Subject Guide: Performing Arts

Adler Family Papers (P-890)

The collection consists of manuscripts and printed versions of plays, lectures, reviews, poems, songs, press notices, flyers, correspondence, memorabilia, Russian theater books, drawings, programs, and posters. There are photos and drawings of Lazar Freed and of the Adler family in performances and publicity stills. There are manuscript pages of an English translation of Celia Adler’s autobiography, which was never published.

Federal Theatre, Radio Division (New York, N.Y.) records (I-478)

Collection consists of press releases and program schedules relating to Federal Theatre's first Yiddish series entitled "Clinton Street" and a presentation of Dr. Joseph Goldberger's discovery of a cure for Pellagra. The Radio Division was a project of the WPA.

Friends of Ida Kaminska Theatre Foundation, Inc. Records (I-122)

The Foundation was formed in 1969 to establish, fund, and promote the Ida Kaminska Theatre in New York. The foundation put together one theatrical production, as financial difficulties forced it to stop activities in 1973. The collection includes correspondence, clippings, donor records, advertising and promotional brochures, mailing lists, board of director meeting minutes and attendance, as well as tax and financial documents. The collection contains mostly photocopied materials.

Jacob Fishman theater collection (P-37)

This collection contains the prompt-books for numerous plays, both those originally written in Yiddish as well as Yiddish translations of well-known authors. There is also an original play by Boaz Young and notes for a study on female Jewish writers.

The Molly Picon Papers (P-38) [Partially Digitized]

The collection consist of materials relating to Picon's career as a performer, especially in the Yiddish theater. Material includes plays, scripts, music, programs, and other theater items. The collection also includes personal material, such as correspondence, photographs, and scrapbooks. Much of the collection is in Yiddish. When possible, Yiddish transliterations were made directly from the Yiddish titles as written on the material itself and were made according to a consistent method, even when other transliterations were provided.

Theater and Film Poster Collection of Abram Kanof (P-978) [Digitized]

The collection consists of 331 posters representing 205 different theater and film productions. The earliest was produced in 1899 and the latest in 1970. The production with the most posters is The Green Millionaire, presented in 1915 in New York City. These posters are an important resource of information regarding the state of Yiddish theater and the cultural life of Jewish immigrants in the early 1900s, especially on the Lower East Side.

Henry Victor Besso Collection (ASF AR-9)

The Henry Victor Basso Collection documents the work of Henry Besso and reflects various aspects of his professional life, personal research and writing in the fields of Sephardic culture, Spanish language and history, linguistics and his involvement with Sephardic studies. There is an abundance of materials related to Besso's major interests, including Sephardic subjects, Spanish language and history, and linguistics. The collection includes most of Besso's manuscripts and articles.

The collection is divided into eight Series: (I) Alphabetical; (II) Benardete, Mair Jose; (III) Besso, Henry, Writings; (IV) Published Materials; (V) Sephardic Press; (VI) Sephardim in Many Lands; (VII) Subject Files; and (VIII) Unfiled. The records are arranged alphabetically by topic within each series. In many cases topics of different series overlap.

There is a wealth of materials pertaining to Sephardic literature and language that deal with themes such as the development of Judeo-Spanish (also known as Judezmo or Ladino), its growth and decline, and Sephardic Theater. These materials include various bibliographies of Sephardic literature, Sephardic proverbs and sayings, and biographical materials on Sephardic writers (Series I, Series II, Series III, Series VII, Series VIII). 

The Berlin Theater Collection (AR 3048) [Digitized]

Two scrapbooks containing Berlin theater programs, reviews and photos from newspapers and magazines of 450 performances in 30 Berlin theaters from 1913 to 1933.This collection has been entirely digitized.

Berlin to Broadway Collection (AR 25584) [Digitized]

This collection contains scripts, clippings, musical scores, playbills, correspondence, reviews, advertisements, photos, and other documents related to the production of “Berlin to Broadway with Kurt Weill: A Musical Voyage.” It was written and produced by Hank Kaufman and Gene Lerner who created the show to honor the life of Kurt Weill through his music.

Jewish Theater Collection (AR 2371) [Digitized]

This collection contains posters, programs, and newspaper reviews for performances of Jewish theater in cities in Germany, Austria, and Lithuania, including theater produced by and about displaced persons in post-World War II Germany.

The Kurt Hirschfeld Collection (AR 7066) [Digitized]

This collection, dating 1910-1966, contains manuscripts, lectures, clippings, photos, notebooks by Kurt Hirschfeld (a theatrical director and dramaturge) and others concerning the theater, plays, director's scripts, photos, and set designs. The collection includes correspondence of Hirschfeld with various individuals and institutions.

The Max Kowalski Collection (AR 7049) [Digitized]

This collection, dating 1909-1978, holds materials documenting the life and work of the composer and singer Max Kowalski, who was also active as a lawyer to many clients, including Arnold Shoenberg. He left Germany in 1939 and immigrated to London, where he died in 1956. The bulk of this collection consists of correspondence with various friends, fellow musicians, and other artists. Also included are concert programs, reviews, biographical articles and obituaries. This collection is microfilmed; use MF 724. 

Esther-Rachel Kaminska Theater Museum Collection (RG 8) [Digitized]

The collection comprises materials that were once part of the Esther Rachel Kaminska Theater Museum at the YIVO Institute in Vilna. It contains play manuscripts, programs, playbills, posters, photographs, correspondence, agreements, scrapbooks, clippings, printed ephemera, and memorabilia relating to Yiddish theater, primarily in the early twentieth century, especially the interwar period.

Records of the Hebrew Actors' Union (RG 1843)

This collection consists of the administrative records of the Hebrew Actors’ Union and relates to the professional lives of celebrated actors, producers, directors, and playwrights, as well as materials concerning several Yiddish theaters in New York and in other cities. The materials include hundreds of music scores, dozens of play scripts and thousands of pieces of correspondence with numerous individuals, theaters, unions, and other organizations.

The Yiddish Theater Collection (RG 118)

A collection of dramas, radio programs, film and stage actor biographies, theatrical posters, programs, invitations, tickets, correspondence, circulars, playscripts, clippings, photographs and contracts relating to the Yiddish theater throughout the world. Including large files on David Kessler, Boris Thomashefsky and Jacob P. Adler.