Scope and Content Note
The American Playbills Collection contains over 4,000 programs for American theatre productions in states other than Arizona from 1871-2014. The majority of them are from professional theatre productions in New York City. Also included are programs from Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington DC, Boston, and several other cities. Some have ticket stubs, autographs, and fliers for other productions.
This collection is divided into three series: Series I: American Playbills with Dates; Series II: American Playbills without Dates; Series III: Newspaper Program Advertisements.
Series I is arranged first by year (1888-2014), then alphabetically by the title of the play. Also listed is the name of the theatre where the show was performed or the company title and the city.
Series II, undated, is arranged alphabetically by the title of the play.
Series III, 1871-1901, 1930-1931, is arranged first by year, then alphabetically by the title of the play. These playbill listings were printed in newspapers and popular periodicals of the time and list the cast, production and artistic team names, number of acts, and sometimes a brief plot summary.
Dates
- Creation: 1871-2014
Language of Materials
Material in English
Access Restrictions
To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.
Copyright
Arizona State University does not own the copyright to this collection. We recognize that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.
Biographical Note
Irene Romo and her husband, Alfred, were Phoenix-based frequent theatre-goers who collected numerous playbills during trips to see shows.
Full extent
57 Box(es)
Full extent
27.75 Linear Feet
Abstract
The American Playbills Collection contains over 4,000 programs for American theatre productions in states other than Arizona from 1871-2014. The majority of them are from professional theatre productions in New York City. Also included are programs from Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Washington DC, Boston, and several other cities. Some have ticket stubs, autographs, and fliers for other productions.
Arrangement
This collection consists of fifty-seven boxes divided into three series:
- Series I: American Playbills with Dates
- Series II: American Playbills without Dates
- Series III: Newspaper Program Advertisements
Provenance
Playbills were donated to Special Collections starting in the 1980s by many donors, sometimes only one or two at time. Major donations of playbills were given by Margaret Knapp (#2011-04526 and #2004-03395) and by Irene Romo (#2003-02771).
- Title
- American Theatre Playbills Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Rielly Smith under the guidance of Archivist Katherine Krzys.
- Date
- 2017
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding guide encoded in English.
Repository details
Part of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Repository
Contact
Arizona State UniversityP.O. Box 871006
Tempe AZ 85287-1006 United States
(480) 965-4932
archives@asu.edu