University of Bristol Theatre Collection

The Theatre Collection was established in 1951 following a symposium led by Glynne Wickham which called for Universities to endorse the policy of studying drama in the context of theatre. Wickham instigated the purchase of its first acquisitions and laid the foundations for the Theatre Collection with funds awarded to the University of Bristol by the Rockefeller Foundation. From the outset it was designed to be a working collection of theatre history, to serve scholars and practising theatre artists alike. In 1969 the university made an award from its Appeal Fund to provide the Collection with adequate storage and access facilities within the department of drama. The Assistant Keeper from…

Including: Graham Barlow (d.2003), Deirdre Clancy, David Cockayne, Edward Gordon Craig (1872–1966), Frederick Crooke (1908–1991), John Elvery (1939–1997), Paul Farnsworth, Laurence Irving (1897–1988), Oliver Messel (1904–1978), Motley Theatre Design Group, Patrick Robertson (1922–2009) and Rosemary Vercoe (1917–2013), Owen Paul Smyth (1895–1979), Yolanda Sonnabend (1935–2015), Alan Tagg (1928–2002), Julia Trevelyan Oman (1930–2003) and David Walker (1934–2008).

The University of Bristol Theatre Collection holds a wide range of material generated by or related to British Theatre, composed of documentation, designs, playbills, posters, promptscripts, playscripts, costumes, ephemera, artworks (including photographs and magic lantern slides), and Audio-Visual material. The collection holds nine of the approximately twenty surviving Bristol Old Vic silver tickets, tokens issued to shareholders who helped fund construction of the theatre in 1766. The catalogue contains collections of: