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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Thr 12

Drury Lane Theatre financial records

Overview

Documents and letters concerning the financial state of the Drury Lane Theatre, the oldest English theater still in use.

Dates

  • Creation: 1747-1817

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.

Extent

.16 linear feet (1 volume)

Includes a manuscript of financial statements for the theater, several unsigned manuscripts in a clerk's hand of articles of agreement between Willoughby Lacy and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, an autograph letter from Willoughby Lacy to Robert Langford concerning the sale of his share of the theater, a manuscript letter from Richard Brinsley Sheridan concerning the financial straits of the theater, among other documents.

[Note: these MSS. comprise items 186-192 and 199 in I. K. Fletcher's catalogue 134]

Biographical / Historical

The Drury Lane Theatre in London is the oldest English theater still in use.

Physical Location

f

Immediate Source of Acquisition

*49M-216F. Purchased with the F.E. Chase fund from Ifan Kyrle Fletcher, 12 Lansdown Road, Wimbledon, London, S.W.20; received: 1950 Apr. 7.

Title
Drury Lane Theatre. Drury Lane Theatre financial records, 1747-1817: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00950

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
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Harvard University
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