When Your PALs Let You Down

Hello to all my performing arts pals! Today I followed up on my last blog about PALs and visited the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library on the University of Maryland campus. I did not have to make an appointment but I did anyway just because I think it’s the state of the union right now with COVID and what not, plus it helps me and the attending information desk humans to plan for what to look at. I had been emailing with Ben and we made an appointment and discussed looking through a specific collection of photographs by Stanford Barouh. Mr. Barouh was active in photographing the DC-area theatre scene from 1989 to 2007 (I believe) and he had photographed productions with some organizations that I had also done photography or graphic design work for including the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage and The Studio Theatre. The finding aid also included work from the Port Tobacco Players which was my local community theatre growing up where I had done numerous shows, so I was definitely interested in seeing this collection to draw personal connections.

When I got to the library, I went to the welcome desk and the girl there did not know what exactly to do when I said I was there for my appointment in the reading room, but there was someone else there who took me back to the reading room and went to get Ben for me. Everyone was very friendly and welcoming and there were no sign-in sheets or security measures to worry about to gain entry. In fact, the door to the reading room was wide open. Once Ben entered the room he asked if I had any specific parts of the collection that I wanted to look at because it was a large collection with numerous folders. I referred back to the finding aid and first asked to see work from The Kennedy Center and Arena Stage. He told me he would be right back and went to go get the folders. After a few minutes he returned and I had already put gloves on so he mentioned that he was happy to see that and provided with a few dividers to mark where I had taken folders out. He also told me that I was not allowed to take photos of the collection due to copyrights and that if I wanted copies of anything I just needed to let him know and then he would take me through the appropriate steps. I spent about 30 minutes looking through these folders and was really in awe at how he did this type of work with film and used photo-manipulation techniques in the dark room to make these prints usable by their organizations for press and advertising. Once I was done, I gave him the box of folders back and asked if he could grab the folders from The Studio Theatre and Port Tobacco Players and he went to get those for me and came back with The Studio Theatre stuff. He said he would be right back with the other folders so I started looking through the ones I had. Then he came back and gave me some sad news. When the photos were processed and labeled for Port Tobacco Players, THEY WERE LABELED WRONG! Apparently, PTP also stands for “Potomac Theater Project” and that’s what those photos were actually of. So the finding guide was wrong and they did not actually have the photos I was really hoping to see. Regardless, it was still really fascinating to see his work and how he approached the difficulties of shooting that type of event on film, and it was interesting to see the history of theatre and how much has changed in production value, costuming and staging.

I would say that I fulfilled half of my goal for the day… I got to see relevant work from a professional photographer who did work like mine, but in the analog era of photography, but I really wanted that nostalgic look at some photos from my hometown theatre group. Ben did everything that he could and provided me with everything that he actually had access to. I did do a search on the UMD Libraries’ catalog and found a hit in the Special Collections at Hornbake for a Port Tobacco Players playbill from 1950, so I went to go take a look at that and… drumroll please… THAT DOCUMENT WAS MISSING TOO! So no dice for me on the nostalgia front, but that’s okay.

I might not have gotten to relive a fond part of my childhood today, but I would still encourage all my theatre geeks out there to give it a try if you’re looking for old programs, reviews and photographs to stir up those old fuzzy feelings about your favorite venue. The staff is super friendly and helpful in spite of the shortcomings of some of the finding aids. There are also music, dance, and AV collections and a collection of musical scores if that’s your fancy. Just for funzies… here’s a little collage of me (with hair!) from my acting days…

What a PAL! Performing Arts Libraries as Resources

HELLO EVERYONE! It has been a very long time since I have contributed anything to this little blog and there’s simply just been too much life to catch you up on (maybe some highlights in subsequent posts). The main thing right now is that I just started grad school at the University of Maryland this semester! I will be getting my Master’s in Library and Information Science degree in a little under three years and I have been obsessing about the different types of libraries, archives, repositories, you name it, that exist in the world. DID YOU KNOW that Performing Arts Libraries are a thing? This is for all my theatre nerds, dramaturgs, writers, researchers and performing arts movers and shakers.

To scratch the surface, I kept my search small. I selected two local Performing Arts Libraries (PALs - see what I did there?) and for a little razzle-dazzle selected a performing arts archive located in NYC. Below is a little comparison for what you can expect to find at the web-sites of these institutions and what you may be able to use them for.

1. The Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library

Photo by Geoff Sheil.

