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Boston College Collection of the approximately 1903-1988 MS.1986.135 http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2773

Archives and Manuscripts Department John J. Burns Library Boston College 140 Commonwealth Avenue Chestnut Hill 02467 library.bc.edu/burns/contact URL: http://www.bc.edu/burns Table of Contents

Summary Information ...... 3 Administrative Information ...... 4 Related Materials ...... 4 Historical Note ...... 5 Scope and Contents ...... 5 Arrangement ...... 6 Collection Inventory ...... 7 I: Correspondence ...... 7 II: Ephemera ...... 7 III: Newspaper articles ...... 10 IV: Photographs ...... 10 V: Publications ...... 11

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

- Page 2 - Summary Information

Creator: Abbey Theatre Title: Boston College collection of the Abbey Theatre Collection Identifier: MS.1986.135 Date [inclusive]: approximately 1903-1988 Physical Description 0.5 Linear Feet (1 container) Language of the English Material: Abstract: Collection of materials relating to the Abbey Theatre in , , including booklets, theater programs for the Abbey and the Abbey Theatre Players, photographs, and newspaper articles. Preferred Citation

Identification of item, Box number, Folder number, Boston College collection of the Abbey Theatre, MS.1986.135, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

- Page 3 - Administrative Information

Publication Information Processed by Virginia Lipscy in Summer 2001; revised by Lynn Moulton in 2021. This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace.

Conditions Governing Access Collection is open for research.

Provenance The earliest materials in this collection were acquired before 1986. Because the current accessioning system was not used until January 1986, it is not possible to know exactly the dates of acquisition of these materials. Subsequent acquisitions were a gift of John Deedy (photographs and programs, 1999) and a purchase from Maggs Brothers, Ltd. (Irish National Theatre Society programs, 2015).

Conditions Governing Use These materials are made available for use in research, teaching and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source. The original authors may retain copyright to the materials.

Related Materials

Related Materials Manuscripts collected by the National Theatre Society for a benefit auction were previously described as part of this collection. They are now available as the National Theatre Society Collection of Irish literary manuscripts, MS.1988.007, John J. Burns Library, Boston College.

Burns Library holds additional Abbey Theatre programs which can be found in the Library Catalog.

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

- Page 4 - Historical Note

The Abbey Theatre (1904- ) is the Irish theatrical company devoted primarily to indigenous drama (presenting the Irish character with an Irish audience in mind). W.B. Yeats was a leader in founding (1902) the Irish National Theatre Society with , J.M. Synge, and A.E. (George Russell) contributing their talents as directors and dramatists. In 1904, gave them a subsidy and the free use of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. The theater was bought for them by public subscription in 1910. Among the many dramatists whose works the Abbey Theatre first presented are , , Sean O'Casey, and Paul Vincent Carroll. The Abbey began touring America in 1911 and was not well received. However, they were appreciated by the next generation when they returned to New York and Boston in the 1930s. In 1951, a fire destroyed the theatre and the company spent fifteen years at the Queen's Theatre until the new building opened in 1966.

In close association with Irish dramatists, the Abbey also has been an important instrument in the revival of Irish drama that began in the 1960s. From 1977 to 1983, the Abbey's small experimental theatre, the Peacock, saw the rise of a new school of playwrights, including J. Graham Reid, , Tom MacIntyre, Frank McGuinness, Neil Donnelly, Michael Harding, Dermot Bolger, and . Some of the work of Farrell and McGuinness was also successful on the larger Abbey stage. Nevertheless, the work of an earlier generation of playwrights - particularly , Tom , and - has been the mainstay of the Abbey repertoire since the 1970s.

Source:

"Abbey Theatre" in The Dictionary of edited by Robert Hogan (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1996): 85-95 and "Abbey Theatre" in The Oxford Companion to Irish Literature edited by Robert Welch (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996): 1-5.

Scope and Contents

The collection contains ephemera, primarily programs, from theatrical productions of the Irish National Theatre Society (later the National Theatre Society Limited) at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, from shortly after the Society's inception in 1902, through the burning and reconstruction of the theatre in the 1960s and up until 1988. Programs also include productions by the Abbey Theatre Players while on tour, as well as a smaller number for productions by other theater companies of works by Irish playwrights. A few articles about the Abbey, booklets on its history, and photographs of its productions and directors complement the ephemeral materials. Programs feature the works of founders W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, as well as J.M. Synge, , and Sean O'Casey.

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

- Page 5 - Arrangement

Organized into five series: I. Correspondence, II. Ephemera, III. Newspaper articles, IV. Photographs, and V. Publications.

