PASIG Performing Arts Special Interest Group-Directions Statement

The performing arts collection is a vital part of South Australia's performing arts industry and part of a national international network of performing arts museums. The collection is a valuable resource supporting education and cultural tourism in South Australia. Our areas of collection are in the areas of theatre, music, opera, music theatre, dance, puppetry, circus; and associated with these genres, their theatre history (buildings and groups) main players and personalities, development of trends - primarily in South Australia.

We collect programs, costumes, stage models, stage and costume designs, photographs, posters, masks, props, scrap books, oral histories (again the focus is on South Australia - performances, artists, theatres and groups etc.)

The National Library collects printed materials, manuscripts, pictorial images, oral history recordings and electronic publications relating to the history and culture of Australia's performing arts. Both current and retrospective materials are collected. The coverage is national in scope. The complete text of the Library's Collection Development Policy for Australian material is on the Library's Home Page.

Monograph publications, including government publications, received on Legal Deposit are collected and preserved comprehensively. Serials, journals, newsletters and magazines received on Legal Deposit are retained selectively. Those titles which are of a very local, minor and ephemeral nature are referred for preservation to the relevant state library. The Library's holdings of monographs and serials are accessible via the On Line Public Access Catalogue (OPAC) through the Library's Home Page.

Printed ephemera (including programs, brochures, pamphlets) relating to the performing arts in Australia is acquired on a selective basis. Emphasis is given to companies and individuals of national standing as well as those with significant status in their field whether at a state, regional or local level. Particular attention is given to collecting materials reflecting Australian performing arts overseas. Material form amateur companies is generally not collected. Selectively listing of the performing arts ephemera files has commenced and is available via the Home Page.

Manuscripts in the performing arts field are collected as part of the general policy of collecting manuscripts and other unpublished written materials which document Australian history and society, Manuscripts include personal papers of Australians who have achieved national standing and records of major organisations operating at the national level. Manuscripts listing are available via The Library's Home Page.

Pictorial materials include original, unpublished works (oil Paintings, watercolours, drawings), sketchbooks, photographs, and slides, as well as published pictorial works including engravings, etchings, woodcuts, lithographs, postcards, and posters. The policies governing the collecting of pictorial materials mirror those for manuscripts - see above. Performing arts are included in the collecting ambit of these policies. The Library's Pictorial holdings are available via the Library's OPAC.

Oral history interviews are recorded with Australians who have achieved national standing, and as part of the projects which document aspects of Australian social history. The performing arts is one of the strengths of the collection, which also includes recordings of folk songs and recitations. The catalogue of oral history recordings is available on the Library's OPAC.

The National Library published a guide to the materials listed above in the performing arts collection, A full House. Compiled by Michelle Potter (Canberra 1991) 180pp. ISBN 0 642 10544 8

Electronic publications in the form of Compact Discs, and multi-media kits are collected selectively according to the level of treatment and topic. performing arts subjects are included if appropriate. On-line Australian publications in the form of sites on the Internet are archived by the Library on a selective basis, including performing arts sited. A listing is available via the Home Page.

Performing arts is one of 32 collection development fields in the collection development policy of the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS)

NOTE: Performing arts has been a dormant area of the collection and the policy has not been applied in any systematic or thorough way. Since the policy was written the Powerhouse has developed the rock music collection (in conjunction with the Real Wild Child exhibition) and the circus collection (nearly all of which comes from the Jandaschewsky collection, selectively displayed in the Circus! exhibition). The recent transfer of material from the Denis Wolanski Library at the Sydney Opera House has given the museum a collection on which to build.

Performing arts encompasses all the forms of theatrical and musical arts, including theatre, dance, opera, classical and popular music, puppetry and circus. By definition, the performing arts involve public performances, which may be performed live to an audience or transmitted via radio and television broadcast or made available via the recorded medium of film, video or audio.

To collect, conserve and interpret artefacts which can be used to communicate, through exhibitions and other media, an understanding and appreciation of the history, craft and practice of performing arts in Australian society.

The museum holds a limited number of theatre, circus and concert programs, theatre technology, miniature theatres, theatrical costumes, artefacts relating to puppet theatre and posters.

The musical instrument collection is substantial and primarily covers 19th and early 20th century European music. Also included are tools and equipment associated with the making of instruments and a large number of acetate recordings and sheets of music.

A large scale program of active collecting is needed to bring the holdings of performing arts artefacts in NSW up to the level that fulfils the collection development aim.

- three dimensional material including costumes, jewellery, props (swords, fans etc.), puppets, make-up, masks, wigs, sculpture, souvenirs, personal memorabilia that relate to performance, set models, backcloths, toy (miniature) theatre, lighting equipment, front of house equipment, architectural objects

- pictorial and printed material including playbills, programs, tickets, prints, drawings, paintings, photographs, set designs, illustrated music sheets, prompt sheets, prompt scripts, scrapbooks and musical scores

- archival material such as press cuttings, reviews, production records, company records, building records. The Denis Wolanski Library and Archive of the Performing Arts currently holds material of this type, and future collecting may be done on a joint basis with another institution

-audio-visual material which records selected live performance representative of the range of contemporary Australian performing arts, including significant performances overseas.

