volume 15, number 1(1990) A Newsletter published by University of Toronto Press in association with Erindale College, University of Toronto . JoAnna Dutka, editor Records ofEaYjf~ English Drama Plans to publish in 1989 and 1990 Mary Blackstone's bibliography of printed records of drama and minstrelsy, a continuation of the biennial bibliographies con- tributed by Ian Lancashire from 1978 to 1984, were hampered by mechanical prob- lems with an aging typesetting system . REED has now acquired a MAC Ilci; using the Quark Xpress programme we are happy to print Dr. Blackstone's bibliography in two issues as volume 15, numbers 1 and 2 (1990) . Volume 16, number 1 (1991) of the Newsletter will be printed in the spring. Thank you to our subscribers for their patience during this transition . MARY BLACKSTONE A Survey and annotated bibliography of records research and performance history relating to early British drama and minstrelsy for 1984 - 8. This list, as Ian Lancashire stated in his bibliography of 1984, 'covers documentary or material records of performers and performance that appear in books, periodicals and record series publishing on pre-eighteenth-century British theatre, music, his- tory, literature, and archaeology up to [19891 . Only publications on the Shakespeare claimants are omitted .' A few items which do not cite relevant records are included because of their potential value to records researchers. The list pro- vides a survey of research in early performance history over the past five years, a guide to new records which have become available in print as well as to the most re- cent analysis of previously published records, and a quick reference to individual items. It also contains items from before 1984 that may have appeared too late or were not readily available for inclusion in Professor Lancashire's work . Depending on the length of the work and the number of records cited, the list attempts to excerpt or summarize records and, where appropriate, present a brief I abstract of the argument which they are used to support . As it is neither practical nor useful to provide lengthy and specific abstracts of book-length research, annota- tions are comparatively fuller and more specific for articles than for books . Entries for items presenting new evidence are also more detailed than for those re-examin- ing previously published records . Annotations are not intended to be evaluative, and I apologize for any instances where the need for brevity has led to a misrepre- sentation of the argument. Any item I did not personally read has the notation `not seen. Although I would have to admit that I had some sense of the size of the under- taking when Ian Lancashire asked me to take over the bibliography and bring it up to date, I did not fully appreciate the volume of potentially relevant published ma- terial. Between 1980 and 1988 the number of new book listings in the United States alone rose from 55,000 to 90,000 . Despite difficult financial times for aca- demic libraries, there appears to have been a corresponding rise in the number of new scholarly journals as well (there has been a net increase of as many as 10,000 titles between 1984 and 1988 in serials listings). While I would not want to at- tribute these increases solely to the enthusiasm of records researchers and perfor- mance historians, such scholars certainly have been producing their fair share . It is not possible to single out all of the important individual contributions made in this five-year period, but it will be useful to identify the general areas in which much of this activity has been focused. Civic, Provincial, and Ecclesiastical Records Major works have been produced over the past five years by REED editors: Norwich 1540 - 1642 by David Galloway, Cumberland/Westmorland/Gloucestershire by Audrey Douglas and Peter Greenfield, Devon by John Wasson, Cambridge by Alan Nelson. In addition, editors waiting in the wings have made some of their work available in the form of articles on such places as Bath (Alexander), Oxfordshire (Briscoe), Kilkenny (Fletcher), Liverpool (George), Great Marlow (Johnston), Sus- sex (Louis), Surrey (MacLean), Scotland (McMunn), Bristol (Pilkinton), Shropshire (Somerset), Somerset (Stokes) and Yorkshire (Palmer, Wasson) . Other scholars have also made significant contributions to our knowledge of documents for such places as Boston (Bailey, Clark), Bristol (Bettey), Wakefield (Cawley), Hull (Childs), Lon- don (Christianson, Masters), Peterborough (Greatrex), Winchester (Keene), Rye (Mayhew), King's Lynn (Owen) and Essex (Sharpe) . A wide range of records, many from legal documents, have also been made available in important new stud- ies on vagrancy (Beier), the alehouse (Clark), the village constable (Kent) and re- gional culture during the seventeenth century (Underdown) . David Bergeron has continued his analysis of civic pageantry and in editing the texts of these entertain- ments is beginning to open them up to wider study . Finally, Ian Lancashire's Dra- matic Texts and Records ofBritain has served an important function in drawing to- gether previously published records for the period up to 1558. 