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

- Page 6 - Collection Inventory

Series I: Correspondence, 1938

Lennox Robinson, Director of the Abbey Theatre, to T. L. box 1 folder 1 Connoly, SJ, with a program for the Abbey Theatre Festival, 1938 May 26

Series II: Ephemera, 1903-1988 Scope and Contents

Includes leaflets, postcards, and programs related to the Abbey Theatre, the Abbey Theatre Players, or to in general. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Abbey Theatre Players toured America; this series contains several programs for Irish plays put on by the Abbey Theatre in theaters in New York and Boston.

Subseries A: The Abbey Theatre and Abbey Theatre Players, 1903-1988 Arrangement

Chronological.

Abbey Theatre leaflets, handbill, and postcards, approximately box 1 folder 2 1903-1905

Irish National Theatre Society at Abbey Theater, opening box 1 folder 3 performances flier (includes W.B. Yeats, Lady Gregory, and J.M. Synge), 1904 probably December

Irish National Theatre Society at Abbey Theater, program for box 1 folder 4 W.B. Yeats's On Baile's Strand and , Lady Gregory's Spreading the News, and J.M. Synge's In the Shadow of the Glen, 1904 December

Irish National Theatre Society at Abbey Theater, second series box 1 folder 5 of performances flier (includes J.M. Synge and W.B. Yeats), 1905 February

Irish National Theatre Society at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 6 J.M. Synge's The Well of the Saints and W.B. Yeats's A Pot of Broth, 1905 February

Irish National Theatre Society at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 7 Lady Gregory's Kincora, 1905 March

Irish National Theatre Society at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 8 Lady Gregory's Kincora, W.B. Yeats's The King's Threshold, and William Boyle's The Building Fund, 1905 April

Irish National Theatre Society at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 9 W.B. Yeats's The Hour Glass and Padraic Colum's The Land, 1905 June

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

- Page 7 - National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program box 1 folder 10 for J.M. Synge's Riders to the Sea and William Boyle's The Eloquent Dempsy, 1906 January

National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 11 W.B. Yeats's On Baile's Strand; Lady Gregory's The Doctor in Spite of Himself and Spreading the News; J.M. Synge's In the Shadow of the Glen; and William Boyle's The Building Fund, 1906 April

Abbey Theatre program cover for 1907-1908 season containing box 1 folder 12 loose 1906 and 1907 program pages, 1906 October-1907 August

National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 13 Lady Gregory's The White Cockade and The Jackdaw, 1907 February

National Theatre Society at Abbey Theatre, program for Lady box 1 folder 14 Gregory's Dervorgilla and The Canavans, 1907 October

National Theatre Society at Abbey Theatre, program for W.F. box 1 folder 15 Casey's The Man Who Missed the Tide and Norreys Connell's The Piper, 1908 February

National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 16 a play by H. Sudermann translated from the German by Lady Gregory, George Fitzmaurice's The Piedish, and W.B. Yeats's The Golden Helmet, 1908 March

National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 18 Lady Gregory's Hyacinth Halvey, Workhouse Ward, and The Rising of the Moon; J.M. Synge's In the Shadow of the Glen, 1908 April

National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 19 Lady's Gregory's Spreading the News and The Rising of the Moon; W.B. Yeats's The Golden Helmet and Kathleen ni Houlihan, 1908 September

Abbey Theatre Co. at Abbey Theatre, program for Bernard box 1 folder 20 Shaw's The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet, S.L. Robinson's The Clancy Name, and Lady Gregory's The Workhouse Ward, 1908 late September

National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program box 1 folder 21 for J.M. Synge's In the Shadow of the Glen, Lady Gregory's Dervorgilla, S.L. Robinson's The Clancy Name, and Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Scheming Lieutenant, 1908 early October

National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program box 1 folder 22 for Thomas MacDonagh's When the Dawn Is Come and Lady Gregory's translation of Moliere's The Rogueries of Scapin, 1908 mid-October

National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 23 W.F. Casey's The Man Who Missed the Tide and Lady Gregory's The Jackdaw, 1908 late October

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

- Page 8 - National Theatre Society, Ltd. at Abbey Theatre, program for box 1 folder 24 J.M. Synge's In the Shadow of the Glen, S.L. Robinson's The Clancy Name, Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Scheming Lieutenant, and Lady Gregory's Dervorgilla, 1908 November

Abbey Theatre Players at the Ambassador Theatre, New York, , box 1 folder 25 Playbill for October series (includes Lennox Robinson's The Far-off Hills, J.M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World, and Frank O'Connor's In the Train), 1937 October

Abbey Theatre Players at the Ambassador Theatre, New box 1 folder 26 York, Playbill for George Shiels's The New Gossoon, 1937 November

