Overview
Correspondence, compositions and other materials by British playwright David Campton.
Dates
- Creation: 1960-1974
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
This collection is not housed at the Houghton Library but is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 box)Includes 2 letters to Kristin Morrison from Campton and 1 letter to Morrison from Stephen Joseph, 2 printed plays and 2 bound typescripts by Campton, and clippings and tickets.
Biographical / Historical
David Campton (1924-2006) was a prolific British dramatist inspired by the Theatre of the Absurd. Campton penned works for adult, youth and children’s theatre as well as radio and television productions. In addition to one-act plays and sketches, Campton penned full length plays, literary adaptations, and the text, Becoming a Playwright.
Born in Leicester, England to parents David and Emily Campton on June 5, 1929, Campton first received recognition as a playwright in 1950 when his play Going Home was performed by an amateur theatre company. In 1955, Campton met producer Stephen Joseph who would go on to produce Dragons are Dangerous, considered Campton’s break-through work. One of the first British playwrights to embrace the style known as the Theatre of the Absurd, Campton received numerous honors throughout his career, including the British Arts Council Bursary for Playwriting in 1957 and the British Theatre Association Meyer-Whitworth Prize for Everybody’s Friend (1975), After Midnight, Before Dawn (1978), and Mrs. Meadowsweet (1985).
Arrangement
Arranged into the following series:
- I. Correspondence
- II. Compositions
- III. Other materials
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2003MT-6. Gift of David Campton?; received: 2001.
General note
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. See access restrictions below for additional information.
Processing Information
Processed by: Suzanne Denison
- Title
- Campton, David. David Campton papers, 1960-1974: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02110
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.
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