Kenneth L. Graham Collection

Collection

Identifier: MSS-206

Scope and Content Note

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The Kenneth L. Graham Collection, 1935-1996, is comprised of vitas and resumes; certificates and awards; production lists; flyers; personal, production and publicity photographs; newspaper and periodical articles; a dissertation abstract and excerpt; research for plays and written works; audition forms and videos; essays; conference programs; directories; periodical advertisements; newsletters; obituaries; personal and business correspondence; notebooks; play analyses; programs; a puppet; promptbooks; lighting plots; cast lists; class notes; syllabi; radio scripts; musical scores; class handouts; exams; sheet music; postcards; itineraries; speeches; grant information; class reports; student papers; published books with annotations and/or inscriptions; video and audio tapes; phonograph recordings; ephemera; handwritten notes; and an academic cap and gown. The collection, with bulk dates of 1936-1942 and 1946-1992, documents Graham's university teaching career at the University of Minnesota; his academic and professional directing and acting career; his college education; his summer teaching at Cain Park Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio; and his travels abroad and to New York City to study theatre techniques.

Series I: Biographical (1937-1996) contains biographical material written by or about Kenneth Graham and research materials. It is arranged chronologically. Included are vitas and resumes; certificates and awards; production lists; flyers; personal and publicity photographs; newspaper and periodical articles; dissertation abstract and excerpt; research for written works; audition materials; essays; conference programs; directories; periodical advertisements; newsletters; obituaries; correspondence; notebooks; and play analyses. Of note are a University of Minnesota list of productions, Young People's University Theatre history; Skippy routine and flyers; an unpublished play written by Graham; photographs of Graham at Cain Park Theatre in 1944; a notebook for a theatre company for seniors for which Graham was the secretary; and his director/observership notes for two plays directed on Broadway in the winter of 1960: Becket directed by Peter Glenville, starring Anthony Quinn and Sir Lawrence Olivier, and All the Way Home directed by Arthur Penn.

Series II: Production (1936-1992) documents the adult and theatre for young audiences plays directed, performed or designed by Graham. This series is arranged chronologically. Included are promptbooks with technical notes and blocking; screenplays; published playscripts; programs; production schedules; lighting plots; reviews; photographs; research; cast lists; sheet music; musical scores; radio scripts; and newspaper articles. Of note are a production of As You Like It with Graham as assistant director of Dina Rees Evans at the University of Iowa in 1936; Children's Theatre of Evanston and Northwestern productions; Cain Park Theatre productions; and University of Minnesota children's theatre productions. Bulk dates are 1936-1937, 1940-1942, 1946-1965, and 1969-1992.

Series III: Class Notes (1935-1989, most undated) contains Graham's class notes from over 40 years of teaching theatre history, speech, motion pictures, stage lighting, creativity, scene design, puppetry, acting, creative drama, theatre for children and theatre in Twin Cities classes at the University of Minnesota, Cain Park Theatre and at other universities. This series is arranged by course title. Included are syllabi; handouts; exams; lecture notes; research; grant information; class reports; student papers; and brochures. Of note are extensive class notes for creative drama, theatre for children and theatre history.

Series IV: West Germany Trip (1936-1968) documents Graham's visit and theatre tour in the West German Republic as a guest of the Cultural Foreign Office during the summer of 1967. Included are photographs, negatives, postcards, itineraries, theatre programs, brochures, and a speech. This series is arranged by material type. Of note is a speech Graham presented at an AETA (American Educational Theatre Association) conference in 1968, titled West Germany: Oh! Impressions.

Series V: Sabbatical Theatre Trip (1964-1975) documents Graham's sabbatical trip visiting 35 cities in Eastern and Western Europe, Mexico and Los Angeles, California to study acting and theatre teaching techniques. Included are itineraries; articles; conference proceedings; research; brochures; fliers; theatre periodicals; correspondence; programs; photographs; and handwritten notes. This series is arranged by city visited. Of note are Graham's notes on the teaching techniques and performances that he observed. Also of note are T.I.E. (Theatre-In-Education) demonstration sessions materials from the Greenwich Young Peoples' Theatre in England. Bulk dates are 1974-1975.

Series VI: British and Chinese Tours (1981-1993) documents organized theatre tours lead by Graham from 1981-1993 to England and China. Included are itineraries; participant lists; brochures; photographs; a briefing packet; lecture notes; and research for play selection. This series is arranged chronologically.