Abbey Theatre Players at the Ambassador Theatre, New York, box 1 folder 27-28 Playbill for December series (includes Sean O'Casey's and Lennox Robinson's Drama at the Inish and The Far-off Hills), 1937 December

Abbey Theatre Players at Shubert Copley Theatre, Boston, box 1 folder 29 program for J.M. Synge's The Playboy of the Western World and Lady Gregory's The Rising of the Moon, probably 1937

Abbey Theatre Players at Shubert Copley Theatre, Boston, box 1 folder 30 program for Sean O'Casey's "Juno and the Paycock" , 1937 or 1938

Abbey Theatre, souvenir program for Walter Macken's Recall box 1 folder 31 the Years "a dramatic presentation of the history of the Abbey Theatre" to mark the opening of the new Abbey Theatre, 1966 July

Abbey Theatre Players at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin, program box 1 folder 32 for F. Linehan and T. Mac Anna's The Sound of the Gong (about the Abbey Theatre), after 1966 July

Abbey Theatre Players at Shubert Theatre, Boston, Playbill for box 1 folder 33 Sean O'Casey's , 1976 November

National Theatre Society Limited at the Abbey Theatre Peacock box 1 folder 34 Stage, program for Frank McGuinness's Carthaginians, 1988 September 26

The National Theatre Society Limited at Abbey Theatre, box 1 folder 35 program for 's A Crucial Week in the Life of a Grocer's Assistant, 1988 October

Subseries B: Other Irish theatre productions, 1930-1977 Arrangement

Chronological.

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

- Page 9 - Scope and Contents

Includes programs from plays either produced in other Dublin theatres or written by Irish playwrights.

Michael Mac Liammoir's Diarmuid and Grainne at Dublin Gate box 1 folder 36 Theatre, program, 1930

Don Marquis's Master of the Revels at the Dublin , box 1 folder 37 program, 1936 August

Lennox Robinson's When Lovely Woman at the Dublin Gate box 1 folder 38 Theatre, program, 1936 August

P.V. Carroll's The White Steed at the Cort Theatre, New York, box 1 folder 39 Playbill, 1939 February

Louis D'Alton's Tanyard Street at the Little Theatre, New York, box 1 folder 40 Playbill and reviews, 1941 February

Bernard Shaw's The Doctor's Dilemma at Sam S. Shubert box 1 folder 41 Theatre, New York, Playbill, 1941 June

T. King-Moylan's Tactics, A. McArdle's The Supplanter, and box 1 folder 42 W.B. Yeats's Deirdre at the Dramatic Society, University College Dublin, program, 1956 summer

"Theatre of the South " summer season box 1 folder 43 program, 1977

Series III: Newspaper articles, 1962-1966

"Theatre: 'Words and Music' by Richard Rodgers" by Howard box 1 folder 44 Taubman, New York Times, 1962 March 17

"A diary of Dublin's old Abbey Theatre; Fiery Days before the box 1 folder 44 Flames" by Brendan Malin, Boston Globe, 1966 October 9

Series IV: Photographs, late 1960s Scope and Contents

Black and white press photographs produced by Dublin commerical photographers Michael O'Reilly and G.A. Duncan.

Juno and the Paycock with Jack McGowran, Peter O'Toole, and box 1 folder 45 Siobhan McKenna (2 images), maybe 1966

The Plough and the Stars productions with Marie O'Neill, Vincent box 1 folder 45 Dowling, Kathleen Barrington, Angela Newman, Patrick Laffan, Donal McCann, and Phillip O'Flynn (3 images), late 1960s

Playboy of the Western World with and Aideen box 1 folder 45 O'Kelly, maybe 1968

Abbey director with Irish president Eamon De box 1 folder 45 Valera, probably 1966 or 1967

National Gallery director James White, between 1964-1980 box 1 folder 45

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

- Page 10 - Diocesan press officer Osmond Dowling, late 1960s box 1 folder 45

St. Stephens Green (Georgian houses slated for razing), probably box 1 folder 45 late 1960s

Series V: Publications, approximately 1962-1976 Scope and Contents

Booklets on the history of the Abbey Theatre published around the time of its reopening in 1966 and for the 10th anniversary of that reopening.

The Abbey Theatre by Ernest Blythe, booklet published by the box 1 folder 46 National Theatre Society, Ltd. (2 copies), between 1962-1965

Amharclann na Mainistreach: The Creation of the Abbey Theatre, box 1 folder 47 booklet published by Bord Failte Eireann (the Irish Tourist Board), printed by Dolmen Press (2 copies), 1966 July 18

The Abbey Theatre Dublin, 1966-1976: A Commemorative Record box 1 folder 48 booklet, 1976 July

Boston College Collection of the Abbey Theatre MS.1986.135

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