Philadelphia theatrical papers

The Philadelphia Theatrical Papers cover an expansive period in the history of the theater in America—the end of the nineteenth century and into the early decades of the twentieth century. Throughout the nineteenth century, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was the home of numerous playhouses, opera houses, and other performing arts spaces. The Philadelphia theatrical papers contain 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.