Backstage is a free online database for finding and searching performing arts collections in the U.K.
Thanks to Marianne Schultz for pointing out this link. Marianne is writing her thesis on New Zealand male dancers in the twentieth century.
You can use Backstage to find information about more than 400 institutions that have collections of performing arts material, collection level descriptions, and some item level descriptions within those collections. Backstage has high quality cataloguing, including retrospective conversion of existing records not currently in electronic format.
A couple of examples of the sort of thing you may find - an item level record:
Correspondence - from George Graveley Edwards to Eric Jones Evans, concerning the cold weather, his visit and the New Zealand Broadcasting Company (signed as Flambardos Mainomenos) |
Date(s):03/03/1962
Local identifier:Eric Jones-Evans Collection - University of Bristol - EJE/000996
Format:1 items; 14cm x 18cm; Written Document;
That is an item from this collection:
Eric Jones-Evans CollectionÂ
Owner institution name:University of Bristol
Description:Material relating to the theatrical work of Eric Jones-Evans (d.1989), actor and playwright, and his collections of items from the careers of Henry Irving, Bransby Williams and John Martin Harvey. Included are about 300 playbills relating to the Grand Theatre, Southampton.
Areas of interest:Henry Irving memorabilia; Henry Irving props; Victorian scores; Victorian promptbooks; Bransby Williams artwork; The Bells; melodrama
Format(s) of collection materials:Music scores; Books; Drawings; Costume designs; Costumes; Props; Documents (personal); Documents (production); Correspondence; Diaries; Written / typed ephemera; Photographs (portrait); Periodicals; Black & white prints; Audio tapes (cassette); Microform material (Microfiches); Playbills; Press cuttings; Posters; Programmes; Playtexts (Promptbooks); Playtexts (Typescripts); Set designs; Paintings;
Language(s) of material: English
Legal owner of collection:Owner: University of Bristol.
Copyright status:University of Bristol, with some exceptions. Contact Keeper for information.
Provenance:Owned by Eric Jones-Evans and donated by him to the Theatre Collection during the 1980s.
Location of collection:University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol
See all related records..
Subject heading(s):Melodrama; theatrical music; 19th century; 20th century [Library of Congress Subject Headings]
Subject keywords:Jones-Evans, Eric, d.1989; The Bells; Lewis, Leopold; theatre props; Victorian theatre
Associated names:Irving, Henry, Sir, 1838-1905; Williams, Bransby, 1870-1961; Lewis, Leopold; Harvey, John Martin, Sir, 1863-1944; de Silva, Nina, 1868/9-1949; Lyceum Theatre (Strand, London); Grand Theatre, Southampton;
Geographical coverage of collection:England; London, England; Bournemouth, England; Southampton, England; Australia
Time span over which collection was accumulated:1850s to 1980s
Temporal coverage of collection:1850s to 1950s
Date(s) of specific material:Grand Theatre, Southampton playbills: 1903-1926
Principle collector:Williams, Bransby; Jones-Evans, Eric
Finding aid(s):on-line catalogue
Collection Web site:http://www.bristol.ac.uk/theatrecollection