Photo of the cast of “The Far Off Hills”, by Lennox Robinson, playwright, director, and producer at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Ireland (undated, probably 1931) photo credit: De Mirjian
The Wickes Collection was assembled by Elbert A. Wickes, theatrical impresario and manager of lecture tours for world celebrities during the 1930s-1940s. The collection brings together papers and books (often inscribed to Wickes) of the celebrities whose tours he arranged; much of the material relates to the Abbey Players of Dublin whose three American tours he produced and managed. Among the papers are photographs, scrapbooks, memoranda, correspondence, financial documents and contracts, and theater memorabilia.
playbill, Elbert Wickes Collection, Special Collections, Honnold/Mudd Library
Sarah Siddons in the Philbrick Collection
Caricature of English actress Sarah Siddons by A. E. Chalon. From the Philbrick Collection in Honnold Library Special Collections.
Manuscript note to Mrs. Inchbald by Sarah Siddons. From the Philbrick Collection in Honnold Library Special Collections.
One of Britain’s greatest stage actresses, Sarah Siddons (1755-1831) was best known for her interpretations of Shakespeare’s major women characters, especially Lady Macbeth.
In response to the number of queries we receive about our holdings of Sarah Siddons manuscripts, we are beginning to digitize our collection of her letters, manuscripts, and engravings from the Philbrick Collection in Honnold Special Collections. These digitized manuscripts will accessible through the Claremont Colleges Digital Library (CCDL) by summer 2009.
The Philbrick Collection is a major research collection on the history of English, American and, to a lesser extent, French drama of the late seventeenth through the early nineteenth centuries. It is supported by an extensive collection of modern critical, biographical, and reference literature. Many of the greatest names in English theater, David Garrick, Edmund Kean, and the several members of the Kemble family, among others, are represented here in published memoirs, biographies, original manuscripts, and portraits. The Philbrick Collection consists of over ten thousand books, pamphlets, and periodicals; two thousand letters by well-known individuals associated with the theater; two hundred framed portraits, posters, photographs, and set and costume designs; a large collection of loose portraits; English and American playbills; manuscripts; and several stage models. The late Dr. and Mrs. Philbrick both graduated from Pomona College. Their collection was dedicated in Honnold Library on November 8, 1986.