University of Guelph Library
L.W. Conolly Theatre Archives Introduction |
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Introduction to the Guide The acquisition in 1969 of a
small collection relating to the family of David Garrick--the first item
listed in this Guide to The L.W. Conolly Theatre Archives at the University
of Guelph--gave no indication of the direction that theatre archives
at Guelph were subsequently to take. The second acquisition--materials
from the Stratford Festival--began to set one of the principal
directions, and the third--papers of the English
theatre historian Walter MacQueen Pope--nudged at the other principal
direction. It was the fourth acquisition--the archives of the Shaw Festival,
deposited in 1983--that firmly established the dual focus and identity
of the Guelph theatre archives: the work of Bernard Shaw and modern Ontario
theatre. Guelph holdings of Ontario theatre archives are unrivalled. In addition to Shaw and Stratford, most of the major Ontario theatres are represented, and a number of prominent individual theatre artists have also deposited personal archives, among them George Walker (#52), Tomson Highway (#71), Christopher Newton (#75), and Judith Thompson (#104), as well as other prominent playwrights, actors, directors, and designers. Although all of these artists have been active in theatre in Ontario, their work transcends provincial boundaries, of course, and has had national and international impact. It has also been possible to preserve the records of a number of theatres that, sadly, have closed in recent years, among them, for example, Open Circle (#5), Phoenix (#6), NDWT (#15), Theatre Plus (#18), Black Theatre Canada (#31), and Toronto Workshop Productions (#57). Theatres from outside the Toronto area are well represented by companies such as Theatre Terra Nova (#70) and Theatre Aquarius (#78) from Hamilton, the Blyth Festival (#26), the Lighthouse Festival from Port Dover (#76), and Ottawa's Great Canadian Theatre Company (#79). And although English is the predominant language of theatre in Ontario, francophone theatrical culture is represented by the archives of Le Theatre Francais de Toronto (#19). Children's theatre (Young People's Theatre, #12, the Carousel Players, #46, Theatre on the Move, #96), native theatre (Native Earth Performing Arts, #50), gay and lesbian theatre (Sky Gilbert Collection, #84), multicultural and community theatre (Black Theatre Canada, #31, Cahoots Theatre Projects, #91, Eramosa Community Players, #62), and various forms of theatre outside the mainstream (Toby Gordon Ryan Collection, #30, Theatre Smith-Gilmour, #65, Theatre Columbus #69, Outaouais Popular Theatre, #93, and Necessary Angel, #100) are other facets of the rich complexity of Ontario and Canadian theatre reflected in the Guelph archives. Archives of major national professional organizations are also housed at Guelph, including the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (#17), the Associated Designers of Canada (#42), and the Playwrights' Union of Canada (#56), while the archives of the Association for Canadian Theatre Research (#32) and the records of the 1991 International Women Playwrights Conference (#64) provide two examples of the preservation of important research and scholarship resources. By
far the majority of collections relate to twentieth-century theatre, but
there are one or two interesting exceptions, including the Garrick Family
Papers (#1) mentioned above. Other exceptions include small collections
on a nineteenth-century Toronto Opera House (#8), British actor Edmund
Kean (#9), late nineteenth-century U.S. and Canadian music halls and theatres
(#23), and London's Independent Theatre (#41). The collections in this Guide are listed chronologically by date of deposit whenever possible. A brief description of the contents of the collection is given, followed by an approximate indication of the size of the collection (number of boxes or files or shelf space occupied). Where appropriate, I have also provided some historical or contextual comments, usually marked by discreet critical neutrality, but it has been hard to avoid an occasional judgement (non-contentious, I hope). The index will alert users to overlaps and connections among various collections. There is, for example, a major George Walker collection (#52), but the index reveals that important Walker material is contained in several other collections. The Guelph theatre archives expanded rapidly during a period when Ontario university budgets contracted with equal or greater rapidity. It has therefore been an enormous challenge for a limited library staff to keep up with the formidable task of sorting and cataloguing the collections. They have succeeded, nonetheless, in preparing finding aids or online indexes for most collections. Potential users of the collections should, however, bear in mind that some collections have not yet been fully sorted and indexed, and parts of some collections are held in off-campus storage sites. In a few instances depositors have placed restrictions on access to some material. It is always wise, then, to contact the library (see below) before visiting the archives. Issue #11 (1988) of the University of Guelph Library's occasional publication Collection Update is devoted to the theatre archives. Articles from this issue are cited as appropriate in this Guide. Copies of Collection Update are available from the Library. My own contribution to that issue, "Ruminations of an Archivist Manqu," gives a whimsical perspective on the early years of the development of the archives. It would not have been possible to build the Guelph theatre archives so quickly and effectively without the enthusiastic interest and cooperation of donors, individuals and organizations alike. Drama faculty members at Guelph and many other people have also been supportive over the years in building the archives and making them accessible for research. It is impossible to recognize them all individually, but special thanks are due to successive Chief Librarians at Guelph--Margaret Beckman, John Black, and current Chief Librarian Michael Ridley--for their encouragement and support, and to Library staff members Nancy Sadek, Tim Sauer, and Bernard Katz. Lorne Bruce, the librarian currently responsible for Archival, Rare, and Special Collections, has been especially helpful in establishing the internet version Guide, as have all of his staff--Linda Amichand, Amy Gillingham, Ellen Morrison, Pam O'Rielly, Bev Buckie, and Darlene Wiltsie. Information on other theatre archives in Canada can be found in the Directory of Canadian Theatre Archives, compiled by Heather McCallum and Ruth Pincoe (School of Library and Information Studies, Dalhousie University, 1992). The research files for this publication are held in the Guelph archives (#87.) |
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Leonard
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