Scope and arrangement
The Barnard Hughes and Helen Stenborg papers, dating from the 1880s to 2011, recount the couple's professional lives and collecting interests. The bulk of the collection highlights stage productions, repertory companies, and accolades from the Hughes' stage careers through correspondence; programs; annotated scripts; play manuscripts; photographs; notebooks; posters; a video recording and transcriptions of award introductions and speeches; honorary certificates and plaques; and award trophies and statuettes. A few of Hughes' motion picture and television roles are represented by way of annotated screenplays, photographs, and premiere programs. The collection holds some personal material, including an engravings collection of famous 19th Century British and American actors, and notebooks with inspirational quotes about acting, poems, and blocking notes. The papers also include a series of theater memorabilia from Thelma Chandler, an American stage manager. The Chandler series details her work and relationships with Margaret Webster and Eva Le Gallienne.
The collection is arranged into four series: Theater and Film Productions and Events; Awards and Accolades; Hughes and Stenborg Personal Files; and Thelma Chandler Theater Memorabilia.
The Barnard Hughes and Helen Stenborg papers are arranged in four series:
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1924-2010
This series, dating from 1924 to 2010, consists of programs; annotated scripts and scenarios; play manuscripts; photographs; posters; tickets; caricatures; and correspondence from the Hughes' years performing on the stage and screen. While most of the material comes from the Hughes' work on Broadway productions, their early work in repertory and summer stock companies, such as the Tenthouse Theatre Stock Company, are also present through programs, flyers, and annotated play manuscripts. Hughes' roles in Da (1978-1980), Hamlet (1964), The Teahouse of the August Moon (1955-1956), Much Ado About Nothing (1972), and All Over Town (1974-1975) are thoroughly recorded through posters; photographs; annotated scripts; programs; and correspondence from fans, producers, castmates, and family. There are three annotated screenplays and a few call sheets from Hughes' roles in TRON (1981), The Hospital (1971), and the television movie Where's Poppa? (1964).
The series also illustrates Stenborg's work as a member of the Circle Repertory Company, and roles in Waiting in the Wings (1999-2000), A Month in the Country (1995), A Doll's House (1972-1975), and Sheep on the Runway (1970) through annotated scripts, photographs, programs, and correspondence from admirers, castmates, and family. Of note are annotated manuscripts and scripts from various productions; a limited edition screenplay of Da (1987) signed by the film's producers; and a closing night memento dedicated to Hughes and signed by the Broadway cast of Da (1979).
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1955-2010
This series spans from 1955 to 2010, and incorporates correspondence; invitations; honorary citations; programs; tickets; certificates; plaques; a video recording and transcriptions of award speeches; award trophies and statuettes that Hughes and Stenborg received in recognition of their professional work. Most of the series features materials generated from various award events, such as the Drama Desk Awards, Helen Hays Awards, Tony Awards, Outer Critics Circle Awards, and the Actors' Fund of America, honoring Hughes and Stenborg. Of note are congratulatory correspondence addressed to Hughes from producers, colleagues, friends, and admirers for his Tony Award win; Doug Hughes' speech from a roast and toast event for Hughes; and Laura Hughes' introduction for Stenborg when she received a Richard Seff Award.
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1880s-2011
The files date from the 1880s to 2011, and constitute correspondence, photographs, engravings, notebooks, and some ephemera collected and created by the Hughes. Most of the files consist of an engraving collection that features famous 19th Century British and American stage actors, as well as personal correspondence written to Hughes and Stenborg individually and collectively. When Hughes died in 2006, Stenborg retained the sympathy letters and cards that she received from theater colleagues and friends. Of note are Stenborg and Hughes' notebooks that contain insights on their approaches to acting, inspirational quotes from plays, poems, and blocking notes.
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1890s-1976
This series spans from the 1890s to 1976, and contains photographs; correspondence; programs; sheet music; tour schedules; a plugging chart (a hand drawn chart of the sockets in the plugboard and the placement of the stage lights in the theater); production cost lists; set design drawings; and notes from Thelma Chandler's work as a stage manager. The series contains Chandler's biographical notes that explain how she got her start working for Eva Le Gallienne at the Civic Repertory Theatre in the 1930s as an assistant stage manager. Chandler held onto letters from Le Gallienne and Margaret Webster, with whom she worked closely for nearly a decade.
In the Webster correspondence, Webster describes her daily work as a director and producer, as well as her romantic relationships with Le Gallienne and Pamela Frankau, the English novelist. The series details Chandler's professional life touring with the Margaret Webster Shakespeare Company through correspondence, photographs, programs, sheet music, tour schedules, and production cost lists. Chandler maintained photographs of famous stage and screen actors from the 1890s to the 1950s, some of which are signed. Of note are photographs of Le Gallienne's 1932 stage production of Alice in Wonderland and a plugging chart from the 1965 to 1966 North American tour of Funny Girl.