State Library of NSW
Sydney Opera House
Australian National Gallery
Performing Arts Museum, Melbourne
National Museum of Australia
National Film and Sound Archive

Communications
Use and interpretation of Australian imagery
Visual communication
Leisure and tourism

QPAM's prime responsibility is the collection, preservation and interpretation of Queensland's performing arts heritage, drawn as widely as possible from live performance activities. Film, television and radio productions will not be included unless they form part of a larger collection, provide additional information not available through any other medium, or as required for exhibition purposes.

The collection will be developed principally through donations although funds will be made available form time to time, for significant acquisitions. Priority will be given to items which have exhibition value, and QPAM may choose not to accept material which cannot be stored, displayed or conserved within available budgets.

Definition: Performing arts includes public performances such as theatre, dance, opera, musical comedy, pantomime, circus, puppets, vaudeville, pageantry as well as film, television and radio.

Collection profile: New South Wales and Australian performing arts activities are documented from 1800 when the earliest extant playbills were produced. The Australian Research Collections include original materials such as personal papers, portraits, photographs, scores, film, scrapbooks, posters, costume and set designs, records of theatrical companies, archives and papers. Some examples are the Margaret Barr dance archive; the records of the Marionette Theatre, the New Theatre, Sydney, the Nimrod Theatre and the Independent Theatre; the records of the NLT, an independent production company; the papers of Pat Lovell relating to twentieth century film; papers and video material relating to the performer Peter Allen and a particularly complete archive from Graeme Bell, jazz musician and his parents who were vaudeville and musical performers. The papers of playwrights, performers, producers and directors and local performing arts companies are currently collected.

One of Australia's leading publishers of plays, Currency Press contributes its work to the collection through Legal Deposit. Other printed material including performance programs, posters, sheet-music, books, journals, and newspapers provide information about the performing arts in Australia and particularly New South Wales.

The Reference Collection contains current biographies, dictionaries and encyclopedic works, directories, handbooks and yearbooks. Indexing and abstracting services are complemented by subscriptions to key journals relating to dance, drama, opera and arts administration. The Film and Video Collection includes commercially released material of Australian and overseas interest.

Special collections include the Robbins Collection of Stage Magic and Conjuring; the Shakespeare Tercentenary Memorial Library, including the Folger Collection of Stage Prompt Books, and Twentieth Century British Drama. A large proportion of the Dennis Wolanski Library of the Performing Arts including both original and printed materials is now incorporated into the State Library's collection, providing valuable depth.

Target client groups: Independent learners, researchers, performers, exhibition curators, performing arts professionals revisiting the past, students of the media and film studies, theatre-goers, theatre managers, playwrights, scriptwriters, advertisers and those appreciating the performing arts.

Other resource collections: Powerhouse Museum, NIDA Library, Holroyd Public Library, Australian Film, Television and Radio School Library, City of Sydney Library, university libraries; Sydney Theatre Company, Film Australia.

Use: 3% of the State Library's collection use is in the subject of performing arts.

Access: The Library's policy is to facilitate access for off-site and on-site clients. To enquire about the use of performing arts resources, visit the Library or ring (02) 9273 1414. February, 1998

The State Library of Tasmania has four Heritage Collections: The Tasmanian Library, which is the actively-developing collection of Tasmanian published material; the WL Crowther Library and Allport Library and Museum of Fine Arts, both of which were presented to the State Library s collections and have contents which are wide-ranging in both subject and format; and the Launceston Local Studies Library.

Broadly speaking, the State Library of Tasmania aims to collect and preserve all Tasmanian publications, whatever their subject matter or format; all publications with substantial Tasmanian content, whatever their place of publication; and all published works by Tasmanian authors. Items published in Tasmania are received under the terms of the legal deposit provision of the Libraries Act 1984-1994; items published both in Tasmania and elsewhere are acquired by purchase and by donation.

With respect to the performing arts, the Library aims to acquire material - programs, posters, handbills and other promotional material, as well as published scripts and other published material such as annual reports - relating to companies performance and events (both professional and amateur) in Tasmania and to significant performances and events outside Tasmania in which Tasmanian performing artists and ensembles are involved. The Library has established firm, though informal, links with key companies and venues such as the Theatre Royal in Hobart, Theatre North in Launceston, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, Terrapin Puppet Theatre, TasDance and the Salamanca Arts Centre.

The collection of Tasmanian publications extends to audio and video material; and the Library has an extensive and rapidly growing collection of recordings by Tasmanian artists and of recordings by Tasmanian composers.

The Tasmanian Library holds, as separate a collection, the JWB Murphy Collection, comprising 364 theatre and cinema posters (1896-1920) and 385 programs (1860-1960), mainly for productions at Hobart's Theatre Royal.

The Library has, since 1966, maintained an index (the Tasmanian Index) of news and feature articles in Tasmanian newspapers and other periodical publications. Until June 1994, articles about the performing arts but not reviews of performances were included in the Index; since July 1994, reviews have also been indexed.

