The records that your company generates and collects in the course of creating, producing, and publicizing theatrical productions are of immediate value to you in conducting your day-to-day business. After a show has closed, related records serve as evidence of the important work that went into the making of that production and its impact on your artists, staff, and audiences. Maintaining your records in a consistent and organized way will help to preserve them and enable staff (current and future) as well as outside researchers to identify and access the items that document your company’s history—the archives.
Having an archival program helps often itinerant staff access company history and work more efficiently. For the publicity director who needs an old production photo for a brochure, the development officer who wants to know the amount of contributions in 1999, or the new artistic director who is curious about the last company production of Romeo and Juliet, an organized company archives can respond quickly and easily.
Researchers outside the company may consult your archives for a variety of reasons. Theatre fans may have an interest in a particular production or artist. Students may need to collect information for a class paper or thesis. Scholars may undertake extensive research for an academic journal article or a commercial publication. Colleagues from other theatres may be interested in dramaturgical materials created for your production of a play they are undertaking. By opening your archives to the public, you reinforce the connection between your company and your community and contribute to research and publications that raise your company’s public profile and make its work part of the historical record.
Establishing an archival program for your company improves current administrative and artistic activities by maximizing existing resources and putting your legacy to work for the future. By preserving and sharing your archives, your company safeguards its own historical records and becomes a permanent part of America’s theatrical heritage.
TOP TEN REASONS TO ARCHIVE THEATRE
- Save time and money through organization of records.
- Establish and exploit historical connections with your community.
- Uncover and preserve historical gems hidden among your “stuff.”
- Improve interdepartmental communications.
- Relieve staff of the burden of “institutional memory.”
- Engage students, veteran volunteers, and retired staff as free labor.
- Free up space by discarding old records that are not part of the archives.
- Collaborate with local and national educational and cultural institutions.
- Attract legacy-specific grant money.
- Secure your company’s place in history.