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Dramatic Arts

This guide is intended to help any faculty, graduate, or undergraduate student find resources in the areas of theater and drama.

Accessing the Collections

Special Collections is a library of non-circulating materials that includes archives, manuscripts, historic photographs, and rare books. Anyone can use Special Collections. Patrons should use our Specialized Research Collections Request System to request materials in advance of your visit (one to four weeks). Special Collections is located in the south wing of the second floor of Doheny Memorial Library.

Notable Theatre Archives at USC

  • Armond Fields American Theatre Collection
    Documents the history of the American stage before talking cinema, reflecting the birth and death of vaudeville and the advent of the modern Broadway musical.
     
  • Los Angeles Theater Playbills Collection
    A collection of 18 Los Angeles theatrical playbills dating from 1917 to 1920. Thirteen of the playbills from from the Trinity Auditorium, and the remainder come from the Philharmonic Auditorium, the Orpheum, the Gamut Club at the Temple Auditorium, and the Mason Opera House.
     
  • Ross Brown Theater Photographs Collection
    This collection contains stereoscopic and 35mm slides and black and white photographs taken of Los Angeles theatre and ballet performances.
     
  • Ousdal (Asbjorn P.) Vinland Saga Scrapbook
    A scrapbook containing materials relating to Asbjorn P. Ousdal's historical drama, Vinland Saga, first performed at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California in 1937.

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