Series VII: Production Photographs (1940-1967) contains production photographs of children's theatre and two adult plays directed by Graham at Cain Park Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio and at the University of Minnesota. This series is arranged by production company, then chronologically. Of note is an early production of the children's play Seven Little Rebels and a production of Peter Pan at Cain Park Theatre. Bulk dates are 1940-1942, 1948-1951.

Series VIII: Ephemera (undated except for one item) contains personal objects that were donated with the papers. Included are Graham's doctoral academic cap and gown; gifts presented to Graham by casts; the AATE Campton Bell Lifetime Achievement Award plaque; Graham's College of Fellows medallion; and Skippy, a puppet that was used by Graham to welcome audiences to performances for youth at the University of Minnesota. For the dialogue spoken by Skippy, see Box 1, folder 12.

Series IX: Oversize (undated) contains materials that were too big to fit in the document boxes in the other series. Document removal forms were inserted in the appropriate files in the other series to direct patrons to the items in these boxes.

Series X: Audio/Visual (mostly undated) contains audio and visual documentation of Graham's work in commercials and industrial films; his demo publicity tapes; and recordings of music used in classes to motivate drama. Included are: 3/4" videotapes, audio cassettes, and 78 rpm and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph recordings. This series is arranged by material type.

Series XI: Annotated Books (copyrights 1928-1980) contains books with notes in margins and underlining by Graham or with inscriptions or dedications to Graham. Book subjects include acting; creative drama, dialects, costuming, introduction to the theatre, playscripts, and children's theatre. This series is arranged by book title.

Dates

Creation: 1935-1996
Creation: Majority of material found within 1936-1942, 1946-1992

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

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Dr. Kenneth L. Graham, director, actor, university professor and administrator, and theatre for youth specialist, was born in Coffeyville, Kansas on April 15, 1915. He began studying theatre at a junior college in Kansas and went on to receive a B.A. in Theatre from the State University of Iowa in 1937. He did graduate work at the University of Southern California and the University of Minnesota before earning an M.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University in 1939. While at Northwestern he studied under the tutelage of children's theatre professor Winifred Ward. Graham continued his studies at the University of Utah and received his Ph.D. in Children's Theatre in 1947. His dissertation, An Introductory Study of Evaluation of Plays for Children's Theatre in the United States, is noted as the first doctoral study written on the field of children's theatre.

Graham taught speech and dramatics at North Kansas City High School in Missouri from 1937-1948 during breaks in his education and his stint in the Army. In the summers of 1941-1942 and 1946-1948 Graham was the director of the School of the Theatre at Cain Park Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.

From 1942-1946 Graham served in the United States Naval Reserve as Captain of a submarine chaser in the Caribbean escorting convoys and as an instructor of anti-submarine warfare in Miami. Graham married Barbara Fowler in 1945 and they had two children, Sherry and Greg. Barbara (Fowler) Graham passed away in 1969.

Graham's University of Minnesota academic career began as a teaching assistant in 1939 and ended when he retired in 1980 and was named Professor Emeritus. While there, Graham held the position of teaching assistant (1939-1942), assistant professor (1948-1952), associate professor (1952-1957), and professor (1957-1980). He served as Chairman of the Department of Speech-Communications and Theatre Arts from 1964-1971 and as Chairman of the Department of Theatre Arts and Director of the University Theatre from 1971-1977. His courses taught included Stage Directing; Styles in Acting; Advanced Acting; Beginning Acting; Creative Drama with Children; Children's Theatre; History of the Theatre; Play Production for Secondary Education; Oral Interpretation of Literature; Film and Drama; Scene Design; and Playwriting.

During his tenure at the University, Graham directed over fifty musicals and plays for adults and children. He supervised the University of Minnesota Young People's Theatre and the Peppermint Tent from 1940 until 1980. He created a liaison between the children's theatre program and the Minneapolis public schools so local school children could experience theatre. His plays directed for young audiences included Charlotte Chorpenning's Emperor's New Clothes, Huckleberry Finn, Seven Little Rebels, and Caddie Woodlawn. He served as Director of the United States Office of Education's summer institutes for training teachers in creative drama in 1968 and 1969.

The following adult productions directed by him were invited to perform at the American College Theatre Festival (ACTF) and received awards of excellence: The Lower Depths by Maxim Gorky in 1979 and The Man Who Came to Dinner in 1980. His production of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris was selected by the U.S.O. to tour the Pacific bases in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Okinawa, and Guam in the winter of 1977.

