| Description: |
The Philadelphia Theatrical Papers, spanning the dates of 1877–1943 (bulk dates 1890s–1920s), contains correspondence, photographs, newspaper clippings, advertisements, programs, playbills, financial documents, ledgers, obituaries, postcards, contracts, broadsides, scrapbooks, and telegrams. The papers cover a particularly important period in the theatrical history of America. During this time the rise and fall of monopolistic management and production agencies as well as the expansion of touring companies were impetuses for the success of theatrical businesses such as Nixon & Zimmerman. A majority of the papers in the collection are about their company, which was a successful innovator in Philadelphia, the region, and the country in the decades around the turn of the twentieth century. Although the focus is Philadelphia, the papers include numerous documents and printed material about the business of theater throughout the United States. It is not known who collected or compiled this material. |
