Research Guides: Drama and Theater Resources: Design, Costuming, Management

Music and Performing Arts Librarian

Amanda DuBose

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315/443-4692

Subjects: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility, Music, Performing Arts

Design and Costume

The Costume Site "Online Costuming Sources for Historical, Science Fiction & Fantasy Costumers." Includes links to Internet costume images and to costume collections in museums.

The Costume Page Once the most comprehensive costume site on the Internet. Worth visiting for bibliographies and book lists, dictionaries, images from online costume books, links to museums, ethnic sites, and costume history.

Bloomsbury Fashion Central
Images, videos, reference, biographies, and peer reviewed articles for research in international fashion and dress and fashion as performance art. Includes the Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, the Valerie Steele Core Collection of fashion photographs, and videos from the YOOX-NET-A-PORTER Runway Archive Collections 1979 to 2003. Contains the modules Berg Fashion Library, Fashion Photography Archive, Fashion Video Archive.
WWD.com
Access note: Two simultaneous users only.
Daily fashion industry news. Covers business, fashion trends, retail, and markets.
Vogue Archive
Page images of U.S. Vogue from 1892 to present.

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Finding Primary Resources Research Guide

Historical Resources

ProQuest History
Search portal for multiple ProQuest databases, including Periodicals Archive Online, Humanities Index, American Periodicals 174-1940, digital National Security Archive, and others.

Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Reading Room Online Catalog
Describes about 95% of P&P holdings, includes many digital images. Can also browse by subject.

U.S. History
Journals and magazines covering U.S. history. Provided by NOVELNY.

Other History Databases
Click here to explore other history databases

Victorian Popular Culture
Archival Victorian popular culture collections including content from the Senate House Library, University of London; The Harry Price Library of Magical Literature; Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin; The British Library; the British Film Institute National Archive and more.

Stage Design

Digital Theatre Plus
If using Chrome, please download the latest version to ensure video playback. Streaming video collection of theatre, dance, musical theatre, opera, and film productions in many genres, as well as interviews and notes by practitioners about production, technique, lighting, design and more; includes content from provider such as the, BBC, Broadway HD, LA Theatre Works, and Royal Shakespeare Company.
Victorian Popular Culture
Archival Victorian popular culture collections including content from the Senate House Library, University of London; The Harry Price Library of Magical Literature; Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin; The British Library; the British Film Institute National Archive and more.
Bloomsbury Design Library
Books, reference, and museum object images for the scholarly study of design and crafts worldwide, from 1500 BCE to the present day. Includes the Encyclopedia of Design, Encyclopedia of East Asian Design, and exhibition archives from the Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco.

Stage Design by Gary Thorne; Tanya Moiseiwitsch (Foreword by)
ISBN: 1861262574
Publication Date: 1999-10-01
Stage Design: A Practical Guide is designed to meet the needs of students and amateurs as well as professionals. Written in non-technical language, and with an emphasis on scenery design, it provides a comprehensive guide to the artistic and technical aspects of the subject. Each chapter contains clear, concise information and instructive photos, concluding with practical exercises to stimulate inquiry and creativity. Among the topics covered are the foundations of stage art and design; theater types; the use of color; art and design materials; understanding stage dynamics; saving money through innovation and invention; planning and making small scale models of stage designs; scaling up and implementing a stage design in a theater; and analyzing the script for design pointers. Gary Thorne is a professional costume and set designer.
Stage Lighting by Richard E. Dunham
ISBN: 9781315562575
Publication Date: 2018-12-07
Stage Lighting: Design Applications and More builds upon the information introduced in Stage Lighting: The Fundamentals to provide an in-depth reference to a number of specialty areas of lighting design, from traditional applications such as drama, dance, and designing for different venues, to more advanced applications such as concert, corporate, film and video, virtual, architectural/landscape, and other forms of entertainment lighting. Each chapter gives the essential background, design practices, and equipment details for each specialization, so readers can make informed decisions and ask informed questions when encountering each field. The book provides insight on the latest technology and includes profiles of prolific designers, such as James Moody, Jeff Ravitz, Alan Adelman, and Paul Gregory. Stage Lighting: Design Applications and More is intended to help lighting designers translate their theatrical skills to other areas of lighting design, and provides guidance on how to take those initial steps into new ventures in their lighting careers.
Baroque Theatre and Stage Design by Mark S. Weil; Gerald D. Bolas (Foreword by)
ISBN: 0936316047
Publication Date: 1983-02-01

Photograph Resources

NYPL Digital Gallery
Explore 928,560 items digitized from The New York Public Library's collections.

