George Stoddard papers

1957-1983

George D. Stoddard (1897-1981) was a chancellor of New York University and Long Island University. From its incorporation to the mid-1970s, Stoddard served on the board of directors of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The George Stoddard papers contain correspondence, memoranda, and meeting minutes documenting the governance of Lincoln Center during its first decades, the work of the programming and education committees of Lincoln Center, and administration of the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center. Files for Lincoln Center also contain programs and clippings from the ground breaking of the Lincoln Center site; productions of the Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center at ANTA-Washington Square Theater and the Vivian Beaumont Theater; the opening of Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher Hall); and early seasons of the Metropolitan Opera at Lincoln Center. The collection includes programs and correspondence from the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre of Stratford, Connecticut, where Stoddard was also a trustee, as well as a copy of his 1981 autobiography, The Pursuit of Education.