Houghton Readies Three New Rooms To House Large Theatre Collection

The greatest theatre collection in the world, housed in Houghton Library, is scheduled to get three special display rooms next month, so that it can better exhibit some of its treasures to the public. The Sheldon Room will display the works of Edward Sheldon '96, after whom the room is named, along with other material on 24th century drama. Costumes and scene designs from important productions will decorate the room.

The George Chaffee Room will be the new home of the University's collection on the history of the ballet--"one of the finest in the country." according to William B. Van Loanop '29, curator of the Theatre Collection. Drawings and prints will picture the ballet from the 16th century to the present.

The middle room, will contain display cases, indirectly lighted, and giving the impression of looking through the proscenium arch of a theatre.

All three rooms will be located on the ground floor of the library, replacing some of the stacks that now occupy the space.

Curiosities make up a good part of the collection. A special glans case houses the cigar that Edwin Booth was about to smoke when he died of a heart attack, and there is also the death mask of the great British actor, Edmund Koan.

A list of rules for the conduct of actors and actresses gives an intimate glance at "life upon the wicked stage" as practiced on the old Mississippi show boats. The regulations included a "$5 fine for fishing off boat," and "Actresses must not go around scantily clad, because this is not a beriescue show," and "Ladies, if you must smoke, do so in private as we do not want to see it."

The bulk of the collection consists of books, prompters' scripts, photographs, playbills, drawings, manuscripts and magazine and newspaper clippings.

The playbills number well over a million, including the earliest known English playbill, dated 1635, and the earliest American playbill, dated 1750.

Over 250,000 pictures from play scenes constitute one of the most important parts of the collection. These photographs are kept up to date, and include scenes from all of the latest Broadway productions, as well as plays of past years.

The theatre collection started in 1903, with the gift from actor John Drew of the books he had amassed during his career. But the collection found its biggest aid in the rivalry of two theatre-conscious graduates. Robert Could Shaw '69 and Everett Wendell '82. Shaw and Wendell often bid against each other at auctions. In their efforts to outdo each other, both of them built up splendid collections of books and mementons of the theatre. In the end, both gave their collections to the University, and Shaw became the first curator, serving from 1917 to 1925.

For many years, the collection was kept at Widener. But when Houghton Library was built, the collection was moved there, for storage in air-conditioned rooms.