Programs and playbills from Boston-area theaters and other venues
Overview
Programs and playbills for theatrical and popular entertainment events.
Dates
- 1809-1974
Language of Materials
Collection materials are primarily in English. Some material in German.
Extent
2.1 linear feet (7 boxes)Collection includes 19th and 20th-century programs and playbills from theatrical, musical, and popular entertainment productions held in the Boston area.
Biographical / Historical
Theater programs and playbills are printed lists of the acts, scenes, selections, or other features composing a play or theatrical entertainment, including the names of the performers. Typically a playbill is a single-sheet listing of acts with a short description, printed on one side of paper and a program is a folded piece printed on both sides, in leaflet, pamphlet, or booklet size.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by venue.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2010MT-11. Gift of Thomas Garrett ; received: 2010 October 9.
Forms part of the Fredric Woodbridge Wilson Collection of Boston Theatre (Harvard Theatre Collection).
General note
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. See access restrictions below for additional information.
Processing Information
Processed by: Ashley M. Nary
- Title
- Programs and playbills from Boston-area theaters and other venues, 1809-1974: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02562
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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