- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"19.5 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear feet"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"25 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}], "supress_display"=>true}
- unitid
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{"value"=>"*T-Mss 2006-006", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"21822", "type"=>"local_mss"}
- unitdate
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{"value"=>"1824-2002", "type"=>"inclusive"}
{"value"=>"1951-200", "type"=>"bulk"}
- date_inclusive_start
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1843
- date_inclusive_end
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2002
- keydate
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1843
- unittitle
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{"value"=>"Paul Cranefield papers"}
- repository
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{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</span> <span class=\"subarea\">Billy Rose Theatre Division.</span> <div class=\"address\"><span class=\"addressline\">New York, New York</span></div>"}
- abstract
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{"value"=>"The Paul Cranefield Papers, 1824-2002 [bulk years 1951-2002], document medical doctor and theater enthusiast Paul Cranefield’s interest and contribution to New York City’s theatrical world, and in particular the Off-Off Broadway movement. The collection consists of administrative files created by the La Mama Experimental Theatre Club and the Circle Repertory Theatre, in which Cranefield served as a board member for several years. They include correspondence, meeting minutes, notes and agendas, legal and financial records, grant applications, leaflets and brochures, production inventories, and Cranefield’s writings on subjects related to theater and collecting. There are also scripts, photographs, clippings, and a considerable number of programs and posters from productions created by La Mama and Circle Repertory Theatre, as well as from productions of the 1800s, collected by Cranefield."}
- prefercite
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{"value"=>"<p> Paul Cranefield Papers, *T-Mss 2006-006. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.</p>"}
- origination
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{"value"=>"Cranefield, Paul F. (Paul Frederic), 1925-", "type"=>"persname"}
- bioghist
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{"value"=>"<p> Paul F. Cranefield Jr., born in 1925, was a medical doctor and professor at Rockefeller University. An active and respected member of the medical community, Cranefield published extensively on cardiac electrophysiology and the history of nineteenth century physiology, while from 1966-1995 he served as the editor of the <span class=\"title\">Journal of General Physiology</span>.</p> <p> In addition to his medical career, Paul Cranefield was a great bibliophile and collector, and an avid theater lover. His sharp intellect and administrative thoroughness that earned him great respect as medical journal editor was also applied for the benefit of the Off-Off Broadway theater since the beginnings of the movement in the 1960s. In the 1960s and 1970s Cranefield was a founding director and supporter of La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, where he served as chairman of the Board of Directors. Later he also became the first chairman of the Circle Repertory Theatre. He served in the selection committee of the Playwrights’ Conference for the Eugene O’Neill Memorial Theatre Foundation, and was involved in initiatives such as The Working Theater and the New York Theatre Strategy. He also wrote articles and features on theater and collecting.</p> <p>Cranefield’s patronage and support for theater also had a personal dimension. Having formed close ties with many of the playwrights, actors, and directors who became an integral part of La Mama and Circle Repertory Theatre, Cranefield generously offered his support, valuable feedback and encouragement to them. Apart from financial support through sponsorship to new plays, correspondence and numerous dedications of completed scripts to Cranefield indicate his contribution as a respected critic and mentor. Notable among the playwrights who enjoyed Cranefield’s friendship and support were Paul Foster and Lanford Wilson.</p> <p>Paul Cranefield died at the age of 78 on May 31, 2003, after a brief illness in New York City.</p>"}
- scopecontent
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{"value"=>"<p>The Paul Cranefield Papers document medical doctor and theater enthusiast Paul Cranefield’s interest and contribution to New York City’s theatrical world, and in particular the Off-Off Broadway movement. A medical doctor and academic faculty member by profession, during the 1960s and 1970s Paul Cranefield was actively involved in several theater initiatives such as the La Mama Experimental Theatre Club and the Circle Repertory Theatre. Cranefield was also an avid collector; consequently, although the bulk years of this collection span from 1951-2002, there are several items collected by Cranefield that date from as early as 1824.