Toronto Reference Library Blog

The Toronto Reference Library has rich and varied archival collections of theatre and performing arts manuscripts, photographs and ephemera with an emphasis on Canadian content. These can be found in the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre.

We will be writing six blog posts listing all the collections alphabetically by name and providing a pdf link to a detailed inventory of each fond describing the contents.

See here for the blog post covering A-C.

See here for the blog post covering D-G.

See here for the blog post covering H-L.

See here for the blog post covering M-N.

See here for the blog post covering O-S.

We welcome questions about the collection to trlspc@torontopubliclibrary.ca

• Taverner Collection Download Taverner Collection PDF
• Taverner Collection, Part 2 Material added to the original Taverner bequest, including original cabinet photographs, copies of original photographs in the collection of Canadian Theatre scholar Murray Edwards, photocopies of correspondence in the collection of Mr. Edwards, a photocopy of the guest book from one of the Taverner family cottages, now in the collection of Corwin Ferguson (a distant relation of the Taverner family), and copies of photographs from that guest book. Download Taverner Collection, Part 2 DF
• Tearsheets on British and U.S. Stage Productions, 1818-1933 2 boxes Download Tearsheets on British and U.S. Stage Productions PDF
• Marie Tempest Collection Items relating to the career of British actress Marie Tempest (1864-1942) including production photographs and material concerning her tour of Canada and the United States in 1914-1915. Download Tempest, Marie Collection PDF
• Ellen Terry Collection Material relating to the career of British actress Ellen Terry (1848-1928) especially period photographs of Miss Terry in various roles.  See also the Edward Gordon Craig Collection, and Walker Theatre photographs. 1 box; 114 items; .4 linear metres Download Terry, Ellen Collection PDF
• Theatre Toronto Collection (1964-1969) Represents the records of Theatre Toronto (originally named the Canadian Crest Players Foundation), formed as a merger of the Canadian Players Foundation and the Crest Players. Includes Theatre Toronto scrapbooks, prompt scripts, correspondence and financial reports, and also Crest Theatre financial records and Canadian Crest Players material. See also Canadian Players Scrapbooks and Crest Theatre Collection for additional material on these companies.  2 boxes; .815 linear meters; 1059 items. Download Theatre Toronto Collection PDF
• Toronto Children Players Collection 2 boxes: 98 envelopes  Download Toronto Children Players Collection PDF
• Toronto Childrens Players Collection: Supplement 2. 12 boxes total Download Toronto Children Players Supplement 2 PDF
• Toronto Public Library Scrapbooks Containing newspaper clippings of Toronto theatrical ads, 1916 – 1930.  Items are fragile; microfilm copy should be used (Film T686.6, PerArts Desk). Theatrical Ads.  Scrapbook #125: Toronto Theatre, etc. 1910s & 1920s.Articles on companies, individuals and subjects; production reviews.  Items are fragile; microfilm copy should be used (Film T686.5) Scrapbook #238: Toronto Theatre, etc. 1920s-1940s Articles on companies, individuals and subjects; production reviews.  Items are fragile; microfilm copy should be used (Film T686.5). Scrapbook #278: Toronto Theatre, 1940s & 50s Articles on companies, individuals and subjects; production reviews.  Items are fragile; microfilm copy should be used (Film T686.5) Download Toronto Public Library Scrapbooks PDF
• Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree Collection (1890 – 1915) Photographs, programs and a scrapbook relating to the career of actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1853-1917). 1 box (22 envelopes); .43 linear metres Download Tree, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Collection PDF
• Thomas Turvey and Thomas Hilton Turvey Collection (c.1875-c. 1911) Very little information is known about Thomas Turvey and Thomas Hilton-Turvey.  After serving as organist for several British churches, Thomas Turvey came to Toronto around 1875 to become organist at the West Methodist Metropolitan Church.  He is represented in this unit by a manuscript copy of a mass and by his published work “Te deum laudamus”. Thomas Hilton-Turvey (his son?) was born in Birkenhead, England in 1863, studied at the University of Pennsylvania and taught in Philadelphia.  He was predominantly a songwriter, and published over thirty compositions. 1 box; 5 items, 0.22 m  Download Turvey, Thomas Collection PDF