This site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more.
LIFE Photo Archive
Search millions of photographs from the LIFE photo archive, stretching from the 1750s to today. Most were never published and are now available for the first time through the joint work of LIFE and Google.

ARTstor This link opens in a new window
Art, architecture, and archaeology images including images from the Smithsonian, the MoMA collection for architecture and design and the Schlesinger photograph collection on the history of women in America.
AP Images Collection
Associated Press images and audio recordings.
Syracuse Archivision E-Resource
First retrieve login and password, then connect to the electronic resource.
Collection of Greek, Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, 18th and 19th Century and modern architectural sites, including gardens and parks, city skylines, cityscapes and public art as well as other design related topics.
Life Magazine Archives
Page image archive of Life Magazine, from November 1936 (issue 1) to December 2000.
Rolling Stone Archive
Page images of Rolling Stone from 1967 to present.
Vogue Archive
Page images of U.S. Vogue from 1892 to present.
Grove Art Online This link opens in a new window
14 simultaneous users only.
The Dictionary of Art, edited by Jane Turner (1996, 34 vols) covering both Western and non-Western art, The Oxford Companion to Western Art, edited by Hugh Brigstocke (2001), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Art Terms, and the Encyclopedia of Aesthetics (2nd edition).
Trade Catalogues and the American Home
Explore domestic consumerism, life and leisure in America between 1850-1950 with Trade Catalogues and the American Home. This resource presents a wealth of highly illustrated primary source documents that highlight commercial tastes and consumer trends, and provide a valuable visual record for a breadth of interdisciplinary study.
World's Fairs
Explore the phenomenon of world's fairs from the Crystal Palace in 1851 and the proliferation of North American exhibitions, to fairs around the world and twenty-first century expos. Through official records, monographs, publicity, artwork and artifacts, this resource brings together multiple archives for rich research opportunities in this diverse topic.

Good Housekeeping
A consumer magazine focusing on issues for women, home and family. Regular departments include advice by Peggy Post, Hints by Heloise, and columns by Jane Bryant Quinn. Articles focus on health, beauty, relationships, fitness and interior decoration. Archival from 1977 to present.
General Interest Magazines
Search the Contemporary Women's Issues collection for General Interest Magazines to see a historical perspective of the home and entertainment.

Archival Resources

ArchiveGrid
ArchiveGrid includes over 7 million records describing archival materials, bringing together information about historical documents, personal papers, family histories, and more. With over 1,400 archival institutions represented, ArchiveGrid helps researchers looking for primary source materials held in archives, libraries, museums and historical societies.
Finding Aids: Special Collections Research Center
Use these to locate manuscript materials: letters, documents, sketches, drafts, and other "non published" material.
US National Archives
Explore US history through documents, photos, and records

Gale Primary Sources
Primary source interface for selected archival collections.
AM Explorer
Search across publisher Adam Matthew’s primary-source collections of digitized archival content from archives around the world on numerous subjects, including but not limited to literature, history, social issues, cultural studies, global trade, news, and more.
Readex AllSearch
Search across Readex databases, with content from historical newspapers, early American books, pamphlets, congressional documents and other governmental publications, on numerous subjects.

