Best of the Web

  • The California Heritage Collection is an online archive of over 28,000 images illustrating California's history and culture from the collections of the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.
  • The noted scenographer and writer Darwin Reid Payne (The Scenographic Imagination) has assembled a workshop in computer-generated model-building, painting, and a scenographic research library comprised of links to hundreds of museums. (Be patient when loading the research library-it's worth the wait.)
  • The Costume Society of America advances the global understanding of all aspects of dress and appearance. We work to stimulate scholarship and encourage study in the rich and diverse field of costume.
  • ESTA is a non-profit trade association representing the entertainment technology industry. The Job Board section provides job posting and job searching employment opportunities.
  • A nonprofit trade association for the North American entertainment technology industry, ESTA addresses issues concerning technical standards, customer service, equipment quality, business practices, insurance, and credit reporting. The website includes industry news and links to members' pages.
  • From the UK: A downloadable dictionary of terms also subdivided into Lighting, Sound and Stage Management categories. British terminology, rather than American is used, but much is the same.
  • Plates of the book by the same name, originally published between 1861 and 1880.

  • A textbook with 500 plates of historical dress from antiquity to the end of the 19th Century. Originally published from 1861-1880, the book is now available online in its entirety.

  • Gateway to thousands of scenic, costume and lighting designs documented on the web, indexed by title, playwright, designer or producer.
  • This site from Bill Williams and Associates, a lighting design firm in Canada, includes a history of lighting, a "lighting library" of reference documents online, a concise and informative introduction to stage lighting, and a massive collection of internet links to lighting companies and suppliers. Noteworthy for its readable, informative, science-oriented, professional presentation.

  • Frequently updated job postings, efficiently organized by category.

  • The International Organization of Scenographers, Theatre Architects and Technicians is the world-wide parent organisation for scenographers, theatre technicians and architects, and operates under the auspices of UNESCO.
  • The Paris Music Hall Collection comprises over 6,000 original renderings of costume designs and 1,000 original renderings of curtain designs for the music halls of Paris from 1920-1938.
  • A set decorator selects furniture, drapery, lighting fixtures, art and other objects to "dress the set" of a motion picture, television program, music video or commercial.
  • A resourceful site which includes bios of designers and examples of their work.
  • A growing collection of forms that describe the important technical features of stage houses throughout the country. Useful for planning touring productions.
  • A searchable database of costume images from the stock of the costume program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Department of Dramatic Art and the PlayMakers Repertory Company. Searchable by period and/or type of garment.
  • This small site provides illustrated articles from such historical resources as a Milanese tailor's handbook from 1580 and Ladies' Home Journals from the early 1900's.
  • Provides an index of Costume Institute exhibits going back to 1937 features on current exhibits descriptions of the collections access information to the Collections and the associated library a history of the Institute and links to Costume Museums throughout the world.
  • Links to historical resources and more. Helpful for theatrical, motion picture and festival costumers as well as costume hobbyists.
  • Access provided to sites on this Costume Webring. Many detail a specific kind of costume or period in costume history.
  • Particularly useful is the "instruction" page on this site, which will lead you to answers for a wide variety of costume-construction problems.
  • Contains "How To" advice, info on ethnic costume & makeup, resources on designers, info about "Costume" films, and a proficient Costume History Resource Page, as the links are divided into a wide variety of periods. By a Costume Historian at the Univ. of Alaska-Fairbanks.
  • Resources and information on the creation of the scenic spectacle in Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
  • A stunning collection of art images, with annotations relating to historical accuracy, from Hope Greenbert, a Humanities Computing Specialist at the Univ. of Vermont.