• Herman Voaden Collection (1929–1974) Material relating to the career of Canadian playwright and educator Herman Voaden (1903-1991) including programs, photographs, reviews, scripts (see also Performing Arts Centre for numerous collections edited by Voaden, and for copies of his published players), articles on his theories of education and of Symphonic Expressionism, and material relevant to the founding of the Canadian Council of the Arts, of which he was the first president. 22 envelopes and 1 scrapbook; .07 linear meters.  Download Voaden, Herman Collection PDF
• Boris Volkoff Collection (1924-1975) approx. 1600 items, 11.25 linear ft. Download Volkoff, Boris Collection PDf
• Walker Theatre Collection (1907-1909) Studio and production photographs from this Winnipeg, Manitoba road house theatre. 168 photographs (1 box, .7 metre) Download Walker Theatre Collection PDF 
• Dorothy Watkins Collection (1940–1950) Material relating to the career of Canadian composer and performer Dorothy Watkins (1896-1978).  Co-author with Brian Doherty of the wartime RCAF hit “Up, Up, Up We Go”, she was active with her sister Jessie MacDonald during World War II in the Active Service Canteen and the Merry-Go-Round Revue.  Later she toured with “The Drunkard” and the revues “There Goes Yesterday” and “Clap Hands”.  The collection includes correspondence, programmes, clippings, photographs and especially music manuscripts, parts and cues for “The Drunkard” and “There Goes Yesterday”. 1 box: 20 envelopes; .075 linear metres Download Watkins, Dorothy Collection PDF

• Al Waxman Collection (1959-1991) Papers of actor/director/producer Al Waxman (1935-2001), including scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, scripts, newspaper clippings and documents relating to his career in the theatre, film and television and his involvement in various community and philanthropic organizations. The collection includes extensive material on the television program King of Kensington. Organization of the collection is based on Mr. Waxman’s original filing order. 11 boxes; 4.4 linear metres. Download Waxman, Al Collection PDF

• Al Waxman Collection, Part 2 (c. 1967-2001) Papers of actor/director/producer Al Waxman (1935-2001), including scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, scripts, newspaper clippings and documents relating to his career in the theatre, film and television, and his involvement in various community and philanthropic organizations. The collection includes extensive material on his roles in such popular television series as King of Kensington and Cagney and Lacey. Organization of the collection is based on Mr. Waxman’s original filing order. 18 boxes; approx. 6 linear metres  Download Waxman, Al Collection, Part 2 PDF
• Whispering City Collection (1947) Film stills and publicity photographs for the Canadian film Whispering City (French title:  La Forteresse, pre-release title:  The Stronghold) together with photographs of the production company, Quebec Production Company, the studios and the Montreal premiere. 1 box: 1 file folder and 11 envelopes; .08 linear metres (209 photos & 4 negatives)  Download Whispering City Collection PDF
  
• Whittaker’s Theatre Collection (1975–1986) Correspondence and other documents relating to the funding, editing and publication of  Whittaker’s Theatre; a critic looks at stages in Canada and thereabouts 1944-1975  edited by Ronald Bryden with Boyd Neil, and published by the Whittaker Project through the University of Toronto Press.  Includes letters of permission from newspapers, photographers, actors and various archives; correspondence concerning the organization of the Tribute, collected by head of the organizing committee William H. Graham; discussion and acknowledgements of the free distribution of the book to libraries, educational institutions and interested individuals. Whittaker’s Theatre is a collection of reviews by critic Herbert Whittaker taken from the Montreal Gazette and the Toronto Globe and Mail. 1 box: 12 files and envelopes; .125 linear metres Download Whittaker's Theatre Collection PDF
  
• Mary Wigman Collection (1886-1973) This collection of photocopies of letters, together with a taped conversation (kept in The Theatre Department) were donated by Canadian dancer Judy Jarvis in memory of her teacher, the German dancer Mary Wigman. The letters were written over the last eight years of her life, at a time when her health was failing.  They combine comments on Ms. Jarvis’ dance career with miscellaneous details of her life in Germany at the time.  It is interesting to compare these letters with items in The Mary Wigman Book*, for an overall picture of the period. Mary Wigman died in 1973 of complications from a leg broken three years earlier; in the last years of her life her sight also deteriorated to the extent that she was almost blind.  There is frequent mention in the letters of her frustration with her recurrent illness, and her handwriting is difficult to read towards the end. The letters are primarily in English (she was educated in England in her youth), with few passages in German.  There are also several odd paragraphs by her companion Anni Hess Hesschen). 1 envelope; 48 items
  
• Wingham Opera House Collection (1884; 1905-1909) A selection of postcards and letters to the Town Clerk, Wingham, Ontario from performers wishing to book the Wingham Opera House, some on ornate letterhead advertising their specialties. 2 envelopes; 33 items Download Wingham Opera House Collection PDF
  
• Women's Musical Club of Toronto (1898-2000) Papers including minutes, annual reports, programs and reviews documenting the activities of this local organization established to promote music in Toronto by presenting concerts and funding prizes for promising young performers. 5 boxes; 1.55 linear metres Download Womens Musical Club of Toronto Collection PDF
  
• Bill Young Autograph Book (1909-1911) Download Young, Bill Autograph Book PDF
  

The Toronto Reference Library has rich and varied archival collections of theatre and performing arts manuscripts, photographs and ephemera with an emphasis on Canadian content. These can be found in the Marilyn and Charles Baillie Special Collections Centre.

