Research Guides: *Theatre: Special Collections and Archives

FSU Special Collections & Archives

FSU Libraries Special Collections & Archives advances research by acquiring, preserving, and providing access to original primary source materials. Here are just a few of the collections at FSU Libraries that might be of interest to students and scholars of the visual and performing arts:

The FSU Digital Library also provides online access to thousands of unique manuscripts, photographs, pamphlets, rare books, historic maps and other materials from across the FSU campus libraries and beyond.

Degen Resource Room, FSU School of Theatre The Degen Resource Room was established through a gift from John A. Degen, professor at the School of Theatre. In addition to his private collection of books, manuscripts, personal works, music, and teaching materials, Professor Degen also provided the funds for creating a resource room to house this burgeoning collection. The mission is to aid in the School of Theatre’s mission by providing media and library resources to help develop artists and scholars who have a lifelong passion for the arts. Please follow link for location and hours.
Finding Aid for the Howard Holtzman Collection on Isadora Duncan, ca. 1878-1990, UCLA Special Collections, Young Research Library Materials include dance programs and photographs, correspondences, writings by Isadora Duncan, objets d'art created by her brother, research materials compiled by her biographer.
Library of Congress Performing Arts Reading Room The Performing Arts Reading Room is the service point for the broad and diverse collections of the Music Division at the Library of Congress. Includes approximately 12 million items and spanning more than 800 years of Western music history and practice.
The Metropolitan Art Museum Costume Institute The Costume Institute's collection of more than 35,000 costumes and accessories represents five continents and seven centuries of fashionable dress, regional costumes, and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.
Museum of the City of New York: Costumes and Textiles Collection This collections preserves over 25,000 garments and accessories dating from the mid-18th century to the present, including gloves, fans, stockings, shoes and boots, parasols, collars, ties, hats and headresses, and purses as well as costume jewelry. Other primary source materials directly related to the history of fashion trends and the fashion industry in New York City include photographs, clippings from periodicals, vintage store catalogues and bound fashion publications.
Museum of the City of New York: Theater Collection The Theater Collection traces the relationship between New York City and theater from the late 18th century to the present day. The archive includes set and costume drawings, posters, original playscripts, thousands of costumes and props, photographs, and a major Yiddish theater collection.
Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris (Musée Galliera) French fashion and costume history from the 18th century to the present.
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Music, dance, recorded sound, and theatre archives.
Royal Shakespeare Company Archives More than 2,500 costumes, props and designs dating from the 1800s to today offer an overview of the way theatrical performances have changed. They also hold over 4,000 artworks in the form of paintings and drawings, prints and sculpture which record stage productions, artistic interpretations of Shakespeare's work and depictions of actors in and out of character. Some of these date from the 1600s.
SIBMAS - International Association of Libraries and Museums of the Performing Arts Lists over 7000 international institutions with material relating to the performing arts (theatre, opera, music, ballet, film, circus, radio, television, cabaret, pantomime.
Theatre Archive Project @ The British Library The Theatre Archive Project is a collaboration between the British Library and De Montfort University. The project aims to reinvestigate British theatre history 1945-1968, from the perspectives of both the theatregoer and the practitioner.
Theatre Historical Society of America THSA preserves the architectural, cultural and social history of America's theatres. Through its collections and publications, THSA makes available information on more than 15,000 theatres in the form of photographs, slides, negatives, books, blueprints, clippings, videos, printed programs, and other material on historic theatres, primarily in the U.S.
Victoria & Albert Museum Theatre & Performance Collections The Theatre & Performance collections are an incredible resource that document current practice and the history of all areas of performing arts in the UK, including drama, dance, opera, circus, puppetry, comedy, musical theatre, costume, set design, pantomime, popular music and more.

500 Years of Italian Dance: Treasures from the Cia Fornaroli Collection at the New York Public Library Assembled by Walter Toscanini, son of the famed Italian conductor, and his wife the La Scala ballerina Cia Fornaroli, the collection documents the full sweep of Italian dance history from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century.
ARTstor Subject Guide for Theatre This site highlights ARTstor content related to theater and dance, including images of costumes, venues, and staged performances from around the world, as well as portraits and performance shots of notable playwrights, theater directors, choreographers, set and costume designers, actors, and dancers.
Dance in Photographs and Prints at the New York Public Library Scores of dance photographs feature specific dancers, and range from publicity stills to professional photographers' vintage prints.
Digital Public LIbrary of America (DPLA) The Digital Public Library of America is a free, online library that provides access to millions of books, photographs, maps and audiovisual materials and more from libraries, museums and archives across the United States.
Dramatis Personae Archive European dance, theater, and visual arts from 1600 to 1850.
Europeana A portal to +20 million digital items from +1,500 European archives, libraries, museums from 32 countries. In mutliple languages, the portal includes links to texts (books, newspapers, etc.), images (works of arts, maps, etc.), video (film, TV broadcasts, etc.), and sound (music, radio broadcasts). Both public domain and materials still in copyright are included. For those in copyright, you may not have complete access to the items. Links in Europeana go out to the institution hosting the digital item.
NYPL: Billy Rose Theatre Collection Over 55,000 digital images of pamphlets, clippings, costume designs, and photographs of performances and actors.
NYPL Digital Gallery NYPL Digital Gallery provides free and open access to over 685,000 images digitized from the The New York Public Library's vast collections, including illuminated manuscripts, historical maps, vintage posters, rare prints, photographs and more.
Performing Arts in America 1875 -1923 A searchable database of 16,000 objects of photography, recorded sound, and film documenting American performing arts.