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Brief history and organization
The Harvard Theatre Collection (HTC) is the oldest major theatre collection in the world. Although the Harvard College Library has included dramatic texts and books about the performing arts for centuries, the first recorded acquisition of theatrical material other than books dates from 1901. In 1915, spacious rooms in the newly-constructed Widener Library were set aside for the Theatre Collection, and its first curator, Robert Gould Shaw, was appointed. In 1948, the Theatre Collection became a department of the Houghton Library, which had opened in 1942. In 1950, new exhibition rooms were created on the ground floor of Houghton Library, and offices, stacks, and a reading area were created in the basement of the newly constructed Lamont Library. Pusey Library opened in 1976, at which time the Theatre Collection moved to its present facilities. Organizationally, HTC is one of six curatorial departments of the Houghton Library, whose reading room is now used by Theatre Collection researchers. The others are the Early Books and Manuscripts, Modern Books and Manuscripts, Printing & Graphic Arts, and Harry Elkins Widener Collections, and The Donald and Mary Hyde Collection of Dr. Johnson and Early Modern Books and Manuscripts.
Scope and Formats
For the researcher of costume design, or the contemporary costume designer, HTC's resources are represented in a wide range of formats. In addition to the over 50,000 art works and original designs in various media, the Collection offers over one million photographs, 100,000 engravings and prints, 10,000 posters, films and video recordings, and half a million manuscripts and letters which may contain costume sketches. In addition to this primarily visual material, researchers may make use of printed material and ephemera, such as the 20,000 rare books, 10,000 reference books, extensive newspaper clippings, and over five million programs and playbills, to help determine names, dates, and locations of designers and performances. Actual costumes are outside the Collection's scope, with rare exceptions (such as several costumes belonging to Michel Fokine).
The size, geographical origin, age, and method of acquisition of collections relating to costume design at HTC vary greatly. A particular focus in recent decades has been in costume designs for ballet companies in Russia, Western Europe and the U. S, most notably materials relating to...