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Creator
Stevenson, Charlotte
Call number
*T-Mss 2002-017
Physical description
2 linear feet (8 boxes)
Preferred Citation

Charlotte Stevenson collection of Judy Garland scrapbooks, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Charlotte Stevenson created numerous Judy Garland scrapbooks. This collection contains 13 scrapbooks referencing periods of Judy Garland's life and career. The scrapbooks hold original and reproduced press clippings, postcards, pamphlets, programs, photographs and typewritten copies of articles from magazines and newspapers.

Biographical/historical information

Charlotte Stevenson was born on April 9, 1923 in Oberlin, Kansas to the late Tudor and Vena Spotts Stevenson. A devoted fan and member of the International Judy Garland Club, Stevenson created numerous scrapbooks documenting periods of Garland's life and career. Always willing to assist information seekers, Stevenson was directly acknowledged in both Gerald Clarke's biography, Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland, and John Fricke's biography, Judy Garland: A Portrait in Art & Anecdote. Stevenson was listed in the disc credits for the Judy Garland compilation 25th Anniversary Retrospective, given special thanks by Capitol Records. Stevenson passed away October 27, 2010 in San Antonio, Texas at the age of 87.

Born Frances Ethel Gumm in 1922, Judy Garland was a famous American actress and singer. Known for her tremendous talent and troubled life, Garland found fame early and lived most of her 47 years in the spotlight. Her career was long and varied, finding success in vaudeville that later extended into film, recording, radio and television. Garland's personal life contrasted starkly with the cheerfulness and purity of her film roles. She is often viewed as an object lesson in Hollywood excess. Garland's legacy as a performer and a personality has endured. She received many posthumous awards and is still regarded as a performance icon.

Sources: Clarke, Gerald. Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland, New York: Dell Publishing, 2000, "Acknowledgments."

Fricke, John. Judy Garland: A Portrait in Art & Anecdote, Singapore: Bulfinch Press, 2003.

Scope and arrangement

The Charlotte Stevenson collection of Judy Garland Scrapbooks contains thirteen scrapbooks documenting Judy Garland's life and career. The bulk of the scrapbook content consists of original and reproduced press clippings, most of which are from major American newspaper and magazine publications. Also included are postcards, pamphlets, programs, photographs and typewritten copies of articles from magazines and newspapers.

Stevenson's scrapbooks span decades, filled with material from 1939 through 1969. The scrapbooks are arranged and titled chronologically. Each scrapbook is filled with Garland-related clippings and ephemera published and collected during the period of time listed. The scrapbooks have been disassembled because of their poor condition.

Notable items in the collection are the well preserved photographs of Garland's children in Scrapbook III, 1955-1960. The photographs capture Liza, Lorna and Joey posing and playing. Notations on the verso of the photographs indicate they were taken in July 1956.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged chronologically by scrapbook.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Donated by Charlotte Stevenson, 2011

Processing information

Compiled by Kate Jadwin, Pratt Institute, 2012.

Due to deterioration, scrapbooks were dismantled and rehoused in folders. Proper handling procedures should be used when viewing any of the scrapbook materials, as many are in poor condition.

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

For permission to publish, please contact the Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division.