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Creator
Hall, Ed, 1931-1991
Call number
Sc MIRS Hall 1991-80
Physical description
4 audio_recordings
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Ed Hall audio collection, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division, The New York Public Library
Sponsor
An anonymous donor funded preliminary processing for this collection. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation supported a research library-wide grant for the digitization, and funded the Schomburg for the description and production of the finding aid as part of The Next Century of Black Studies Project.
Repository
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
Access to materials
Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.

Edward C. Hall (1931-1991), known as Ed Hall, was an African American actor of stage, screen, and television. The audio collection consists of four audio recordings of oral history interviews with Ed Hall, and actresses Rose Weaver and Barbara Meek.

Biographical/historical information

Edward C. Hall (1931-1991), known as Ed Hall, was an African American actor of stage, screen, and television. He began his professional acting career in 1950 and performed primarily on Broadway. In 1965 he joined the Trinity Repertory Company (Trinity Rep), one of the most respected regional theaters in the US, as its first Black actor. He remained a member for twenty-six years, acting in more than eighty productions. Rose Weaver and Barbara Meek were also active members of Trinity Rep. The interviews are part of an oral history project on Trinity Rep that can be accessed at the New York Public Library of Performing Arts. George M. Goodwin, a specialist in oral history research, conducted the interviews.

Hall's radio credits include the Philip Morris Playhouse. Some of the more well-known productions he acted in were: Raisin in the Sun, where he played the African student, Joseph Asagai, in the original 1959 Broadway production; No Time for Sergeants; The Death of Bessie Smith; Trumpets of the Lord; The Zulu and the Zayda; Joe Turner's Come and Gone; and the television show Separate But Equal, which aired in 1991.

Hall died of cancer on July 30, 1991.

Scope and arrangement

The Ed Hall audio collection consists of four audio recordings of oral history interviews with Ed Hall, Rose Weaver, and Barbara Meek. Since the collection's original formats are audio cassettes, the items contain two parts, one for each side of the cassette. They are arranged alphabetically by the last name of interviewees. There are two interviews with Meek, referred to as sessions. The session number is included in the item description. Hall, Weaver, and Meek talk about their family histories, acting careers, and lives.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Gift of Marion Simon, Trinity Repertory Company in December 1991.

Processing information

Collection inventoried by Nathan Evans. Collection processed and described by Ornella U. Baganizi, archivist; and Shola Lynch, curator. Finding aid published in 2024.

Separated material

See the Manuscripts, Archives, and Rare Books Division for the Ed Hall papers, Sc MG 447.

Related Material

See Trinity Repertory Company Oral History Tapes 1990-1991 at the New York Public Library of Performing Arts, *L (Special) 92-15.

Using the collection

Location

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division
515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037-1801
Third Floor

Access to materials

Appointment preferred: Request an in-person research appointment.