Digitized Archival Collections Focusing on Specific Topics and Themes

African American Archives
Military documents, letters, court records, and more from the 17th -20th centuries pertaining to African Americans.
African American Communities
Pamphlets, newspapers, periodicals, correspondence, official records, reports, and in-depth oral histories covering the experiences of African Americans. Focuses on themes of racism, discrimination and integration, and African American culture and identity primarily in the communities of Atlanta, Chicago, Brooklyn New York, and towns and cities in North Carolina from 1863-1986.
American Indian Histories and Cultures
Art, correspondence, diaries, business documents, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, photographs, printed books, treaties, and tribe records documenting early contacts between European settlers and American Indians, 1500-1998. Content digitized from the Edward E. Ayer Collection at the Newberry Library. Subjects covered include political, social, and cultural effects of early encounters; the turbulence of the Civil War; on-going repercussions of government legislation; and the civil rights movement.
Black Studies Center
Scholarly essays, articles, historical newspaper articles, related to Black Studies, from fields such as literature, political science, sociology, philosophy, and religion.
Black Thought and Culture : African Americans to 1975
Primary and secondary non-fiction writings, speeches, interviews, trials and other materials by black Americans.
China, America and the Pacific: Trade and Cultural Exchange
Primary source materials for the study of trade and cultural exchange between North America and China, as well as East Asia and the Pacific, from the 18th to early 20th centuries. Documents include accounts, business records, correspondence, ephemera, journals, manuscripts, maps, newspapers, illustrations, photographs, and printed books.
China: Trade, Politics and Culture 1793-1980
Correspondence, illustrations, maps, official papers, periodicals, personal accounts and manuscripts, photographs, and printed books documenting China’s interaction with the West spanning from the 18th to the 20th centuries. Documents relate to the 1792-1794 Macartney Embassy, the Opium Wars, the opening of Hong Kong, missions in China, the Boxer War, the 1911 revolution, the Communist Revolution led by Mao, and the Great Leap Forward.
Civil War Primary Source Documents
Primary source documents covering the Civil War, including the years leading up to the war and the fall of the Confederacy, from the collections of the New York Historical Society.
East India Company
India Office Records from the British Library, including royal charters, factory records, correspondence, trading diaries, minutes of council meetings, and reports of expeditions from 1599-1947. Documents relate to operations in India, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa.
Empire Online
Diaries, illustrations, maps, manuscripts, books, and reports documenting the rise and fall of the European colonial empires worldwide from 1750 to 1960’s. The principal focus is British, it also documents the experience of colonized peoples, focusing on history, politics, and culture.

Epistolae: Medieval Women's Letters
A collection of medieval Latin letters to and from women dating from the 4th to the 13th centuries, presented in the original Latin as well as in English translation. Organized by the names and biographies of the women writers or recipients, and supplemented with biographical sketches, descriptions of letters' subject matter, and contextual historical information.

