Theater and Dance Research Guide 

What's Here

In-depth research will often take one to special materials outside of Yale's collections. It is important to know how and where to find out information about these materials and resources.

How to Search for Catalogs of Other Libraries and Archives in ORBIS:

Theater--research [SUBJECT SEARCH]

Theater and library resources [KEYWORD SEARCH]

Links to Library Catalogs: Local and World Wide

Selected Resources for Locating Archives

ArchiveGrid

ArchiveGrid describes primary sources such as personal papers and historical records with direct search access to dispersed collections and collection descriptions. Locate relevant research institutions, arrange visits, or request copies from libraries, museums, and archives worldwide.

ArchivesUSA

ArchivesUSA integrates three resources: The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections (NUCMUC), The Directory of Archives and Manuscript Repositories in the US (DARMUS), and The National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States (NIDS). Researchers can search descriptions of manuscript collections in the United States, link to information about the repositories, and locate the finding aids in NIDS, a microfiche collection in the Microtext Center of SML.

Centre for Research in Early English Drama

Records of Early English Drama (REED) REED forms the core of the new Centre for Research in Early English Drama at Victoria University, combining its specialized research collections and the rich resources of the University of Toronto library with the archives of the Poculi Ludique Societas (PLS), the oldest continuing performance troupe in early drama in the world. The PLS archives, including the props and costumes, are a fascinating source of study in themselves. Videos of over twenty years of productions of major dramas particularly from England together with a major photographic archive of these productions are available for study. Other archival resources of the Centre include important microfilm collections of original documentation used by the REED project as well as an extensive collection of books and articles on palaeography, lexicography, patronage, and topography as well as early drama and music. The Centre also has under development two databases -- one on patrons of travelling companies (a spin-off from the REED patrons appendices) and one on performance practice.

Directory of Canadian Theatre Archives. Heather McCallum. Halifax, N.S.: Dalhousie University, 1992.

SML Reference Z688 T6 +M32 1992 (LC)

Locates and describes theater materials in 114 institutions across Canada: federal and provincial government collections; university and public libraries; theater school, museums and galleries; special and private collections. Lists film collections as well. Indexed.

A Guide to the Manuscripts and Special Collections in the Theatrical Arts in the United States and Canada. William Curties Young. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Kansas, 1970.

SML Reference Z6935 Y68 1972 (LC) [Also available from University Microfilms as publication no. 71- 13,384.]

This photocopied dissertation describes collections of manuscripts and other primary materials in 122 repositories in the United States and Canada, arranged by state or province. Index to subjects. Supplements will be published annually in the journal

Harvard Theatre Collection

All aspects of the history of performance throughout the world, especially the English and American stage and the history of the dance. Also cinema and secular entertainments, such as fairground, circus, minstrel, and vaudeville. Approximately three million playbills and programs, 500,000 photographs, 250,000 engraved portraits and production scenes, l5,000 scenery and costume designs, more than 5,000 promptbooks; also manuscripts, printed books, account books, scrapbooks, journals, newsclippings, videotapes, and audiotapes.

National Inventory of Documentary Sources (NIDS)

SML, CD3022 .I53 (LC)

An index to the two following microfiche collections which consist of finding aids, card catalogs, and indexes to individual collections of manuscripts, archives, and other primary source material in repositories of the U.S. and Great Britain. * National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United Kingdom and Ireland: the Public Record Office Registers and Indexes (Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey, 1988- ) SML, Microform Room FICHE B2262 * National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States (Teaneck, NJ: Chadwyck-Healey, 1983-) SML, Microfom Room FICHE B1333

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses the world's most extensive combination of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. These materials are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. An essential resource for everyone with an interest in the arts--whether professional or amateur--the Library is known particularly for its prodigious collections of non-book materials such as historic recordings, videotapes, autograph manuscripts, correspondence, sheet music, stage designs, press clippings, programs, posters and photographs. See especially the Billy Rose Theatre Collection .

Performing Arts Libraries and Museums of the World. Andre Veinstein and Alfred Golding, ed. 4th ed. Section for Theatrical Libraries and Museums. Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1992.

SML Reference Z675 T36 +I58 1992 (LC)

Also cited as: Bibliotheques et musees des arts du spectacle dans le monde. Published in cooperation with UNESCO. Directory of libraries, museums, archives, special collections, etc., in 30 nations, arranged by French name. Within each country, libraries are grouped by city. Text in French and English. Index of names (cities, countries, individuals, institutions) and of separate collections.

Picture Sources: A Project of Picture Division, SLA, and American Society of Picture Professionals. Special Libraries Association. Picture Division. 3d ed. New York: SLA, 1975.

SML Reference N4000 S64 1975 (LC)

Directory of picture collections in the United States. Gives address, director, nature and size of collection, subject strengths, etc. See chapters "Dramatic Arts and Music" and "Fine, Graphic and Applied Arts." Indexes: collection name; geographical; subject.

San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum

The San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum is dedicated to collecting, preserving, and making available to the public materials documenting the history of the performing arts in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Theatre Documentation. New York. Annual. 1968-:

SML XF323 T347; Drama, Periodicals T.

Twentieth-century British and American theatre: a critical guide to archives. C. D. Innes, Katherine Carlstrom and Scott Fraser. Aldershot; Brookfield, VT: Ashgate, 1999.

SML Reference Z5782 I55X 1999

Yolanda Broyles González and Francisco González Archives

The González Archives are part of the Hispanic/Latino Studies Collections at Texas A&M University.