We will be writing six blog posts listing all the collections alphabetically by name and providing a pdf link to a detailed inventory of each fond describing the contents.

See here for the blog post covering A-C.

See here for the blog post covering D-G.

See here for the blog post covering H-L.

See here for the blog post covering M-N.

See here for the blog post covering O-S.

We welcome questions about the collection to trlspc@torontopubliclibrary.ca

• Taverner Collection Download Taverner Collection PDF
• Taverner Collection, Part 2 Material added to the original Taverner bequest, including original cabinet photographs, copies of original photographs in the collection of Canadian Theatre scholar Murray Edwards, photocopies of correspondence in the collection of Mr. Edwards, a photocopy of the guest book from one of the Taverner family cottages, now in the collection of Corwin Ferguson (a distant relation of the Taverner family), and copies of photographs from that guest book. Download Taverner Collection, Part 2 DF
• Tearsheets on British and U.S. Stage Productions, 1818-1933 2 boxes Download Tearsheets on British and U.S. Stage Productions PDF
• Marie Tempest Collection Items relating to the career of British actress Marie Tempest (1864-1942) including production photographs and material concerning her tour of Canada and the United States in 1914-1915. Download Tempest, Marie Collection PDF
• Ellen Terry Collection Material relating to the career of British actress Ellen Terry (1848-1928) especially period photographs of Miss Terry in various roles.  See also the Edward Gordon Craig Collection, and Walker Theatre photographs. 1 box; 114 items; .4 linear metres Download Terry, Ellen Collection PDF
• Theatre Toronto Collection (1964-1969) Represents the records of Theatre Toronto (originally named the Canadian Crest Players Foundation), formed as a merger of the Canadian Players Foundation and the Crest Players. Includes Theatre Toronto scrapbooks, prompt scripts, correspondence and financial reports, and also Crest Theatre financial records and Canadian Crest Players material. See also Canadian Players Scrapbooks and Crest Theatre Collection for additional material on these companies.  2 boxes; .815 linear meters; 1059 items. Download Theatre Toronto Collection PDF
• Toronto Children Players Collection 2 boxes: 98 envelopes  Download Toronto Children Players Collection PDF
• Toronto Childrens Players Collection: Supplement 2. 12 boxes total Download Toronto Children Players Supplement 2 PDF
• Toronto Public Library Scrapbooks Containing newspaper clippings of Toronto theatrical ads, 1916 – 1930.  Items are fragile; microfilm copy should be used (Film T686.6, PerArts Desk). Theatrical Ads.  Scrapbook #125: Toronto Theatre, etc. 1910s & 1920s.Articles on companies, individuals and subjects; production reviews.  Items are fragile; microfilm copy should be used (Film T686.5) Scrapbook #238: Toronto Theatre, etc. 1920s-1940s Articles on companies, individuals and subjects; production reviews.  Items are fragile; microfilm copy should be used (Film T686.5). Scrapbook #278: Toronto Theatre, 1940s & 50s Articles on companies, individuals and subjects; production reviews.  Items are fragile; microfilm copy should be used (Film T686.5) Download Toronto Public Library Scrapbooks PDF
• Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree Collection (1890 – 1915) Photographs, programs and a scrapbook relating to the career of actor-manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (1853-1917). 1 box (22 envelopes); .43 linear metres Download Tree, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Collection PDF
• Thomas Turvey and Thomas Hilton Turvey Collection (c.1875-c. 1911) Very little information is known about Thomas Turvey and Thomas Hilton-Turvey.  After serving as organist for several British churches, Thomas Turvey came to Toronto around 1875 to become organist at the West Methodist Metropolitan Church.  He is represented in this unit by a manuscript copy of a mass and by his published work “Te deum laudamus”. Thomas Hilton-Turvey (his son?) was born in Birkenhead, England in 1863, studied at the University of Pennsylvania and taught in Philadelphia.  He was predominantly a songwriter, and published over thirty compositions. 1 box; 5 items, 0.22 m  Download Turvey, Thomas Collection PDF

