Overview
Toy theater materials from the United States, England, France, Germany, Spain, Austria, Denmark, and Czechoslovakia.
Dates
- 1910-1977 and undated
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English, French, German, Czech, Spanish, and Danish.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
2 linear feet (5 drawers)Some items are hand-colored originals and some are color-printed, modern reproductions. Most are undated. Includes all variety of large printed sheets (and a few that are small) for use in toy theaters, including backdrops, characters, costumes, wings, stages, curtains, set objects, prosceniums, pantin, portals, theater buildings, etc ... Also includes some text, some shadow puppet materials, and costume prints.
Biographical / Historical
Toy theaters were especially popular as English children's toys in the first half of the 19th-century. They were also called paper theaters and model theaters. By the late 19th-century popularity waned and publishing of these materials declined. Individual character portrait prints known as "penny plains" and "twopence coloureds" were collected and often used in toy theaters, as were engraved prints of multiple characters and scenery. Performing scripts were written especially for children to be used with these materials.
Arrangement
Arranged by country of manufacture into the following series:
- I. United States
- II. France
- III. England
- IV. Germany
- ___A. Germany: Titles
- ___B. Germany: General groups
- ___C. Germany: Gustav Kühn
- ___D. Germany: Other
- V. Austria
- VI. Denmark
- VII. Czechoslovakia
- VIII. Spain
Physical Location
ppf
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession numbers. Various sources, various dates.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt.
- Title
- Toy theater oversize prints, 1910-1977: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02515
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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