinatown, Love Story, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and many others. ...more information

  • Sheet Music Collection
    The Sheet Music Collection, an outgrowth of the Harris Collection, contains approximately 500,000 pieces of sheet music, largely American imprint vocal music dating from the late 18th century to the present day; the bulk of the titles date between 1800 and 1950.

    Owing to its size, the Collection is divided into a number of sections. The largest is the section of vocal music, some 150,000 pieces, with an additional 35,000 pieces representing songs from the musical theatre, films, radio, and television shows. Afro-Americana accounts for perhaps 10,000 titles, of which perhaps 2,500 (mainly from the 19th century) are fully cataloged. There are another 2,000 pieces of cataloged music relating to World Wars I and II, and perhaps 1,500 cataloged musical settings of American poetry; there are another 1,500 uncataloged pieces belonging to these categories. Sheet music from the Confederacy is keyed to the citations in the Crandall bibliography; pre-1800 music is keyed to Sonneck-Upton, and music from 1801-1825 is filed by Wolfe number. Approximately one-third of the titles cited by Wolfe are in the Collection. There are also smaller (less than 2,500 pieces each) sections of: color lithographs; works by Boston lithographers; Endicott lithographs; Union imprint Civil War music; Latin American music; Yiddish-American music; Harrigan and Hart music; silent film music; dance folios; theatre music (non-vocal); music dealers' stamps; Canadian music.

    Note: Only approximately 5,000 titles have Josiah records. These include Afro-Americana, music relating to World Wars I and II, and musical settings of American poetry. ...more information

  • Sidney P. Albert - George Bernard Shaw Collection
    In 1991 the Brown University Library acquired a collection of George Bernard Shaw material formed by Sidney P. Albert, professor emeritus of philosophy at California State University-Los Angeles. The collection is rich in manuscript material, including autograph and typed letters, post cards, notes, inscriptions and signed photographs as well as costume designs and a fragment of music in Shaw's hand. There are more than 2,000 books by and about Shaw and a strong collection of ephemera - pamphlets, "rough proof" rehearsal copies of plays, programs, press clippings, film stills, posters, publicity photographs, recordings, photographs of Shaw's 1933 visit to Hollywood, and publications of Shaw societies in London, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. More than 200 periodicals containing pieces by or about Shaw round out the collection.
    The Brown University Library also holds the correspondence between Shaw and his American publisher, Dodd, Mead & Company. ...more information

  • Trinity Repertory Company archives, 1964-2008
    This collection includes press clippings, board and development files, programs, scripts, promotional materials, production photos, press releases, audio recordings, video, and film documenting the history of Trinity Repertory Company, founded in 1963. ...more information

  • William Chauncey Langdon Collection of Pageants
    Collection of pageants directed and organized by Langdon, founder and President of the American Pageant Association, and also includes scripts, correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia relating to other pageants of the early 20th century. ...more information

  • Wilmeth (Don B.) research files for the Cambridge Guide to American theatre
    This collection of research files consists of newspaper clippings, magazine articles, e-mails, press releases, playbills, postcards, letters, student papers, lecture notes, brochures and conference presentations which form the basis for the research and writing of the second edition of The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre, compiled by Don B. Wilmeth and Tice L. Miller. Several stages of the resulting manuscript proof are also included. ...more information

  • Wyman (Loraine) collection, 1859-1952 (bulk 1910-1937)
    The Loraine Wyman collection consists of manuscripts, sheet music, and miscellaneous material collected and/or edited by Loraine Wyman, the bulk dating from 1910-1937, and collected in Kentucky, Quebec, and France. The collection contains principally folk songs, arrangements or orchestrations of folk music, and French art songs. ...more information

Image Source: Lobby card from the United Artists production of G.B. Shaw's Major Barbara starring Wendy Hiller, Rex Harrison, and Robert Morley, 1941. Sidney P. Albert -- George Bernard Shaw Collection. John Hay Library.

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