• Herman Voaden Collection (1929–1974) Material relating to the career of Canadian playwright and educator Herman Voaden (1903-1991) including programs, photographs, reviews, scripts (see also Performing Arts Centre for numerous collections edited by Voaden, and for copies of his published players), articles on his theories of education and of Symphonic Expressionism, and material relevant to the founding of the Canadian Council of the Arts, of which he was the first president. 22 envelopes and 1 scrapbook; .07 linear meters.  Download Voaden, Herman Collection PDF
• Boris Volkoff Collection (1924-1975) approx. 1600 items, 11.25 linear ft. Download Volkoff, Boris Collection PDf
• Walker Theatre Collection (1907-1909) Studio and production photographs from this Winnipeg, Manitoba road house theatre. 168 photographs (1 box, .7 metre) Download Walker Theatre Collection PDF 
• Dorothy Watkins Collection (1940–1950) Material relating to the career of Canadian composer and performer Dorothy Watkins (1896-1978).  Co-author with Brian Doherty of the wartime RCAF hit “Up, Up, Up We Go”, she was active with her sister Jessie MacDonald during World War II in the Active Service Canteen and the Merry-Go-Round Revue.  Later she toured with “The Drunkard” and the revues “There Goes Yesterday” and “Clap Hands”.  The collection includes correspondence, programmes, clippings, photographs and especially music manuscripts, parts and cues for “The Drunkard” and “There Goes Yesterday”. 1 box: 20 envelopes; .075 linear metres Download Watkins, Dorothy Collection PDF

• Al Waxman Collection (1959-1991) Papers of actor/director/producer Al Waxman (1935-2001), including scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, scripts, newspaper clippings and documents relating to his career in the theatre, film and television and his involvement in various community and philanthropic organizations. The collection includes extensive material on the television program King of Kensington. Organization of the collection is based on Mr. Waxman’s original filing order. 11 boxes; 4.4 linear metres. Download Waxman, Al Collection PDF

• Al Waxman Collection, Part 2 (c. 1967-2001) Papers of actor/director/producer Al Waxman (1935-2001), including scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, scripts, newspaper clippings and documents relating to his career in the theatre, film and television, and his involvement in various community and philanthropic organizations. The collection includes extensive material on his roles in such popular television series as King of Kensington and Cagney and Lacey. Organization of the collection is based on Mr. Waxman’s original filing order. 18 boxes; approx. 6 linear metres  Download Waxman, Al Collection, Part 2 PDF
• Whispering City Collection (1947) Film stills and publicity photographs for the Canadian film Whispering City (French title:  La Forteresse, pre-release title:  The Stronghold) together with photographs of the production company, Quebec Production Company, the studios and the Montreal premiere. 1 box: 1 file folder and 11 envelopes; .08 linear metres (209 photos & 4 negatives)  Download Whispering City Collection PDF
  
• Whittaker’s Theatre Collection (1975–1986) Correspondence and other documents relating to the funding, editing and publication of  Whittaker’s Theatre; a critic looks at stages in Canada and thereabouts 1944-1975  edited by Ronald Bryden with Boyd Neil, and published by the Whittaker Project through the University of Toronto Press.  Includes letters of permission from newspapers, photographers, actors and various archives; correspondence concerning the organization of the Tribute, collected by head of the organizing committee William H. Graham; discussion and acknowledgements of the free distribution of the book to libraries, educational institutions and interested individuals. Whittaker’s Theatre is a collection of reviews by critic Herbert Whittaker taken from the Montreal Gazette and the Toronto Globe and Mail. 1 box: 12 files and envelopes; .125 linear metres Download Whittaker's Theatre Collection PDF
  
• Mary Wigman Collection (1886-1973) This collection of photocopies of letters, together with a taped conversation (kept in The Theatre Department) were donated by Canadian dancer Judy Jarvis in memory of her teacher, the German dancer Mary Wigman. The letters were written over the last eight years of her life, at a time when her health was failing.  They combine comments on Ms. Jarvis’ dance career with miscellaneous details of her life in Germany at the time.  It is interesting to compare these letters with items in The Mary Wigman Book*, for an overall picture of the period. Mary Wigman died in 1973 of complications from a leg broken three years earlier; in the last years of her life her sight also deteriorated to the extent that she was almost blind.  There is frequent mention in the letters of her frustration with her recurrent illness, and her handwriting is difficult to read towards the end. The letters are primarily in English (she was educated in England in her youth), with few passages in German.  There are also several odd paragraphs by her companion Anni Hess Hesschen). 1 envelope; 48 items
  
• Wingham Opera House Collection (1884; 1905-1909) A selection of postcards and letters to the Town Clerk, Wingham, Ontario from performers wishing to book the Wingham Opera House, some on ornate letterhead advertising their specialties. 2 envelopes; 33 items Download Wingham Opera House Collection PDF
  
• Women's Musical Club of Toronto (1898-2000) Papers including minutes, annual reports, programs and reviews documenting the activities of this local organization established to promote music in Toronto by presenting concerts and funding prizes for promising young performers. 5 boxes; 1.55 linear metres Download Womens Musical Club of Toronto Collection PDF
  
• Bill Young Autograph Book (1909-1911) Download Young, Bill Autograph Book PDF