Primary Sources - Performing Arts
Primary sources for the performing arts can be quite diverse. Scripts, images, artifacts, diaries, videos of live performance, newpaper reviews, playbills, motion pictures and more all can be considered primary sources for the performing arts.
Think of a primary source as:
- "firsthand evidence"; it is FROM the time, not ABOUT the time.
- written by the participants or observers.
- also an artifact of the time, or an actual image from the time itself.
Primary sources can be both published and unpublished. Published documents - books, newspapers, pamphlets, advertisements, government reports, laws, etc. Scholarly journal articles that report results of original research are also considered primary sources. As are unpublished documents - letters, diaries, financial records, etc. Oral and visual artifacts - objects produced by human craft, such as speeches, recordings, paintings, photographs, films, archaeological finds, etc. - are also consider primary. Here are just a few examples of materials that constitute primary sources...
Diaries and Correspondence
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| The Selected Letters of Anton Chekhov. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1984. | Ziegfeld Letter to Emily Holt from Lorenz Ziegfeld, June 14th 1929. Tamiment Library. |
Scripts/Prompt Books/Ephemera
Prompt books are plays, texts with notes, cues, blocking and other production information.
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| Playbill- The Train Ride by Robert Johnson, Jr. Directed by Pamela Bloom at the American Theatre of Actors, February 9-13, 2001. | Postcard- Yeats: Lenten Plays, Purgatory, Calvary and The Resurrection by William Butler Yeats, March 6th 8:00 PM Cathedral Church of St. John Divine, Directed by Mark Bloom |
Ephemera are items, such as posters, broadsides, and theatre tickets, that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles.
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| Wayang Kulit Puppet. | Ticket Stub- Looking for Limbo, The American Living Room, July 31st, 2006, Here Arts Center. |
Images
Actors
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Raritan Valley Community College, The Innocent's Crusade, Keith Reddin, November 2, through Saturday, November 5, at 7:30 p.m. in the Welpe Theatre at the College's North Branch Campus. Set design by Mark Bloom.
CAST: The cast is as follows: Derek Mazukiewcz,Candise King, John Pizzigoni, Shelly Brown, Savannah McVay, Will Sargent, Matt Vicari, Emese Salopek, Portia Maunatlaua |
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Dancer
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| Raritan Valley Community College Faculty Student Dance Concert, May 10 and 11, at 8 p.m., in the Nash Theatre at the College's North Branch Campus. December 2006, Choreography by RVCC faculty Stephanie Beauchamp, Loretta Fois, Mark Roxey and Jane Setteducato |
Newspaper Reviews
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| Review of Man and Superman. Illustrated London News. October 28th 1905. |
Sound Files
No Star Shines Sharper. A shadow play in verse for all ages, by Barbara BlatnerDecember 25, 2001. Radio broadcast on WFDU FM.
CAST: Rachel Whitman as Mary, and James Rana as the King
A Mystic Theatre Production
On the Internet
NYPL Digital Archive - http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/index.cfm
NYPL Digital Gallery provides access to over 450,000 images digitized from primary sources and printed rarities in the collections of The New York Public Library
Theatre Museum (PeoplePlay UK) - http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/
The PeoplePlay Uk project contains 1500 digitised artefacts and art works from the museum's unique collections.
PADS (Performing Arts Data Service) - http://ahds.ac.uk/performingarts/
AHDS Performing Arts has a number of collections related to music, dance, theatre, radio, film and television.
American Memory - http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Historic maps, photos, documents, audio and video
GloPac - http://www.glopac.org/
