This has come in from The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin:

We are accepting applications for short and long-term research fellowships that will make use of our archival collections in the 2019-2020 academic year. Fellowships range from one to three months with monthly stipends of $3,500 (domestic) or $4,000 (international). Also available are travel stipends and dissertation fellowships with stipends of $2,000 (domestic) or $2,500 (international).

The stipends are generously funded by individual donors and organizations, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Dorot Foundation, the Carl H. Pforzheimer Endowment, and the Marlene Nathan Meyerson Photography Fellowship Endowment. Additional details about fellowships including recent recipients and application instructions can be found on our website.

Fellowships are not required to access the collections.

RESEARCH CONSULTATIONS AND VIRTUAL OFFICE HOURS

Applying for research fellowships can be difficult if you have not visited the specific institution before to see what they have. Every archive is different, and some search strategies are not always readily apparent. Also, if your research has not yet depended extensively on archival research or you are a graduate student just starting out, you may find “digging-in” to be a daunting prospect.

To that end, I am offering informal video chats and virtual office hours via Google Hangouts where we can discuss your research. I can highlight specific collections that might support your work, offer search strategies specific to the Ransom Center’s holdings, and provide advice on what other research centers and archives might be worth investigating given your specific topic. These consultations are free and available to anyone researching performance and performance history. For more information, or to make an appointment: https://www.stagestories.org/virtual-office-hours/

Additionally, if you are teaching archives or research methods courses and I can be of assistance, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS IN PERFORMING ARTS

Theater Biography Collection
The massive Theater Biography Collection (over 500 linear feet) is a growing collection that documents the careers of British and American performing arts figures. A searchable database includes over 11,000 entries for the Biography Collection and over 5,500 entries for the Performing Arts Card Photograph Collection. http://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/BioFile/.

Dance
Ballet Russes Costumes, Richard Buckle, Mary McLarry Bywaters, James Clouser, Marquis George de Cuevas, Dance Costume Collection, Fred Fehl Dance Photographs, Joffrey Ballet Collection, Lincoln Kierstein Scrapbooks, May O’Donnell Collection, Giovanni Vittorio Rosi, Rhonda Winter Russell, Ruth St. Denis’ Radha, Ted Shawn Collections

Playwrights and Composers
Maxwell Anderson, Sebastian Barry, Samuel Beckett, Edward Chodorov, T.S. Eliot, David Hare, Lillian Hellman, John Holmstrom, Alfred Jarry, Adrienne Kennedy, David Mamet, Terrence McNally, Arthur Miller, John Osborne, J. B. Priestley, Elmer Rice, George Bernard Shaw, Sam Shepard, Tom Stoppard, Arnold Wesker, Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, Sandy Wilson

Directors
Frith Banbury, John Russell Brown, Harold Clurman, Augustin Daly, Harley Granville-Barker, Joan Littlewood, Edward Mangum, B. Iden Payne, James Roose-Evans Konstantin Stanislavsky

Performers
Stella Adler, Wilson Barrett, Sarah Bernhardt, Edwin Booth, Chris Castor, Charles Dibdin Family, Robert Downing, Edith Evans, Spalding Gray, Burl Ives, Anne Jackson, Ada Rehan, J. Scott Smart, Laurette Taylor, Eli Wallach, Virginia Vernon, Roland Young

Design
Boris Aronson, B.J. Simmons Costume Co., Norman Bel Geddes, Edith Lutyens Bel Geddes, Gordon Conway, Edward Gordon Craig, Eldon Elder, L. & H. Nathan Costume Designs, James Newton

Music, Musical Theater, and Opera
Merle Armitage Scrapbooks, The Black Crook Collection, Paul Bowles, Concert Programs Collection, Harry H. Frazee, Patrice Munsel, Musicians Collection, Opera Collection, Irra Petina, Sheet Music Collection, John Philip Sousa, Jule Styne, Arnold Sundgaard, Fred Waring, Jerome Weidman

Blackface Minstrelsy
Al Emmett Fostell Papers, George C. Howard and Family Collection, Minstrel Show Collection, Uncle Tom’s Cabin Collection

Vaudeville, Magic, and Circus
Barnum & Bailey Collection, Chautauqua Collection, Chauve-Souris Collection, Circus Collection, Circus Costume Collection, Harry Houdini, Magic Collection, McManus-Young Magic Book Collection, Pantomime Collection, Tony Pastor, Popular Entertainments Collection, Joe E. Ward Circus Collection, “Sliding” Billy Watson

Photographers and Artists
Joseph Abeles, Fred Fehl, Bob Golby, Al Hirschfeld, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Prints Collection, Poster Collection, Production Photo Collection

Critics, Managers, Companies, Misc.
Donald Albery, Max Beerbohm, Donald Wolfit Shakespeare Co., Mel Gussow, William Winter, Audrey Wood, Florenz Ziegfeld, Opera Collection, Pantomime Collection, Playbills & Programs Collection, Puppetry Collection

Finding aids for many of these collections can be found here.

The Harry Ransom Center also holds a large collection of early and rare books.

The opportunity to research across historical, literary, artistic, and scientific collections can be an asset to anyone’s project. For a broad topical overview of the Ransom Center’s holdings, please see our Guide to the Collections.

DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

The Harry Ransom has digitized several of its collections in the performing arts, and more are added regularly. Recently posted collections include the 1751 travel diary of David Garrick, audio interviews of playwrights and literary figures from New York Times culture critic Mel Gussow, and material relating to Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s 1988 play Diatriba de amor contra un hombre sentado. Listings of the performing arts digital collections can be found here.

The general Ransom Center Digital Collections Portal can be accessed here.

Please do not hesitate to reach out directly with questions. I look forward to hopefully welcoming you to the Ransom Center in the near future.

Eric Colleary, PhD

Cline Curator of Theatre and Performing Arts
Harry Ransom Center | The University of Texas at Austin
P.O. Box 7219 | Austin, TX 78713-7219

Faculty, Performance as Public Practice Program, University of Texas Department of Theatre and Dance, Advisory Committee, American Theatre Archive Project (ATAP), Website Manager, Theatre Library Association (TLA)

Web: http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/collections/performingarts
Email: eric.colleary@austin.utexas.edu
Phone: +1 512.475.6502
Twitter: @ecolleary