Age of Exploration
Archival materials spanning five centuries of European maritime exploration, c. 1420-1920. These include audio and visual material; manuscripts and early printed materials; maps and visual content; and correspondence, journals and personal accounts. Themes covered include expedition planning, financing & sponsorship; ships & provisions; new territories; life at sea; indigenous peoples; navigation, scientific observations and instruments; and more.
America in World War Two: Oral Histories and Personal Accounts
Oral histories, correspondence, diaries, photographs, artifacts, and military records telling the stories of American military personnel and civilians during the second World War. Content is digitized from the National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana.
American History 1493-1945
Correspondence, diaries, government documents, books, pamphlets, broadsides, photographs, artwork, and maps, digitized from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York. Consists of two modules: Module I, Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 and Module 2, Civil War, Reconstruction and the Modern Era: 1860-1945.
American West
Broadsides, correspondence, diaries, drawings and illustrations, ephemera, financial records, maps, periodicals, photographs, and rare books documenting the westward expansion of the United States from 1718-1968.Covers papers of early pioneers, explorers and hunters; accounts of the Gold Rush; growth of railway and road networks; agricultural transformation of the West; Native American history and culture; and more.
Apartheid South Africa, 1948-1980
British Government documents about South Africa during the Apartheid regime spanning the period 1948-1980. Resources include documents, dispatches, reports, telegrams and handwritten embassy notes both from South Africa and from Britain, the United States and other powers. These provide first-hand analyses of South Africa's relationship with the international community, struggles with internal resistance, civil unrest and anti-apartheid organizations and the implementation of policies to forcibly remove black Africans into Bantustans.
China: Culture and Society
Books, photographs, historical surveys, encyclopedia and periodical articles, and statistical works documenting the culture, population, and geography of China from 1750-1929. Content is digitized from the Charles W. Wason Collection on East Asia at Cornell University Library.
Church Missionary Society Periodicals
Periodicals from the Church Missionary Society, South American Missionary Society, and the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society, published 1804-2009. Documents relate to missiology and world Christianity as well as material on broader themes in global history, education, healthcare and medicine. Includes modules 1 and 2.
Colonial America
Correspondence between the British Government and the American colonies, covering the period of 1606 to 1822. Includes charters, correspondence, diaries, business and financial documents, legal documents, legislation, newspapers, speeches, treaties, and warrants, digitized from CO 5 series from The National Archives, United Kingdom. Documents relate to English settlement, colonial legislation, warfare, taxation, trade and protectionism, religion, piracy and privateering, surveying and exploration, and war. Includes modules 1-5.
Confidential Print: Africa 1834-1966
Documents of the Colonial Office, Dominions Office and Foreign Office of the British Government specific to Africa from 1834 to 1966. Includes correspondence, dispatches, reports, and treaties. Documents relate to coastal trading in the early 19th century, the Conference of Berlin in 1884, the abuses of the Congo Free State, tropical diseases, Italy’s defeat by the Abyssinians, World War II, apartheid in South Africa, and the colonial moves toward independence.
Confidential Print: Latin America 1833-1969
Documents of the Colonial Office, Dominions Office and Foreign Office of the British Government specific to Central and South America and the French- and Spanish-speaking Caribbean from 1833-1969. Includes correspondence, dispatches reports, and treaties. Documents relate to slavery and the slave trade, immigration, relations with indigenous peoples, wars and territorial disputes, the fall of the Brazilian monarchy, British business and financial interests, industrial development, the building of the Panama Canal, and the rise to power of populist rulers such as Perón in Argentina and Vargas in Brazil.
Confidential Print: Middle East 1839-1969
Documents of the Colonial Office, Dominions Office and Foreign Office of the British Government specific to the Levant and the Arabian peninsula, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, and Sudan from 1839-1969. Includes correspondence, dispatches reports, and treaties. Documents relate to the Egyptian reforms under Muhammad Ali Pasha in the 1830s, the Middle East Conference of 1921, the mandates for Palestine and Mesopotamia, the partition of Palestine, the 1956 Suez Crisis and post-Suez western foreign policy, and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Confidential Print: North America, 1824-1961
Documents of the Colonial Office, Dominions Office, and Foreign Office of the British Government specific to the United States, Canada, the English-speaking Caribbean, and Central and South America, from 1824-1961. Includes correspondence, dispatches, reports, and treaties. Documents relate to slavery, Prohibition, the First and Second World Wars, racial segregation, territorial disputes, the League of Nations, McCarthyism, and the nuclear bomb.
Defining Gender
Primary source material from multiple museum and library collections relevant to the study of traditional gender roles, education, ideals of conduct, education, exercise, distribution of power within the family, and consumption and leisure. Primary sources include correspondence, diaries, ephemera, government documents, manuscripts, periodicals, printed books along with secondary material such as biographical information, chronologies, and topical essays.
Eighteenth Century Drama
Plays from the John Larpent Collection in the Huntington Library, as well as correspondence, diaries, legal and financial documents, and scrapbooks. Plays were those submitted for license from 1737 to 1824. Reference features include the London Stage 1660-1800, Biographical Dictionary database 1660-1800, an image gallery, thematic indexing, and background essays.
Ethnomusicology: Global Field Recordings
Produced in conjunction with the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive, this collection includes audio field recordings and interviews, educational recordings, film footage, field notebooks, slides, correspondence, and ephemera collected between 1905 and 2019.
Everyday Life and Women in America, c1800-1920
Primary resources on everyday life from 1800-1920, including political, social and gender issues, religion, race, education, employment, marriage, sexuality, home and family life, health, and pastimes. Emphasizes differences in regional, urban, and rural cultures.
