Scope and arrangement
The Isaiah Sheffer papers (1891-2013, bulk dates: 1937-2012) consist of professional files created during his career as a writer, director, producer, actor, and administrator at Symphony Space. Although the collection has been arranged in four series, there is considerable overlap among the files. The chronological files have the broadest scope since they span all aspects of his career. The files contain professional correspondence with colleagues and collaborators, administrative files concerning his work as artistic director of Symphony Space, and production materials. Sheffer's work as a writer, producer, and director is most evident in the Productions series which primarily contains scripts and scores from his plays and musicals. Symphony Space Office Files document the day-to-day running of a non-profit arts organization and contain mainly administrative files, such as publicity material for events held there, meeting minutes, and financial records. Within the small amount of personal files, there is family correspondence, photographs, early academic records, and writings.
The Isaiah Sheffer Papers are arranged in four series:
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1937-201129 Boxes, 2.57 Megabytes
Productions consist primarily of scripts and scores, but also include other production materials and several audio and video recordings. Sheffer's writing and revision process is shown through multiple drafts, revisions, notes, and annotated scores. Sheffer consistently retained audio and video recordings, such as demo recordings and live performance recordings of works he wrote, directed, produced or appeared in. These include such plays and musicals as Claire de Lune, The Doctor Will See You Now, The Dybbuk, The Last Chapter, Millenium, A Pair of Jokers, The Rise of David Levinsky, The Sheik of Avenue B, Yiddle with a Fiddle, and the radio series Theatre Studio on the Air. Other production materials such as programs, flyers, clippings, rehearsal schedules, contracts, correspondence, photographs, posters, and notes filed with scripts are included here, though the majority of non-script and score production materials will be found in Chronological Files.
This series does not include scripts and production materials for Symphony Space productions. These will be found in Symphony Space Office Files and Chronological Files. This series is arranged in alphabetical order by name of production.
Audio and visual materials are unavailable pending digitization.
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1978-2013481.33 Megabytes, 34 Boxes
Symphony Space Office Files consist mainly of files on specific projects (arranged by project title or event name) and season files (arranged chronologically). Sheffer took an active role in conceiving productions, reviewing scripts, vetting submitted writings, contributing parody lyrics, writing sketches, producing, and occasionally performing at Symphony Space events. These actions are reflected through administrative files containing meeting minutes, budgets, and PowerPoint presentations; project files holding scripts, scores, and set-lists; and publicity materials, such as photographs, programs, and designs for posters and other printer matter.
Project files contain both paper and electronic documents. The electronic records are generally organized in folders by project name, though folders are sometimes named for an individual identified with the project, rather than by the full project title. An example of this is the electronic project file for Wall-to-Wall Balanchine, which is simply titled "Balanchine." There are also folders of general Symphony Space files. Researchers interested in any Symphony Space project should consult both the general and individual project files. Project files include audio and video recordings of such Symphony Space productions as Aufwind, A More Perfect Union, and various editions of Selected Shorts, Thalia Follies, and the Wall-to-Wall series.
Season files document Sheffer's process of planning, managing, maintaining, and developing a large-scale arts organization in New York. His season files and notebooks consist of notes and information about the productions, schedules, planning, staff, and operations of Symphony Space. Notebooks are frequently separated into sections on the projects planned for the season. Major annual events are the Symphony Space projects documented most extensively in this series such as Bloomsday on Broadway, Selected Shorts, the Thalia Follies, and the Wall-to-Wall series. Symphony Space season files will also be found in Chronological Files.
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1954-201010 Boxes
Chronological Files (1954-2010) document Isaiah Sheffer's family life and professional activities as an actor, writer, director, producer, and Columbia University professor. These files, from his home office, intellectually and chronologically overlap with the other series in this collection. The files are ordered in rough chronological chunks, reflecting Sheffer's activities at any given period. They are arranged by decade, but the date ranges are not strict. Sheffer's original folder titles, retained here, use a wide variety of designations. There are folders dedicated to a particular project, individual or subject. Other folders are titled by genre or format (such as correspondence, sketches, programs, or publicity materials). There are also folders titled by date range that often contain correspondence with a variety of individuals. All of the chronological groupings contain each of these types of files.
