Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association records, 1882-2006.

ArchivalResource

Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association (Cambridge, Mass.). Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association records, 1882-2006.

Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association records, 1882-2006.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/154690297

The Records of the Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association sparsely document the organizational, cultural, and publication activities of the club from 1880 to ca.1930. The main body of O.C.S.A. records is held by the Harvard Theatre Collection, as referenced above. Virtually no original archival materials for the years following 1930 exist in the collection, with only scattered additions made thereafter until 1980. The organizational records include annotated copies of the constitution and a note by George Henry Browne on who had custody of various O.C.S.A. records in 1930. Membership records consist of draft and final membership lists and addresses for various years from 1882 to 2006. Correspondence relates mainly to the preparation and publication in 1940 of the club's history: The Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association, 1880-1940. Also found is correspondence regarding return of the Association's silver bowl, a scholarly exchange of letters on the subject of Hamlet between two prominent club members, George H. Browne and William James Rolfe, and the draft of a 1981 letter on the clubs centennial history, Shakespeare in Cambridge. Club cultural activities are documented by scattered cast lists for plays read and an annotated program of the Shakespeare Tercentenary (1916). A significant portion of the collection consists of research notes and several partial handwritten and typed drafts, believed to have been created by George H. Browne and others in preparing the first club history. Browne died in 1931, leaving what Lois Lilley Howe described as "a collection of notes and details lacking in form or sequence. It was necessary to rewrite and edit, which took some months." The final version was published in 1940 as The Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association, 1880-1940. Strangely, no printed copy of this 1940 history was found with the draft material. However, a largely verbatim reprint appeared in the club's centennial history, Shakespeare in Cambridge, a copy of which exists in the collection. Shakespeare in Cambridge also includes a historical essay for the years 1930-1980 by Milton E. Lord, Recollections of 1930-1955 by Lois Lilley Howe, profiles of officers, capsule biographies of members, and other appendices. An additional essay by Howe, "Reminiscences of the Early Years of the Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association", published in 1957, is also included. It should be noted that the draft material for the 1940 history is believed to contain some sections, such as "Tribulations of a Casting Committee", not found in the published version. Miscellaneous material includes a few unrelated personal items which appear to have been mixed in with club papers by officers of the club. Also includes miscellaneous material with some unrelated personal items which appear to have been mixed in with club papers by officers of the club.

.625 cubic ft.

Cambridge Historical Society