Accessible at UCLA Library Special Collections
For inquiries and access to UCLA Library Special Collections, please contact LSC staff directly. More information is on their webpage.
- Actors' Laboratory recordsThe Actors' Laboratory of Hollywood was a non-profit professional theater and school which existed from 1941-52. The collection includes financial and legal records, material regarding curriculum, enrollment, policies, and scholarships, minutes from executive board and committee meetings, memos, correspondence, a scrapbook with newsclippings, and notes on the history of the Lab.
- Collection of California theater playbills, 1869-2004.Collection consists of playbills predominately from Los Angeles, California. Includes playbills for live drama, musicals, and variety theater productions. Also includes material from other California cities. The bulk of the collection dates from the 1940s on.
- Collection of early Los Angeles Hispanic theater postersCollection of theater posters for performances in 1924 and 1928 at two of the five principal Hispanic theater houses in Los Angeles: the Teatro Capitol (338 S. Spring St.) and the Teatro México (110 S. Main St.).
- Collection of material about the Federal Theatre Project, 1936-1990The Federal Theatre Project was funded by the U.S. government as part of the Works Projects Administration (WPA) to create jobs for unemployed theatre workers during the Great Depression (1935-39). The collection includes copies of scripts from a collection on the Federal Theatre Project's scripts at George Mason University, videotaped interviews with Gene Stone and Jeff Corey, and statements made before the House Committee on Un-American Activities and Subcommittee on Appropriations.
- Center Theatre Group records, 1967-2000s.Collection consists of materials pertaining to theater productions at the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre and assorted Center Theatre Group business papers pertaining to the various programs offered by the organization.
- East West Players recordsAs the first Asian American theater founded in 1965, East West Players and its history provide valuable account of Asian Pacific American experience. The collection spans 1965 to 1992 and includes administrative files, financial records, and production related files consisting of scripts, photographic material, programs, publicity, sound recordings and videos.
- Edmund W. Raab collection of photographic slides, 1950-1974, bulk 1960-1969.Collection consists of 35 mm color slides of theatre performances, nearly all from the Los Angeles area from the 1950s-1970s. The photographs were taken at the Biltmore, Shrine Auditorium, the Huntington Hartford, the Music Center, the Shubert, at UCLA and some small theaters.
- Federal Theatre Project Scripts and Publications, 1936-1939The Federal Theatre Project (FTP) was a part of the Works Progress Administration (1935-39) and was the first arts endeavor to be extensively funded by the U.S. government. The FTP staged plays reflecting the reality of Depression-era America, created opportunities for minorities, and brought new audiences to theaters. The collection consists of plays, synopses of plays, lists of plays, radio scripts, and three volumes of folk songs and ballads.
- Los Angeles Opera Theater Records, 1979-1985Collection consists of the personal donations of Johanna Dordick relating to the Los Angeles Opera Theater (originally named the Los Angeles Repertory Theater).
- Ralph Freud Theatre, Motion Pictures and Television Interviews, 1961-1970Ralph Freud (1901-1973) was a stage actor in Detroit before becoming the director at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. In 8 years, he played over 200 roles and directed more than 40 productions. In 1938, he became a lecturer for theater courses in the English Department at UCLA and was active in the creation of a separate Theater Arts Department, where he became a full professor and emeritus professor. The collection consists of taped interviews with theater, motion picture, and television professionals, conducted by Ralph Freud, Victor Jory, and Professor Freud's students from UCLA's Theater Arts Department.
- Tillie Frankenthal's scrap book / compiled by Tillie FrankenthalA scrapbook documenting the social life of Tillie Frankenthal of Los Angeles, California during the turn of the century. It is a collection of dance cards, theatre programs and clippings specific to the Burbank Theater and its players, clippings of American theater actors, holiday greeting cards, photographs, and personal handwritten notes.
UCLA Production Records and Documentation
For inquiries and access to UCLA Library Special Collections, please contact staff there directly. More information is on their webpage.
- University of California, Los Angeles Department of Theater Arts collection of production material for theater performances, 1947-1993.Collection consists of production material for theater performances staged by Univ. of CA, Los Angeles Theater Arts Dept. faculty and students. Includes photographs, list of cast and company members, playbills and promotional items, casting information, annotated scripts, set and costume designs, blocking diagrams, lighting schemes, and prop lists.
- Ralph Freud Theatre, Motion Pictures and Television Interviews, 1961-1970Ralph Freud (1901-1973) was a stage actor in Detroit before becoming the director at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. In 8 years, he played over 200 roles and directed more than 40 productions. In 1938, he became a lecturer for theater courses in the English Department at UCLA and was active in the creation of a separate Theater Arts Department, where he became a full professor and emeritus professor. The collection consists of taped interviews with theater, motion picture, and television professionals, conducted by Ralph Freud, Victor Jory, and Professor Freud's students from UCLA's Theater Arts Department.
- Scene change, role change : oral history transcript / William W. Melnitz ; interviewed by Bernard Galm, [1976].Transcript of a four-hour interview completed under the auspices of the UCLA Oral History Program. Forms part of: Oral History collection, Dept. of Special Collections, University Library, University of California, Los Angeles. Melnitz recalls his upbringing in Germany, his early theater work there, teaching at UCLA, and his role as founding dean, College of Fine Arts.
- Scrapbook of Los Angeles theater programs, ca.1903-1915.Call Number: YRL Special Collections Boxed Monographs at SRLF Scrapbook 163ISBN: 9938965613606533Forms part of the Scrapbook Collection (Collection 155) in Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA.
UCLA: The First Century by ISBN: 9781906507374Date: 2012-06-16UCLA: The First Century is an extensively illustrated hardcover book which follows a chronological historical narrative with in-depth sections on campus traditions and the history of Bruin athletics. Since the UCLA History Project was launched in 2004, UCLA have been chronicling a full account of their alma mater, from humble beginnings to their current standing as one of the world's most prestigious public research universities. The research and editorial team for this publication delved into the untold number of historical documents and photographs preserved in UCLA's archives and beyond, interviewed numerous members of the UCLA community, and searched for materials and anecdotes that were on the verge of becoming permanently lost or forgotten.
Other Collections in Los Angeles
- Theater Bills — USC Special CollectionsA collection of 18 Los Angeles theatrical playbills dating from 1917 to 1920. 13 of the playbills from from the Trinity Auditorium, and the remainder come from the Philharmonic Auditorium, the Orpheum, the Gamut Club at the Temple Auditorium, and the Mason Opera House.
- Theater in Los Angeles Scrapbook, 1886-1924Programs and some clippings from Los Angeles theaters. Bulk of the material is from 1886-1890.