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University of Texas at Austin

Texas Theater:

A Preliminary Inventory of the Collection at the Harry Ransom Center

Creator: Harry Ransom Center
Title: Texas Theater Collection
Dates: circa 1900-2008 (bulk 1962-1980)
Extent: Original inventory: 93 document boxes, 1 oversize box, 2 bound volumes, 4 masks, 1 unhoused model, 1 arc light (circa 40 linear feet); Addition: 10 document boxes (4.2 linear feet)
Abstract: This brief collection description is a preliminary inventory. The collection is not fully processed or cataloged; no descriptions of series or indexes are available in this inventory.
Call Number: PA-00088
Language: English
Access: Open for research

Administrative Information


Acquisition: Assembled by Theater Arts staff from various collections.
Processed by: Dixie Owen, 2002; Helen Adair, 2005; Helen Adair and Katie Causier, 2006-2007; Helen Adair, 2008, 2011; Helen Baer, 2012
Repository:

Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin

Scope and Contents


The Texas Theater Collection documents theater associations and regional theater companies throughout Texas, circa 1900-2008 (bulk 1962-1980). Included are playbills, souvenir programs, clippings, newsletters, photographs, business records, sound and film recordings, and posters. The collection is separated into four series: I. Texas Theater Associations (4 document boxes, arranged alphabetically by association name), II. Texas Theaters by City (81 document boxes, 2 bound volumes, arranged alphabetically by city, and then by theater or organization), III. Texas Theaters at Colleges and Universities (8 document boxes, arranged alphabetically by college name; materials related to Austin colleges and universities are filed in Series II under Austin), and IV. Objects (1 oversize box, 4 masks, 1 model, 1 arc light).
The majority of material documents theaters in Austin (circa 1903-1985), Houston (circa 1950-1980), and Dallas (circa 1936-1980). Other materials of note in the collection include Palo Duro Canyon State Park souvenir programs, clippings, scripts, business records, and sound and film recordings for Texas, the Musical, circa 1960-1986; Midland Community Theater playbills and newsletters, circa 1960-1980; Summer and Smoke production scripts used by the Orange Community Players; masks from the Garland Opera House in Waco, circa 1920; and models for Casa Mañana Amphitheater and Recreation Center in Fort Worth, and the Grand Opera House in Galveston.
Costumes owned by actor Zachary Scott (1914-1965), who was born and educated in Austin, Texas, were transferred to Ransom Center costumes and personal effects in 2012. A separate collection of records of the Paramount Theatre in Austin was transferred to the Austin History Center in 2011.
Note to Researchers
The finding aid for the Texas Theater Collection is a conflation of the original inventory created in 2002 and 2005, and of a small addition that was catalogued between 2006 and 2008. Currently the addition is described only by a Box List which has been appended to the original inventory, using the series arrangement established with the original inventory and continuing the box numbering sequence. The Scope and Contents note does not make reference to the addition.

Box List