Performing Arts
This research collection documents the history of theater, dance, costume and scenic design, opera, and popular entertainments such as vaudeville, the circus, pantomime, magic, puppetry, and minstrel shows. The primary emphasis is on British and American theater from the eighteenth through mid-twentieth centuries. In addition to playscripts, promptbooks, correspondence, playbills and programs, and clippings, the collection is rich in visual material such as production photographs, set and costume renderings, posters, prints and engravings, and set models. The archival collections are complemented by audiovisual holdings, a growing costume collection, and a comprehensive library of published materials.
Watch broadcast journalist Mike Wallace's interviews from the television program The Mike Wallace Interview. Wallace donated the show's footage on 16mm kinescope to the Ransom Center in the early 1960s. Most episodes have not been seen since they aired.
Vandamm Studio, photographer. Helen Hayes as Mary Stuart in Mary of Scotland, [1933]. Courtesy of Billy Rose Theatre Collection, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations. Theater Biography Collection.
Event / Exhibition Info
Stay informed about the performing arts collection and events
Publications
Hollywood Life: The Glamorous Homes of Vintage Hollywood - Eliot Elisofon's photographs of the homes of Hollywood glitterati, circa 1969
