Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 1016 volumes and 2,215 portfolios

Summary

1. The Robinson Locke collection consists of dramatic scrapbooks and portfolios containing clippings, programs, photographs, prints, and letters documenting American theater history.
2. The collection documents the work of actors, singers, and other artists connected with the stage, including Maude Adams, Margaret Anglin, Theda Bara, David Belasco, Sarah Bernhardt, Billie Burke, Mrs. Leslie Carter, Henry Dixey, Geraldine Farrar, William Faversham, Mrs. Fiske, Mary Garden, Henry Irving, Richard Mansfield, Julia Marlowe, Alla Nazimova, Olga Nethersole, Jan Paderewski, Anna Pavlova, Lillian Russell, and E.H. Sothern. It also depicts the early film careers of Ethel Barrymore, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and Mary Pickford, composers from George M. Cohan to Richard Wagner, and hundreds of other performers. The collection also contains materials on African-Americans and Europeans in the New York theater and scrapbooks of notable vaudeville and burlesque performers.

Subject

1. Adams, Maude, 1872-1953
2. Anglin, Margaret, 1876-1958
3. Bara, Theda, 1885-1955
4. Barrymore, Ethel, 1879-1959
5. Belasco, David, 1853-1931
6. Bernhardt, Sarah, 1844-1923
7. Burke, Billie, 1885-1970
8. Carter, Leslie, Mrs., 1862-1937
9. Chaplin, Charlie, 1889-1977
10. Cohan, George M. (George Michael), 1878-1942
11. Dixey, Henry E., 1859-1943
12. Fairbanks, Douglas, 1883-1939
13. Farrar, Geraldine, 1882-1967
14. Faversham, William, 1868-1940
15. Fiske, Minnie Maddern, 1865-1932
16. Garden, Mary, 1877-1967
17. Irving, H. B. (Henry Brodribb), 1870-1919
18. Mansfield, Richard, 1857-1907
19. Marlowe, Julia, 1865-1950
20. Nazimova, 1879-1945
21. Nethersole, Olga, 1870-1951
22. Paderewski, Ignace Jan, 1860-1941
23. Pavlova, Anna, 1881-1931
24. Pickford, Mary, 1893-
25. Russell, Lillian, 1861-1922
26. Sothern, E. H. (Edward Hugh), 1859-1933
27. Wagner, Richard, 1813-1883
28. Theater -- United States -- History -- 19th century
29. Theater -- United States -- History -- 20th century
30. Actors
31. Singers
32. Burlesque (Theater)
33. Minstrel shows
34. Vaudeville
35. Black people in the performing arts -- New York (State) -- New York

Genre/Form

1. Clippings.
2. Programs.
3. Photoprints.

Call number

1. NAFR+

Note

1. Also known as the Robinson Locke collection of dramatic scrapbooks.
2. Microfilm must be used for viewing the collection in all cases where it exists.

Additional formats (note)

1. is also available on microfilm;
2. is also available on microfilm

Source (note)

1. Locke, Robinson

Biography (note)

1. Owner and editor of the Toledo Blade, an Ohio newspaper founded by his father, Locke was a serious collector of material documenting American theater history.
2. From the 1890s, Locke served as drama critic for his newspaper under the name of Rodney Lee. Starting as a small reference collection of theatrical clippings to support his work, the collection expanded by gift and purchase. Soon a growing staff was required to clip all items of theatrical interest from the many national newspapers and magazines Locke received, and to paste the material into scrapbooks. Locke often travelled to New York to attend performances and Toledo was frequented by touring companies. According to Locke's wife, for many years until his death, every musical or dramatic artist who visited Toledo, visited Locke and his collection and almost always donated an autographed portrait. Locke was married twice: in 1886 to Kate King who died in 1894, and in 1909 to Mabel Dixey, a former actress, who gave addenda to the collection after his death.

Indexes/finding aids (note)

1. Cards available in card catalog.
2. An index to programs bound in Series 1, compiled by the State, County and Local Historical Survey of the WPA, is available as a finding aid.

Processing action (note)

1. Cataloged

Author

1. Locke, Robinson, 1856-1920. Collector

Title

1. Robinson Locke collection, 1870-1920.

Additional formats

1. Series 1 is also available on microfilm; Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; call number *ZC-528.
2. Modjeska-Montgomery volume in Series II is also available on microfilm; Billy Rose Theatre Division, call number *ZC-511.
3. Envelope 1426 in Series IV (Charles Meakins) is also available on microfilm; Billy Rose Theatre Division, call number *ZC-200.

Additional formats

1. Mrs. Leslie Carter (Series II, vol. 27) is also available on microfilm: Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; service copy number: *ZC-609.

Biography

1. Owner and editor of the Toledo Blade, an Ohio newspaper founded by his father, Locke was a serious collector of material documenting American theater history.
2. From the 1890s, Locke served as drama critic for his newspaper under the name of Rodney Lee. Starting as a small reference collection of theatrical clippings to support his work, the collection expanded by gift and purchase. Soon a growing staff was required to clip all items of theatrical interest from the many national newspapers and magazines Locke received, and to paste the material into scrapbooks. Locke often travelled to New York to attend performances and Toledo was frequented by touring companies. According to Locke's wife, for many years until his death, every musical or dramatic artist who visited Toledo, visited Locke and his collection and almost always donated an autographed portrait. Locke was married twice: in 1886 to Kate King who died in 1894, and in 1909 to Mabel Dixey, a former actress, who gave addenda to the collection after his death.

Indexes

1. Cards available in card catalog.
2. An index to programs bound in Series 1, compiled by the State, County and Local Historical Survey of the WPA, is available as a finding aid.

Connect to:

1. NYPL Digital Collections
2. Request Access to Theatre Division Special Collections material
3. Finding Aid

Research call number

1. NAFR+
2. *ZC-528
3. *ZAN-*T36