Private Passions, Public Archives: Approaches to the private collector and collection of theatrical ephemera in the context of the public theatre archive Eve Margitta Smith Department of Drama and Theatre Royal Holloway, University of London Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Declaration of Authorship I, Eve Margitta Smith, hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: ______________________ Date: ________________________27/09/2016 [2] Abstract This thesis considers the passions of the private collector of theatrical ephemera within the context of the public theatre archive. It interrogates the formation, the function, and the significance of the collection, foregrounding the idiosyncratic relationship between the collector and their collection. The eventual, though not inevitable, transition of a theatre collection from a private house to a public archive is interrogated throughout the thesis. The research concentrates on three theatre collections that have made the transition from a private space to the public archive: the Gabrielle Enthoven Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection at the University of Bristol, and the Roy Waters Theatre Collection at Royal Holloway, University of London. Theoretical and critical approaches from the fields of theatre history and historiography, archive and museum studies, and the practice and psychology of collecting are consulted alongside practical archival research into the collections and personal papers of the collectors. The collector and the materials that he/she amasses are considered within a number of social, cultural, and historical contexts including: the motivations that govern the desire to collect; the social, professional, and financial networks occupied by the collector; the gender and sexuality of the collector; the role of anecdote in framing and narrating the collector and collection; the cultural capital embodied by the theatre collection, and the future of the collector and the collection in an increasingly digitised age. As the first researcher to work on the collection of Roy Waters, this thesis offers new perspectives on an under-researched area of theatre history. This interrogation of the theatre collector and collection will argue that the collector has the potential to intervene [3] in the construction of theatrical histories and narratives, and that the personal relationship between collector and collection is deserving of greater recognition and consideration. [4] Contents Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………p. 7. Introduction…………………………………………………………………………...p. 8. Chapter One: Haunting the Past, or the Haunted Present: the collecting and creating of theatre histories……………………………………………………………………...p. 39. Chapter Two: Positioning the Collection, Locating the Collector…………………...p. 84. Chapter Three: An Accumulation of Absences…………………………….............p. 138. Chapter Four: C/collectors and C/collections Capitalised……………………….....p. 174. Chapter Five: Playbills and Pixels: the theatre collection and collector in the digital age……………………………………………………………………………….…p. 222. Conclusions: New Readings in the Archive: shifting the researcher’s gaze………………………………………………………………………………...p. 267. Bibliography……………………………………………………………….………p. 283. Appendix: an overview of the private collections and personal papers of Gabrielle Enthoven, Raymond Mander, Joe Mitchenson, and Roy Waters, and the institutions that house them……………………………………………………………..……..……p. 308. [5] List of Illustrations Gabrielle Enthoven at her flat in front of the cabinets holding her catalogued playbills, about 1909……………………………………………………………………...……p. 83. Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson at home with their theatre collection, circa 1970s……………………………………………....……………………………….p. 137. Roy Waters at home surrounded by his Vanity Fair prints, circa 1980s……………………………………………………………………....……….p. 173. [6] Acknowledgements First and foremost my thanks must go to Professor Gilli Bush-Bailey and Doctor Kate Dorney. Over the past three years they have challenged me, inspired me, and stretched my mind and imagination to its very limits. I must further extend my gratitude to the Arts and Humanities Research Council who recognised the potential in this project and provided the funding to make this Collaborative Doctoral Award possible. Thank you also to Doctor Sophie Nield whose objective input at annual reviews proved both invaluable and illuminating. Annabel Valentine proved to be a great source of help and welcome company during summer afternoons spent in the archives of Royal Holloway. I must thank Jo Elsworth at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection; all of the staff in the reading room and behind the scenes in the Theatre and Performance Department, V&A; Helen Baer, Bridget Gayle-Ground, Pat Fox, Doris Mohler and Michael Gilmore at the Harry Ransom Center, University of Texas at Austin; Richard Mangan; John Tuck; June Mendoza, and the TaPRA community. All have contributed to the successful completion of this thesis. My gratitude goes to Sarah Handyside, Dominic Kane, Laura McKenzie, Alison Stone, Lizzie Vogler, and Ruth Yates for their friendship, love, and laughter. My father, Carl Smith, has encouraged me, supported me, and inspired me always. He remains the first, and the original, Doctor Smith. Thank you for paving the way. Thank you to my mother, Gillian Smith, for her unconditional emotional support, comfort, and motherly love. This thesis would not be here without it. To my brother, Luke, for making me laugh. I dedicate this work to the memories of Gabrielle Enthoven, Raymond Mander, Joe Mitchenson, and Roy Waters with whom it has been both a pleasure and a privilege to spend time and get to know over the past three years. [7] Introduction This thesis considers the private passions and idiosyncrasies of the collector of theatrical ephemera, framing the collector’s private theatre collection in the context of the public archive. It seeks to interrogate the individual motivations that drive the often obsessive quest to collect the materials of the theatrical past, examining the ways in which the theatre collection is formed, created and narrated by the collector. A private theatre collection is subject to a number of different fates. It may eventually be sold, inherited by a family member or friend, broken apart and dispersed in any number of different locations, or disposed of and thrown away. This thesis concentrates on the private theatre collection that makes the transition from the collector’s home to the public archive. An interrogation of three of these collections provokes questions about the significance, purpose and expectations of the private theatre collection made public. Above all, this thesis foregrounds the collector of theatrical ephemera, providing a stage upon which the individuals that strive for a lifetime to gather up the material remains of performance can themselves perform. The collector and their private theatre collection in the context of the public archive is analysed within a number of critical and theoretical frameworks taken from academic disciplines including theatre and performance studies, museum studies, archive studies, material culture studies, and works on the theory and psychology of collecting. This thesis focuses on four British collectors of theatrical ephemera who give their names to three private theatre collections, all of which are now housed within a public archive. I examine the materials gathered by Gabrielle Enthoven (1868-1950) who campaigned for over a decade in the national press for a public home for her extensive collection. Enthoven’s collected materials were eventually accepted by the Victoria and Albert [8] Museum (V&A) in 1924 where they continue to be housed. The Gabrielle Enthoven Collection became the founding collection of the Museum’s Theatre and Performance Department. The department’s collections are now recognised as being the largest of their type in the world.1 Alongside Enthoven’s significant collection, I consider the theatre collection gathered by Raymond Mander (1911-1983) and Joe Mitchenson (1911-1992). Mander and Mitchenson engaged in a personal and public partnership that was marked and defined by their passion for the performing arts and their passion for collecting theatrical ephemera. The Mander and Mitchenson Theatre Collection (MMTC) remained at the couple’s home until 1983, at which point it was relocated to Beckenham Place Park. In 2001, after a brief relocation to the Salvation Army Headquarters in London, the MMTC was moved to the Old Naval College in Greenwich, London as a part of the Jerwood Library of the Performing Arts at Trinity College of Music. In 2010 the collection was legally transferred to the University of Bristol Theatre Collection. Finally, this thesis introduces the Roy Waters Theatre Collection (RWTC), a private collection built up over four decades by Roy Waters (1928-2010). Waters bequeathed his collection to the Royal Holloway Archives and Special Collections at Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL) where it has been housed since Waters’s death in 2010. This collection is particularly significant within the context of my research as it includes detailed materials that demonstrate how and why Waters’s private collection came to be housed in a public archive. This thesis is the very first work to consider Waters’s collection and marks