First World War Portal
Letters, diaries, photo albums, posters, propaganda, interactive maps, film clips, and official documents offering an international perspective on the Great War. Includes modules for Global Conflict, Personal Experiences, Propaganda and Recruitment, and Visual Perspectives.
Food and Drink in History
Manuscript and printed cookbooks, menus, and advertisements documenting the history of food and drink in the United States and Europe from 1500 to 2000. Content addresses issues such as gender, race, status, agriculture, nutrition, and food production from both a culinary and socio-economic approach. Includes Modules I and II.
Foreign Office Files for China, 1919-1980
British Foreign Office files relating to China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan between 1919 and 1980. Sources include government documents, dispatches, correspondence, newspaper clippings, maps, reports detailing influential Chinese personalities, and economic assessments during the rise of the modern state.
Foreign Office Files for India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, 1947-1980
British Foreign Office files relating to South Asia, post- World War II. Content includes reports, dispatches, maps, photographs, analyses, and statistical information documenting social and political history of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Includes Modules 1-3.
Foreign Office Files for Japan, 1919-1952
British Foreign Office files relating to Japan during Imperialism, World War II, and occupation. Content includes diplomatic dispatches, correspondence, maps, newspaper clippings, and reports. Also includes files from the Western and American Department, and Far Eastern sub papers. Includes Modules 1-3.
Foreign Office Files for South East Asia
This collection follows the establishment of an independent Malaysia in 1963, following the release of the Cobbold Commission Report. Under President Sukarno, Indonesia strongly opposed this decision and hostilities between the two countries escalated. Alongside tensions with Malaysia, Indonesia would experience growing civil unrest in this period, with anti-Communist sentiments on the rise. Documents featured in this collection cover these fundamental events alongside a number of key themes, including trade, economic development and authoritarian rule in this period.
Foreign Office Files for the Middle East, 1971-1981
British Foreign Office files relating to the Middle East during the Arab-Israeli War, oil crisis, Lebanese Civil War, Iranian Revolution, and the Iran-Iraq War. Includes reports, dispatches, maps, photographs, analyses, and statistical information. Includes Modules 1-3
Frontier Life
Art, broadsides, diaries, memoirs, letters, photographs, maps, legal and business documents documenting the lives of people living at the edges of the Anglophone world from 1650-1920. It covers the colonial frontiers of North America, Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Gateway to North America: People, Places, and Organizations of 19th Century New York
Manuscripts, travel guides, maps, and other sources covering New York City from the 18th through early 20th centuries. Topics covered include industry, commerce, and immigration, from the collections of the New York Historical Society.
Global Commodities: Trade, Exploration and Cultural Exchange
Primary source materials related to trade of fifteen commodities, covering the 18th - 20th century, from a variety of collections including the American Antiquarian Society, British Library, and more.
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India, Raj and Empire
Facsimiles of diaries and journals, official and private papers, letters, sketches, paintings and documents from 1710-1937 related to the Britain and India, from manuscript collections of National Library of Scotland.
Literary Print Culture/The Stationers' Company Archive, London
Documents from 1554 to 1984 related to the development of the printing and publishing industries.
London Low Life
Victorian London documents, including maps, sketches, street views, scrapbooks, broadsides, and more from the Lilly Library, Indiana University.
Mass Observation Online, 1937-1972
Diaries, surveys, and more from the Mass Observation Archive University of Sussex, Special Collections.
Nineteenth Century Collections Online
Primary sources from the nineteenth century including monographs, newspapers, and pamphlets.
North American Indian Thought and Culture
Primary and secondary index to sources, including biographies, oral histories, photos, drawings and more from the 18th and 19th centuries related to North American Indians, Alaska Natives and Canadian First Peoples.
Oral History Online
Collection of oral history interviews.
Political Extremism and Radicalism in the Twentieth Century
Archive of primary source political extremist materials from collections such as the American Radicalism collection (Michigan State University), the Hall-Hoag Collection of Dissenting and Extremist Printed Propaganda (Brown University), the Searchlight Archive (University of Northampton, UK) and the National Archives (UK). Content includes oral histories, ephemera, campaign materials, government records, and more.
Shakespeare in Performance
Prompt books from the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Sixties: Primary Documents and Personal Narratives 1960-1974
Diaries, letters, autobiographies and memoirs, written and oral histories, memorabilia, and more related to the 1960s through 1970s.
Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice
Archival collection covering slavery from 1490-2007; focus areas include the African Coast, Underground Railroad, abolition, desegregation and more. Includes content from the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Victorian Popular Culture
Archival Victorian popular culture collections including content from the Senate House Library, University of London; The Harry Price Library of Magical Literature; Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin; The British Library; the British Film Institute National Archive and more.
Visual History Archive (Shoah Foundation and ProQuest)
Registration (free) required for first-time users.

Streaming video interviews and testimonies from genocide survivors and witnesses including content from the Holocaust, Armenian Genocide, 1937 Nanjing Massacre in China, the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and the Guatemalan Genocide of 1978-1996.
Women and Social Movements, International
Primary source collection of conference proceedings, books, pamphlets, articles, correspondence, diaries, non-governmental organization documents, and more focusing on women's international movements.
Women and Social Movements US 1600-2000
Primary source resources, including pamphlets, letters, speeches, and publications from women's organizations, archives, and other sources across the United States.