8270 Alumni Drive, College Park, MD 20742

Located in the The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the University of Maryland campus, The Michelle Smith PAL opened it’s doors in 2000. Although it is not explicitly listed as the mission statement, a simple Google search divulges that the mission is “to connect people to collections that inspire and enable research and creativity”. Their holdings include 56,000 books, 156,000 musical scores, 130,000 audio and video recordings, 4500 microform titles and 281 active journal subscriptions. They divide the work on their website into two distinctive departments: Special Collections in Performing Arts and International Piano Archives at Maryland. The web-site appears to be under construction (some pages only say that as their content), but I do have to say that the Piano Archives certainly appears to have the upper hand regarding their online content. It’s categorized, presents different links to collections and provides links to research guides, and once you go to the “Collection Holdings” tab there is an alphabetized list of different composers and what materials they have for that person (note: also says it’s under construction). The Special Collections tab does have an index with finding aids but does not appear to have any online content. As for services, they list Reference and Library Instruction, Circulation Services, and Course Reserves under the “Services” heading. There was not much information under the “News, Event, Exhibits” tab except for “The Art & Craft of Puppetry” exhibit which ended July 29, 2022. The website certainly needs some updates and more information to truly be helpful and informative, but I will cut them some slack since it is still under construction and I will probably be doing a visit soon to see what I can sleuth. It seems to me that this institution would be more for the performing arts scholar who is doing research on history, or someone who is really trying to be innovative to create new work. It is definitely useful for pianists who may want access to sheet music, scores, or other historical documents belonging to composers.

2. The Folger Shakespeare Library

Photo from Encyclopædia Brittanica website

201 E Capital Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003

The historic building that houses this collection is in the heart of D.C. but The Folger Shakespeare Library is currently closed for a massive renovation. They are offering all of their programming online currently though! Their mission is “to advance understanding and appreciation of Shakespeare’s writings and the culture of the early modern world.” So this one is more for you classics fanatics while Michelle Smith is probably more for the dramaturgs and scholars who are looking to innovate. Their holdings are, you guessed it, mostly centered around Shakespeare’s materials from the 16th century to present, but also includes books, manuscripts, and prints from the Renaissance Era. There are 260,000 printed books, 60,000 manuscripts, 90,000 prints, drawings, photos, paintings and other works of art, 250,000 playbills, as well as films, recordings, stage costumes and more. They provide some access to their materials online through LUNA, a searchable online catalog, Folgerpedia, and “The Collation” which is a blog. As for services, WOW are there services! There is a conservation lab, reference services, a whole education department with programming and events, the Department of Photography and Digital Imaging, an “Ask a Librarian” widget and a lot more. They also have an “Upcoming Folger Events and Programs” ticker right on their home page so that you can easily see when upcoming events are instead of searching through the site. I would say this was probably the most impressive of the three website I checked out because it has a little bit of everything you would need to understand what they offer. This one is definitely suited to historians and people who have a profound love for the classics. It also seems to delve more into material culture, both today and what it meant for the people of the time, so it would be an excellent resource for museum researchers, art historians and conservationists as well.

3. The Shubert Archive

Photo from Lyceum Theatre page on IMDb.com

149 W 45th Street, New York, NY 10036

This one is not local. The Shubert Archive is located in NYC at the Lyceum Theatre and it is a wing of The Shubert Organization. Their mission is “to preserve and make available to researchers the business and artistic records of the Shubert Brothers and The Shubert Organization.” Their holdings “document every aspect of the Shubert company history” since the 1890s. They have thousands of sheets of vintage architectural plans, 3000+ costume items, 600+ scores, 120 linear feet of photographs, 1000+ window cards and 11,000+ scripts, which is very impressive when you’re considering that these works are highly specific since they all come from the Shubert Brothers. That being said, this archive would best serve researchers who are looking for very specific or niche information about the Shubert’s, their business, their productions, etc. It would also be very useful for theatre professionals who are looking for inspiration or accurate ideas for future productions of any of their past works, or anything set in the early 1900s. I do have to warn you that the website does not really list any services, so the scope of what it would be really helpful for other than the two previous sentences is a bit murky. I did send them an email so we shall see what they say. They do have an “Arrange a Visit” widget on their contact page and they also publish “The Passing Show” which is an annual publication about The Shubert Organization’s history and you can read the latest issue online by clicking the link. As far as online content, they give a little sneak peak of each of their collections, like photos of productions or related actors and actresses, business records, costume items, etc.

So anyway… that about sums it up and barely scratches the surface for the number of PALs out there. I encourage all of my pals who read this to get out there and see what PALs you can find in your area! I certainly wish I had known more about this when I was acting and researching for roles. Who knows what could have been accomplished?