Graham was an accomplished actor and appeared on stage, in films, and in television and radio commercials. He belonged to the Actors Equity Association, the Screen Actors Guild, and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The majority of his professional stage and film performances happened after his retirement from the University of Minnesota in 1980. His photograph also appeared in print advertisements.

Graham was active in national and regional theatre organizations. He served in the following positions for the American Theatre Association (ATA), formerly known as the American Educational Theatre Association (AETA): President in 1964, Vice-President in 1963, Executive Secretary-Treasurer from 1956-1958, Board of Directors from 1955-1967, Director of the Children's Theatre Conference (CTC) from 1952-1953, and Director of the University Resident Theatre Association (URTA) from 1976-1977. He was a member of the organizing committee of AETA/ANTA and helped to formulate plans for what became ACTF. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis from 1976-1977; on the Board of Trustees at the American Playwrights Theatre from 1963-1977; and as a Research Consultant for the United States Office of Education from 1966-1968. In 1960 he received a director observership from the Ford Foundation to work on professional productions of Becket and All the Way Home in New York City.

His chapter titled Values to Children from Good Theatre in the book Children's Theatre and Creative Dramatics is considered by many to be a seminal publication in the field. He also served as project director and edited the report titled Relationships Between Educational Theatre and Professional Theatre: Actor Training in the United States: A Report on the University of Minnesota Conference, February 3-6 and May 26-31, 1966. This report appeared in a special issue of the Educational Theatre Journal in November 1966.

When Graham traveled, he often included theatre-related activities in his itinerary. He was a guest of the West German Republic Cultural Foreign Office during the summer of 1967. During his sabbatical in 1974-1975, he visited 35 cities in Eastern and Western Europe to investigate acting and theatre teaching techniques. Following his retirement, Graham hosted tours to London for a Minnesotan travel agency, in 1984 leading tours to both London and China.

Kenneth Graham passed away on February 8, 1996 at his home in Minneapolis. The Kenneth L. Graham Graduate Endowment was set up in his honor at the University of Minnesota Department of Theatre Arts.

His awards include: induction into the American Theatre College of Fellows in 1968; the 1995 AATE (American Alliance for Theatre & Education) Campton Bell Lifetime Achievement Award; the 1981 CTC (Children's Theatre Conference) Creative Drama for Human Awareness Award; and the 1967 CTC F. Loren Winship Secondary School Theatre Award.

Full extent

46 Box(es)

Full extent

25 Linear Feet

Additional description

Abstract

The Kenneth L. Graham Collection, 25 linear feet, contains the papers of Kenneth L. Graham, director, actor, university professor and administrator, and theatre for youth specialist, dating from 1936 through 1996. It is divided into the following series: Biographical, Production, Class Notes, West Germany Trip, Sabbatical Theatre Trip, British and China Tours, Production Photographs, Ephemera, Oversize, Audio/Visual and Annotated Books. The largest part of the collection is Series II: Production, which documents Graham's professional and academic acting and directing career. Also of note are Graham's class notes for creative drama, theatre for children, and theatre history.

Arrangement

This collection consists of forty-six boxes divided into eleven series:

Series I: Biographical (Boxes 1-3)
Series II: Productions (Boxes 4-16)
Series III: Class Notes (Boxes 17-21)
Series IV: West Germany Trip (Box 22)
Series V: Sabbatical Theatre Trip (Boxes 23-25)
Series VI: British and Chinese Tours (Boxes 26-27)
Series VII: Production Photographs (Boxes 28-29)
Series VIII: Ephemera (Boxes 30-36)
Series IX: Oversize (Boxes 37-38)
Series X: Audio and Visual Materials (Boxes 39-41)
Series XI: Annotated Books (Boxes 42-46)

Provenance

The Kenneth L. Graham Collection was received from Kenneth Graham in 1987 and from his son Greg Graham and his daughter Sherry (Graham) Nelson in 1996 (Accession #2004-03260*, 2004-03578*, and 2004-03579*).

Related Materials

Interested researchers may also wish to consult:

MSS-261: Dina Rees Evans Papers, which include materials describing Graham's teaching and directing at Cain Park Theatre in Cleveland Heights, Ohio (finding aid available at http://www.azarchivesonline.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/asu/evans.xml.)
The CTC/CTAA/AATY/AATE Collection's administrative papers from 1952-1953, the years that Graham was the President of the Children's Theatre Conference (CTC).

Processing Note

This collection was processed by David Saphier, Library Aide in Special Collections and Master of Fine Arts graduate student in Theatre for Youth, under the supervision of Katherine Krzys, Curator of the Child Drama Collection, 1999.