Archives: Special Collections
Boston Herald Theatre Clipping Collection
Let's Pretend Script Collection
Prix d'Italia Script Collection
Sigmund A. Lavine Gilbert and Sullivan Collection
Boston Herald Theatre Clipping Collection
This collection provides a comprehensive and critical overview of theater productions that played in Boston between 1870 and 1970. It includes approximately 5,500 folders containing reviews, programs and articles related to specific productions and prominent individuals in theatre and the performing arts. Although the majority of materials come from Boston newspapers, it is not unusual to find reviews from try-out towns such as New Haven, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. and from New York City papers. The bulk of the materials pertain to performances given between the early 1920's and the late 1960's, although the collection includes materials dates as early as 1870 and as late at 1976.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by title of subject (i.e. individual, performance, group or festival). An index to the collection is available in the Archives. The collection is stored off-site and two days notice is required to use the collection.
Let's Pretend Script Collection
Let's Pretend was known as radio's outstanding children's theatre program. From 1939-1954, it delighted the very young with tales of witches and goblins, princes and princesses, leprechauns and talking animals.
The Let's Pretend Script Collection consists of scripts for 51 episodes broadcast between 1951 and 1954. The scripts broadcast between 1951 and 1952 were produced by the advertising agency Batten, Barton, Durstine and Osborne for the show's sponsor, Cream of Wheat, and those written between 1953 and 1954 are the work of Nila Mack and other CBS writers. A comparison of scripts written in these two periods provides early evidence of the impact of television advertisers on children's programming.
The collection also includes scores and orchestra parts for the Let's Pretend theme song and incidental music composed by Maurice Brown.
Norman Lear Script Collection
The Norman Lear Script Collection consists primarily of scripts from the television program, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, episodes 103-324. In addition, there are scripts from America 2-night, Barney Miller, Happy Days, Fay, Alice, T.G.I.F., the Jeffersons, Different Strokes and Maude. These scripts are available for study purposes only, i.e. no performance or photocopying is allowed.
Prix d'Italia Script Collection
The collection consists of nearly three hundred radio and television scripts which have been given one of Europe's most prestigious media awards. The collection spans the dates 1956 through 1972, with the bulk of the collection falling between 1960 and 1972. Formats include radio and television dramas, documentaries and musical programs. Geographically, the collection represents work submitted from Europe, North America and Japan. An index by author, title, format, country and year is available in the Archives.
Sigmund A. Lavine Gilbert and Sullivan Collection
The Sigmund A. Lavine Gilbert and Sullivan Collection provides a detailed record of the careers of W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan and the groundbreaking productions of their works by the D'Oyly Carte players in Great Britain and the United States. The collection spans the period from 1864 to 1989 with the bulk of the material dated between 1870 and 1940. The type of materials in the collection include books, photographs, correspondence, programs, posters, press releases, librettos, scores, orchestral parts, sheet music, trade cards and newspaper and magazine clippings. The collection also includes information on R.N. Burnside's Boston Comic Opera Company. An index to the collection is available in the Archives.
