Joan Kent Dillon (1925-2009) was a nationally known historic preservation activist, having served on the Board of Directors of the National Trust for Historic Preservation from 1980 to 1989 and of the Smithsonian Institution beginning in 1989. A long-time resident of Kansas City, Dillon began her involvement with historic theaters in 1974, when she purchased the Folly Theater in the city center. Over the next thirteen years she raised more than $5 million to renovate the former burlesque hall. Her activities with the Folly Theater led to her involvement with the League of Historic American Theaters (LHAT), on whose Board of Directors she served after 1978. Through her growing involvement with theaters, she met David Naylor, a photographer and author of two books on American movie theaters. Together they decided to pursue Dillon's longstanding idea of a book on nineteenth-century American theaters. In the period between 1994 and 1996, they traveled extensively, viewing, evaluating, and photographing theaters throughout the United States. The resulting book, American Theaters: Performance Halls of the Nineteenth Century, appeared in 1997.
The Joan Dillon papers span the years 1862 to 1998 and focus exclusively on the research, preparation and publication of American Theaters: Performance Halls of the Nineteenth Century (New York: Preservation Press of John Wiley and Sons, 1997). The collection documents theaters included in the book, as well as theaters that were considered for inclusion but rejected. There are also a large number of photographs and slides of theaters documented in the files. Working files from the publication process are also part of the collection, including correspondence from Dillon to Naylor, grant applications, and lists and indexes of theaters being considered for inclusion in the book. The collection also contains materials documenting the publication of the book, including press releases and reviews.
