Guide to the Chicago Theaters Scrapbooks, 1908-1915

The McCormick Library houses more than 235,000 of Northwestern University Library's most unusual and outstanding items and collections. The span of time and material types represented ranges from four-thousand year old Mesopotamian clay tablets to 19th century cobweb paintings to the most recent issues of feminist journals from around the world.

Formats collected include rare books and periodicals, manuscripts and archives, sound recordings, photographs, video/film, posters, prints, and realia.

• SubjectTheater--Illinois--Chicago--History--20th century

Gift.

Sigrid Pohl Perry, 2002. Encoded by Benn Joseph, 2014.

There are no restrictions on access of the materials in the department for research.

For additional archival theatre material, consult the Dublin Gate Theatre Archive, Lucy Wilson scrapbook (CXXX), Ira Aldridge Collection (IV), Edward Gordon Craig Collection (series C), McIntyre & Heath (CXXXIII), and the McCormick Library’s playbill collection. See also the department’s description on Theatre Resources.

This collection on Chicago area theatres consists primarily of three scrapbooks filled with clippings, programs, reviews, and publicity generated for the theatre seasons between 1908 and 1915. Performances were generally in theatres in Chicago or the surrounding area. Some of the scrapbooks have a performance index listing the plays included in the volume. There are many publicity photographs from playbills and the newspaper of actors, actresses and scenes from the stage performance. Cast lists for particular plays are included. Some performances have comments by the owner of the scrapbook.