Scope and arrangement
The James Gossage photographs date from 1965 to 2011, with very little material present between 1975 and 2011. The collection is arranged into four series, which comprise images of performances, performers, negatives with contact sheets, and a portfolio of Robert Patrick's Cinopages website.
The collection holds production photographs, negatives, and contact sheets from many of the plays produced at La Mama Experimental Theater Club (La MaMa), Caffe Cino, Circle Repertory Company, and Playwrights Workshop. Gossage also photographed individuals at the forefront of the Off-Off-Broadway movement, including Joe Cino, Ellen Stewart, Leonard Melfi, Tom Eyen, Lanford Wilson, and Marshall Mason.
There are also images of live performances that depict actors (including some backstage and candid shots), sets, and costumes from the plays Gossage photographed. Some of the photographs are also filed with the production's programs or reviews. Also present are headshots and professional photographs of individual performers, as well as interiors of theater spaces, all shot by Gossage.
Gossage numbered each negative, contact sheet, and print, following the format CT0001, CTC0010, MOC00001, or XAC00001. The sequencing of the numbers is roughly chronological. Identification number ranges are all noted in the container list when present.
The James Gossage photographs are arranged in four series:
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1960-1975
Series I contains negatives, contact sheets and prints of performances held at various Off Off-Broadway venues. Within some files there are some non-photographic material such as programs and reviews collected by Gossage. Files contain both the title of the performance and the playwright's name. The location of the performance and negative identification number range is noted in the container list.
Box 1, 2, and 5 contains prints. Box 4 contains contact sheets. Box 10 contains negatives.
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1960-1974
Series II contains headshots and professional portraits of actors and playwrights involved in the Off Off-Broadway theater scene. There are also more informal snapshots of actors behind the scenes and the interiors of theaters. The negative identification number range is noted in the container list.
Box 3 contains prints. Box 4 contains contact sheets. Box 10 contains negatives.
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1960-2011
Series III contains negatives, slides, and transparencies, along with their corresponding contact sheets. Images with the prefix CT are black and white, and images with the prefixes CTC, MOC, or XAC are in color. The numbering is sequential, but some runs do not exist or were skipped.
The series includes an index of black and white images titled: Off Off-Broadway and in Caffe theater events, places, and creative personnel, including a Cross Reference to the Photographic Negatives of James D. Gossage. This document, which was printed in 2000, serves as a partial index of Gossage's work. It contains parts of three sections with different access points to the negatives in the collection and the corresponding identification number. A similar index for color images also is present.
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2000s
Series IV holds a portfolio of the website Robert Patrick's Cinopages, which has been printed into three volumes.