2 Private Papers and Household Records While work in this area still stands at the threshold, significant attention has re- cently been paid to the personal and household records of the Percy family (Alexander), the Smyth Family ofAshton Court (Bettey), the Walmesley family of Dunkenhalgh (George), the Cely family (Hanham), Sir John Paston (Lester) and Richard Cholmeley of Brandsby (Memorandum Book) . Other work has focused on records associated with particular entertainments at the homes of the Clifford fam- ily at Skipton (Butler) and of James, Earl of Northampton at Canonbury House (Wolf) . More specific studies of patrons and their connections with performers and artists, such as David Howarth's study of Lord Arundel and Roy Strong's study of Henry, Prince of Wales, are beginning to emerge. David Loades' The Tudor Court provides insight into the make-up and functioning of the royal household under the Tudors, while J . T. Cliffe's book on the Puritan gentry in early Stuart England con- siders the households of several other families . Music, Musicians, and Musical Instruments In this area, as well, work has been progressing on the study of the performer/pa- tron connection and the performer's place in the household . Margaret Urquhart has studied the musical background and influence of the patron, Sir Robert Bolles, and Lynne Hulse the patronage of lutenists by William Cavendish . Suzanne Westfall's article on household chapels illuminates the choirboy's position in a num- ber of noble households as well as that of the monarch, and Ian Fenlon's paper on musical spies and their influence demonstrates that musicians sometimes had politi- cal and diplomatic roles to play . Studies of vocal range and boy actors (Bowers, Rastall) complement the Westfall article . Other works have provided further infor- mation about specific musicians such as Thomas Ravenscroft (Austern), John Oker (Bennett), John Ward (Payne, Ford), Francis and Thomas Cutting (Hulse), the Bassanos (Lasocki) and Hewet, the York wait (White) . Researchers working with specific groups of documents have also turned up substantial information about less well known and early musicians . Constance Bullock-Davies' Register ofRoyal and Baronial Domestic Minstrels is an excellent example of this kind of work, but other contributions have been made by records editors such as E. O. Blake, Peter Coss, and F G . Emmison . Andrew Ashbee's new series, Records ofEnglish Court Music, draws together previously published and unpublished material into a calendar which is invaluable for the study of court music and musicians 1625 - 49 and 1660 - 1714. Articles on specific types of musicians and instruments have concerned the harp (Holman), the recorder (Lasocki), the regal (Owen), a late medieval trumpet (Egan) and bowed instruments (Remnant) . John Ward's work on dances and dance music provides insights of potential use to modern performers as well as to music and dance historians (see also Judy Smith) . Ian Payne's work on music at Trinity College is an important contribution not only to our knowledge of music in this period but also to the performance history of Cambridge . 3 04 Performance at Schools and Universities Substantial information has been published on drama, music, and dancing associ- ated with the universities, most notably the important REED volume for Cambridge edited by Alan Nelson, but also in general histories and shorter studies concerning Cambridge (Leader, McGee) and Oxford (Catto, McConica, Elliott) . Margaret Knapp and Robert E. Burkhart have been engaged in reconstructing the perfor- mance environments at the Inns of Court . Further research has been done by Wil- liam McCabe on drama at St Omers, the Jesuit school for English boys ; by David Blewitt on drama at Winchester and Eton ; and by Jay Anglin on schools and schoolmasters of Elizabethan London . Royal Entertainments In his Malone Society volume ofJacobean and Caroline Revels Accounts and in nu- merous articles using the Tudor Revels documents, W. R. Streitberger has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the Office of the Revels. The Note Books of John Finet (Loomie), the study of Henry, prince of Wales (Strong), the checklists of Stuart entertainments (McGee and Meagher), and articles on the staging of masques (Astington, Loomie, McGee, Peacock) have also made advances in this period . The new series, Records ofEnglish Court Music (Ashbee), which will begin with the papers of Charles 11, should also open up avenues for research in the later period. Marion Colthorpe has published numerous articles on royal entertain- ments for Elizabeth at Court and on progress in noble households and in Coventry. See also Curtis Breight's response to her work on the entertainments at Theobalds in the early 1590s. Bruce Moore and Richard Osberg have contributed to the his- tory of court pageantry in the fourteenth century .