The buzz around Houghton’s newly acquired “Star Trek” guide sent some of us digging in the Theatre Collection for more sci-fi offerings. Thanks solely to a 1988 gift from Harvard alum Robert Fletcher ‘45, we were not disappointed. Mr. Fletcher designed the costumes for four Star Trek films. The first installment’s director, Robert Wise, tasked [...]
Researching the publication history of music scores can be a difficult venture. Materials documenting the business end of contracting, engraving or lithographing, proof-reading, and finally printing an edition are often lost to history, but occasionally, a shining gem of documentation will appear out of nowhere. Recently, I had the good fortune to dine with Michael [...]
Finding aids for seven newly cataloged collections have been added to the OASIS database this month, including the Marian Hannah Winter and Rose Winter Memorial Collection of Prints, a rich collection of images documenting the history of all kinds of theatrical performance from the 17th to 20th centuries.
A new finding aid makes available for the first time over a thousand songsters in the Harvard Theatre Collection. These little books, cheaply produced and modestly priced, mixed traditional pieces of music with popular favorites in a handy pocket-sized format, throwing in recipes, magic tricks and jokes for good measure.
From the perspective of today’s theatregoer, the current method of admission seems like a forgone conclusion: pay ahead of time for a ticket entitling you to a specific seat for a specific performance. But it wasn’t always this way, as evidenced by a wide range of ephemera in the Harvard Theatre Collection. Surveying even one [...]
Finding aids for 11 newly cataloged collections have been added to the OASIS database this month, including a collection of photos of the dancer and choreographer known as La Meri. Processed by Michael W. Austin: Series X. James family photograph albums in the collection: Correspondence and Journals of Henry James Jr. (MS Am [...]
Finding aids for nine newly cataloged collections, and a preliminary box list for four recent acquisitions, have been added to the OASIS database this month, including a rare collection of tinsel prints, portraits of actors in character, decorated with bright metal foil costume pieces.
André Meyer (1884-1974) began buying music and music-related materials at an early age, and at his death left a spectacular collection, a portion of which was recently sold at Sotheby’s. Houghton Library was lucky enough to acquire ten lots. Joseph Bodin de Boismortier (1689-1755). Les voyages de l’Amour : ballet en quatre actes. This Boismortier [...]
Late in 1891 Steele MacKaye embarked on one of the most outlandish enterprises in theatrical history. Without as much as a prop or a single penny, he had wooed the president of the World’s Columbian Exposition into adopting his proposal to erect the largest theatre ever built and to reenact on its colossal stage Columbus’ [...]
Finding aids for four newly cataloged collections, and a preliminary box list for one recent acquisition, were added to the OASIS database this month, including movie and television scripts and theatrical portraits. Processed by Ashley M. Nary: Theatrical Penny Plain and Twopence Coloured Portraits, 1812-1848 (MS Thr 933) For more on this collection, see this [...]