The State Library of Tasmania does not normally acquire original manuscript material. the major exceptions to this policy are that: the Crowther and Allport collections include manuscript material, principally material acquired by the collections' respective founders; and the Launceston Local Studies Library has a significant manuscript collection, to which new accessions are occasionally made. The collection and preservation of private papers is, however, primarily a function of the Archives Office of Tasmania, which has substantial holdings including the records of several individuals and organisations active in the performing arts. The Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston also has a substantial and growing archival collection.

Tony Marshall
Senior Librarian (Heritage Collections)
State Library of Tasmania
26 February, 1998

Performing arts covers all forms of public performance, radio, television, theatre, dance and film.

Theatre and other performing arts groups, theatre goers, performers, directors, playwrights, and independent learners; students of film and media studies, and people with an appreciative or historical interest in film, television or radio.

The bulk of the material covering this division is located in the Arts Collection, although related material is held in the General and La Trobe Collections while manuscript and pictorial material are held in the manuscripts and Picture Collections.

The State Library of Victoria is the principally publicly-accessible collection in Victoria relating to the performing arts. The State Library's Collection is broad ranging and covers the performing arts in all places, periods and styles with an emphasis on Western performing arts in English and other West European languages. While the material relating to all places, periods and traditions thereby reflecting the increasing diversity of Victoria's population, There is strength in Nineteenth Century overseas publications. Some serial holdings (e.g. The Theatre-London, Dramatic Notes-London, and The Drama or Theatrical Pocket Magazine) are unique to Victoria or Australia.

Reference material is collected extensively, including bibliographies, encyclopaedic works, dictionaries, review indexes, yearbooks, directories and other material. The Library maintains a substantial collection of serials relating to theatre and film, while key international serials covering, dance, films, television and radio are also acquired.

In developing the Collection, the history of the theatre and especially Australian theatre will be concentrated upon-the La Trobe Collection contains considerable material in this area. Of special significance is The Theatre Programmes Collection. Apart from professional and amateur theatre programmes, this valuable collection includes brochures, handbills and publicity material relating to drama performances in opera, dance and musical comedy, vocal and orchestral music, puppetry, mime, etc. Systematic collecting in this area began in the early 1960's and the Collection now includes over 30 000 items. An attempt is made to acquire at Level 5 for Victorian material. Some non-Victorian material is also collected.

In relation to film, television and radio, the Library's Collection was strengthened in 1987 with the transfer of a major part of the State Film Centre's book collection. The Library aims to represent the major styles and movements in film-making and related areas, and to provide some information about film, television and radio for all countries. In general is seeks to build a strong collection of reference material on film, television and radio. It strongly emphasises Australian material relating to the broadcasting media in Australia, which are acquired at Level 4.

Another major resource in this Division is the W.G. Alma Conjuring Collection. This significant Collection was donated to the library by William George Alma (1904-1993) who was a world-renowned Australian magician and craftsman. Apart form over 3 300 books on magic, and numerous magazines, the Collection includes 1 500 photographs, 250 posters, over 400 detailed research files on individual magicians, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, letters and much other memorabilia. Also included are hundreds of pieces of conjuring apparatus from Australia and overseas and a series of scale models of famous illusions. Material is added to the Collection with the help of bequest funds.

Public Performances (791) - material related to public performances are collected at Level 4 for Australia and the Basic Information (Augmented) (Level 2b) for other countries. Critical biographies of directors, actors and others in the broadcast media will continue to be acquired selectively, while the major styles and movements in film-making and related areas will be represented.

Theatre (792) - the Collection is maintained at Level 4 for the Australian theatre and related subjects, and aims to acquire all significant published serials and monographs relating to the theatre in Australia, as well as ephemeral material, and manuscripts, pictures, oral history and related musical material. The Theatre Programmes Collection will continue acquiring at Level 5 Victorian material, from the theatrical and other live performances, amateur and professional, current and retrospective. Programmes of major interstate festivals are included, when they are of national importance. An attempt is also made to collect programmes for significant overseas and theatrical productions.

Ballet and Modern Dance and Social Folk, National Dancing (792.8, 793.3) - the Collection concentrates on the needs of reference, research and appreciation rather than practical aspects. There are strengths in the Nineteenth Century material in Australian works and ballet and for the latter the Library has some significant holdings of video which supplements the book as the primary study medium. Material relating to Dance including ballet will be collected at the Intermediate (Augmented) Level (Level 3b)

Conjuring (793.8)-material in this subject area will continue to be emphasised at level 4.

Performing Arts - Performing Arts Museum, Melbourne; Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne; Film - State Film Centre, East Melbourne; Swinburne Library, Swinburne University, Hawthorn.

Class	Descriptor	CL*	AC*
790.2	Performing Arts in General	3	3
791	Public Performances	2	2
792	Stage Presentations	3	3
793.3	Social, Folk, National Dancing	3	3
793.8	Magic and Related Activities	4	4

PASIG Member Institutions Collection Development Policies

PASIG Member Institutions
Collection Development Policies