The Chronological Files consist primarily of correspondence and production files. Sheffer's extensive correspondence provides insight into his personal life, professional activities, and political opinions. In his correspondence with collaborators, topics discussed include critical reception of their works, personal opinions on each other's productions, and the process through which these productions are created and presented.
By far the most extensive correspondent is Eric Bentley. Sheffer and Bentley's correspondence documents decades of friendship and collaboration. In their letters they discuss their friends, day-to-day activities, personal lives, teaching careers, opinions about literature, and their own theatrical projects. Many of these projects were collaborations between the two, though many were also created independently. There are folders dedicated entirely to Sheffer's correspondence with or about the Belgian playwright Michel de Ghelderode. Sheffer's correspondence with Ghelderode shows his interest in avant-garde theatre and his active dedication to producing the works of important European playwrights in America. Most of the letters are in French and pertain to American productions of Ghelderode's works. Other correspondents whose letters are contained in the Ghelderode folders include Ghelderode's wife, Jeanne-François Gérard, and sociologist Renée Claire Fox.
There are also many letters between Sheffer and his mother, Esther Scooler Sheffer, his father Samuel Sheffer, and his daughter Susannah Sheffer. Family correspondence is sometimes filed with general correspondence, and sometimes separated into its own folders.
Letters from other prominent correspondents will be found in folders of general correspondence as well as in folders titled by project or production. Sheffer's correspondence with other authors, performers, producers and directors pertains to existing or potential collaborations, adaptations, productions, or appearances. These correspondents include Isaac Bashevis-Singer, Herbert Blau, Robert Brustein, Lou Carter, Joseph Chaikin, Édouard Chambon, Grover Dale, Jules Feiffer, Robert A. Freedman, E. Y. "Yip" Harburg, Langston Hughes, Betty Judkins, Louise Kerz, Lotte Lenya, Lucille Lortel, Louise Manning, Artie Morey, Lew Palter, Bobby Paul, J. I (Jerry) Rodale, and Marc Rosenberg. The correspondence between Sheffer and Langston Hughes concerns a dispute over the premature closing of Sheffer's Off-Broadway production of Hughes' The Prodigal Son and the resulting financial loss.
The production materials included in Chronological Files can be differentiated from the materials found in Series I: Productions in that they tend to focus more on the logistical process of casting, directing, negotiating contracts, producing, and publicizing of these works and less on their writing. While some of Sheffer's works from the 1990s and later are documented here, Chronological Files tend to cover the productions he worked on in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Sheffer's many different roles within the New York theatre world are documented in the production materials found in Chronological Files. Script drafts, song excerpts, and letters and notes from the political revues Sheffer wrote, directed and produced during the 1960s and 1970s (The DMZ, Urban Blight, Watergate Classics, and Some of My Best Friends Are Women) show his early development of the model for the political cabaret series he would later produce regularly at Symphony Space: the Thalia Follies.
Sheffer was also developing his skill as a writer during this period. The files on The Rise of David Levinsky, The Sheik of Avenue B, The Theatre of Peretz, and Yiddle with a Fiddle document his writing process with script drafts, notes on revisions, song lyrics, and scores. Sheffer's teaching career at Columbia University is documented in Chronological Files through his correspondence, particularly with Eric Bentley, as well as through materials on productions like The DMZ, which, while not officially produced by Columbia was associated with the University though Sheffer's position there and the participation of his students.
Sheffer kept some of his files on Symphony Space at home, and these are included in his Chronological Files. Their content and dates overlap with the files found in Series II: Symphony Space Office Files. Symphony Space files included here consist primarily of logistical documents pertaining to the management of the organization, such as board meeting minutes, financial statements, and planning notes. Other Symphony Space materials Sheffer retained in the Chronological Files include printed matter, such as press releases, clippings, flyers, posters, photographs, gala benefit invitations, and programs.
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1891-20113 Boxes
Series IV consists of childhood photographs, clippings, degrees and honorary degrees, and a small amount of personal correspondence. The bulk of Sheffer's correspondence as well as a small amount of additional personal materials will be found in Chronological Files and, to a much lesser extent, in Symphony Space Office Files.