</p> <p>The collection consists of administrative files created by La Mama and Circle Repertory Theatre, as well as other theatrical organizations in which Cranefield was involved. They include correspondence, board of directors’ meeting minutes, notes and agendas, legal and financial records, grant applications, leaflets, brochures and programs, production inventories, and Cranefield’s writings on theater and collecting. A large part of this collection consists of scripts, several of them annotated or inscribed by the authors. These inscriptions and attached correspondence indicate his support on several of the works represented here. In particular, Paul Foster’s <span class=\"title\">The Madonna in the Orchard</span> and Lanford Wilson’s <span class=\"title\">The Rimers of Eldritch</span> include substantial research materials or comments by Cranefield. The collection also contains photographs, clippings, and a considerable number of programs and posters from productions created by La Mama and Circle Repertory Theatre, or from their affiliated members.</p> <p>Notable among the contents of the Paul Cranefield Papers are several items related to nineteenth-century theater that Cranefield collected during his life. They are mainly posters and programs of productions from the 1800s, as well as an original sketch of the mid-nineteenth-century actress Anna Cora Mowatt, which Cranefield obtained together with the first edition of Mowatt’s <span class=\"title\">Autobiography of an Actress, or Eight Years on the Stage</span>, 1854.</p> <p>A helpful and interesting feature of this collection is that Paul Cranefield prepared carefully the materials before their donation. His passion for the subject and his intellectual thoroughness are evident in several items, which include comments and notes added by him, many of them written in 1994. These comments place materials in context, and often make connections or contain descriptions of related events. Cranefield often provides the sender’s full name in letters that are signed only by first name, while posters, programs and photographs are enriched by a wide range of comments, dates and other relevant information.</p> <p>This collection does not contain materials related to Paul Cranefield’s career as a doctor, with a few exceptions where the subjects of theater and medicine overlap.</p>"}
{"value"=>"<p class='list-head'>The Paul Cranefield papers are arranged in four series:</p>\n<ul class='arrangement series-descriptions'>\n<li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21822#c494890'>Series I: Professional Papers</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1843 - 2002,</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>5 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains administrative files created by La Mama and Circle Repertory Theatre, in which Cranefield was a board member. They include correspondence, meeting minutes, notes and agendas, legal and financial records, grant applications, leaflets and brochures, production inventories, and Cranefield’s writings on subjects related to theater and collecting. The correspondence files contain several letters from friends and colleagues, among them Lanford Wilson, Paul Foster, and Michael Powell. Many of these letters include lively discussions about their work and descriptions of their life at the time. Letters from La Mama’s European tour in 1967, for example, contain several different perspectives over the same events during the four-month period of the tour.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21822#c494999'>Series II: Scripts</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1964 - 1997,</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>8 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains scripts of plays produced at La Mama or Circle Repertory Theatre, several of them original works, or drafts. Many scripts contain annotations and authors’ inscriptions to Paul Cranefield for his support and encouragement. His contribution is even more substantial in the case of certain works, such as Paul Foster’s The Madonna in the Orchard and Lanford Wilson’s The Rimers of Eldritch, which include research notes, photographs, and correspondence with Cranefield’s suggestions and observations.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21822#c495115'>Series III: Publicity materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1951 - 2001,</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>5 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains clippings and a considerable number of programs and fliers from productions staged at La Mama and Circle Repertory Theatre, or works by their members performed in other venues.</p></div></li><li><div class='series-title'><a href='/the/21822#c495170'>Series IV: Oversized Materials</a></div>\n<div class='series-date'>1824 - 1996,</div>\n<div class='series-extent'>7 boxes</div>\n<div class='series-description'><p>This series contains oversized correspondence, collected materials, photographs and posters from productions created by La Mama and Circle Repertory Theatre, or materials collected by Cranefield of productions from the 1800s. Some materials are mounted.</p></div></li></ul>\n", "type"=>"arrangement"}
- arrangement
-
{"value"=>"<p> <ul> <li>Series I: Professional Papers, 1843-2002, undated</li> <li>Series II: Scripts, 1964-1997, undated</li> <li>Series III: Publicity Materials, 1951-2001, undated</li> <li>Series IV: Oversized Materials, 1824-1996, undated</li></ul></p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p> The Paul Cranefield Papers were donated to the Billy Rose Theatre Division in 2006 by the Paul Cranefield estate.</p>"}
- userestrict
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{"value"=>"<p>For permission to publish, contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.</p>"}
- processinfo
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{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Aikaterini Dimitriadou-Shuster; Machine-readable finding aid created by Aikaterini Dimitriadou-Shuster.</p>"}
- extent_statement
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19.5 linear feet (25 boxes)