Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Oenslager, Donald, Mrs

Description

1. 71 linear feet (103 boxes)

Summary

1. The Donald Oenslager Papers and Designs span the years 1922-1982 and reflect his long and varied career as a stage designer, professor, consultant, writer, and lecturer. The collection consists of set and costume designs, technical drawings, elevations, manuscripts, and correspondence with other prominent theater designers.The largest parts of the collection are the production and technical designs, which include extensive amounts of elevations, rough sketches, renderings, materials samples, notes, and correspondence. Almost every play, musical, ballet, opera or other project on which Oenslager worked is represented in the collection. Oenslager corresponded with notable theater people of his time; many of them not only were colleagues but friends. Five boxes of correspondence include letters from Edmond Appia, Boris Aronson, Robert Edmond Jones, and Jo Mielziner. The remainder of the collection consists of research material, financial papers and family papers. Oenslager's writings are represented by manuscripts, including drafts of the exhibit catalog, Four centuries of scenic invention (1974), published articles, and other notes. The photograph series is largely production related but does include some portraits and snapshots of Oenslager, including photographs from his time in the military. Clippings in the scrapbook series were organized by Oenslager himself and continued by Mrs. Oenslager after his death.

Subject

1. Oenslager, Donald, 1902-1975
2. Appia, Edmond, 1894-1961 -- Correspondence
3. Aronson, Boris, 1900-1980 -- Correspondence
4. Jones, Robert Edmond, 1887-1954 -- Correspondence
5. Mielziner, Jo, 1901-1976 -- Correspondence
6. Set designers -- United States
7. Theaters -- Stage-setting and scenery

Genre/Form

1. Clippings.
2. Correspondence.
3. Costume design drawings.
4. Elevations.
5. Financial records.
6. Photographs.
7. Preliminary sketches (sketches)
8. Renderings.
9. Scrapbooks.
10. Set design drawings.
11. Swatches.
12. Technical drawings.

Call number

1. *T-Mss 1996-015

Access (note)

1. Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Biography (note)

1. Donald Mitchell Oenslager, an American stage designer and professor was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 7 Martch 1902. Oenslager began his career in the theater as an actor, working at the Greenwich Village Theatre and the Provincetown Playhouse during the early 1920s. He became interested in theater design after studying in Europe and his first project as a designer was in 1925 for a ballet, Sooner or Later. Oenslager was active as a designer from the 1930s to the 1960s, working on many notable Broadway productions, including Of Mice and Men (1937) and A Majority of One (1959), for which he received a Tony Award. He also served as a faculty member of the Yale School of Drama, teaching design from 1925 until his death in 1975. Oenslager published many works, including Scenery Then and Now (1936) and Notes on Scene Painting (1952). Profoundly influenced by the European stage designers, Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia, Oenslager brought a new emphasis on symbolism over realism to American theater design. Throughout his life, Oenslager built up an extensive collection of materials on both Craig and Appia. Following his death on 11 June 1975, Oenslager's widow, Mary, gave portions of the Craig material to the New York Public Library's Billy Rose Theatre Division, while other parts of the collection went to Yale University.

Indexes/finding aids (note)

1. Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Author

1. Oenslager, Donald, 1902-1975.

Title

1. Donald Oenslager papers and designs, 1922-1982.

Restricted access

1. Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Biography

1. Donald Mitchell Oenslager, an American stage designer and professor was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on 7 Martch 1902. Oenslager began his career in the theater as an actor, working at the Greenwich Village Theatre and the Provincetown Playhouse during the early 1920s. He became interested in theater design after studying in Europe and his first project as a designer was in 1925 for a ballet, Sooner or Later. Oenslager was active as a designer from the 1930s to the 1960s, working on many notable Broadway productions, including Of Mice and Men (1937) and A Majority of One (1959), for which he received a Tony Award. He also served as a faculty member of the Yale School of Drama, teaching design from 1925 until his death in 1975. Oenslager published many works, including Scenery Then and Now (1936) and Notes on Scene Painting (1952). Profoundly influenced by the European stage designers, Edward Gordon Craig and Adolphe Appia, Oenslager brought a new emphasis on symbolism over realism to American theater design. Throughout his life, Oenslager built up an extensive collection of materials on both Craig and Appia. Following his death on 11 June 1975, Oenslager's widow, Mary, gave portions of the Craig material to the New York Public Library's Billy Rose Theatre Division, while other parts of the collection went to Yale University.

Indexes

1. Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Connect to:

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

Occupation

1. Set designers.

Added author

1. Oenslager, Donald, Mrs.

Research call number

1. *T-Mss 1996-015