The Kenyon family was closely associated with theatre in Pittsburgh for twenty years (1909-1929), maintaining a less direct involvement with local theatre for many years afterwards. Elmer Kenyon, the elder of the two brothers, was associated with the national theatre scene as well. Thomas Kenyon, the father, emigrated from Ireland and eventually settled in Allegheny City where he operated a dry goods store on Federal Street. On that site he built the Kenyon Theatre in 1909 as the first "high class" theatre on the North Side. Three years later he opened the first Kenyon Opera House, also a vaudeville theatre, in downtown Pittsburgh, on Penn Avenue near Seventh Avenue. Because of labor problems and illness, he soon withdrew from active participation in his theatres, and in 1919 he sold his interests. Both theatres have since been demolished. The Kenyon Theatre remained standing for more than fifty years, until the raising of the North Side area required for Allegheny Center. The Kenyon Opera House achieved a decade of splendor as the Pitt Theatre, one of the city's major legitimate playhouses, after the Shuberts took over in 1919. When its auditorium was torn down in 1951 it was the Barry; the façade lasted until 1963. The major portion of personal papers in this collection pertains to Elmer Bernard Kenyon, 1886-1949. After he received his degree from Harvard in 1913 he taught first at St. Viator College near Chicago, and then, 1916-29, taught English at Pittsburgh's new Schenley High School. After a brief association with the Theatre Guild he became head of Carnegie Institute of Technology's Drama Department, in 1931. In 1936 he returned to the Theatre Guild, and was press agent for Maurice Evans, Judith Anderson, and Helen Hayes, among others. Mr. Kenyon founded the Pittsburgh Drama League, was its president and edited its Review for many years, and was a director of the national organization. He was also a popular lecturer in Pittsburgh, and contributed to various national journals. He retired in 1947, and in 1949 he died, survived briefly by his mother, and by his brother, Titus Thomas. T. (Titus) Thomas Kenyon, 1892-1973, had assumed increasing responsibility at the North Side theatre and was its manager for several years before the theatre was sold. He also managed the Pitt Theatre during its most glamorous period, 1923-29. He lived alone in Pittsburgh from the time of his mother's death in 1949, presumably managing his business interests, until his own death in 1973. He had no surviving family and he left $1.2 million to the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.
From the description of Kenyon family papers, 1893-1972. (University of Pittsburgh). WorldCat record id: 742051816
