| Level | Fonds |
| Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure) | MS107 |
| Title | Heron-Allen album of playbills |
| Extent | 1 volume |
| Date | 1910-[c 1924] |
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| Description | Programmes and playbills collected by Ianthe Theodora Heron-Allen (fl 1904-1943), actress. The majority of the programmes have been annotated with the date when she presumably attended each performance. The volume has been inscribed as follows: 'Ianthe Theodora Heron-Allen. Programmes and Playbills. Her first pantomime was "Blue Bell in Fairy land" at Manchester. The Programme is in her Book of Events'. On the spine it bears the text 'I.T.H.A. Play Bills Vol. 1'.
Many of the programmes relate to performances held in London but there are also programmes for performances held in Brighton and Manchester. |
| Arrangement | The programmes appear to have been arranged chronologically. Each programme has been catalogued at item level. |
| Access Conditions | Access to all registered researchers |
| Copyright | Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material. |
| Language | English |
| Finding Aids | A catalogue of this collection is available on the online archive catalogue. Click on the Finding Number to display the summary contents list of the catalogue and to view the full catalogue, or view the catalogue as a PDF file by clicking in the document field below. A paper copy of this catalogue is also available for consultation in the Cadbury Research Library: Special Collections Department. |
| Document | MS107.pdf |
| Access Status | Open |
| Administrative History | Ianthe Theodora Heron-Allen (fl 1904-1943) was born in 1904, the elder daughter of Edward Heron-Allen (1861-1943), solicitor, zoologist, writer and Persian scholar. Edward Heron-Allen was noted for translating the works of Omar Khayyam (1048-1131). Edward had married twice, first in Westminster on 1 July 1891 to Marianna, otherwise known as Henrietta, daughter of the artist Rudolf Lehmann (1819-1905) and sister of the English soprano and composer Liza Lehmann (1862-1918). Marianna died in 1902 and in November 1903 Heron-Allen married Edith Emily Pepler (1872-1943) in Knaresborough. Edith was the daughter of William Brown Pepler MD. The couple had two daughters: Ianthe (b 1904) and Armorel (b 1908). The births of Ianthe and Armorel were both registered in the Marylebone district of London. Following the death of his own father in 1911, Edward retired from practising law and the family moved to Large Acres, the house he had built at Selsey Bill, Sussex.
It is believed that Edward Heron-Allen wished to name Ianthe 'Itha' following her birth, but apparently the vicar told him that he would not baptise a child who did not have a 'proper' name, so they named her such that her initials made the name 'Itha', which is how she was known by the family.
Relatively little is know about the life of Ianthe. In 1921 both Ianthe and her father are listed as fellows of the Zoological Society of London. Their address is given as 33 Hamilton Terrace, St John's Wood, London. Internal evidence from the volume of playbills suggests that Ianthe was possibly an actress at some stage of her life. She is known to have survived her father who died on 28 March 1943 at Large Acres. Her younger sister, Armorel, had died tragically in a car crash in 1930. Armorel had graduated from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford with a first class degree in zoology only two weeks earlier.
Sources: Heron-Allen album of playbills; Dictionary of National Biography available at: http://www.oxforddnb.com viewed 28 June 2011; list of fellows of the Zoological Society of London available at: http://www.archive.org/stream/listoffellows1921zooluoft/listoffellows1921zooluoft_djvu.txt viewed 28 June 2011; Free Births, Marriages and Deaths available at: http://www.freebmd.org.uk viewed 28 June 2011. |
| Custodial History | The contents of this volume were formerly numbered 5362-5428, although some programmes had not been given a number. The volume was incorporated into a collection called the Theatre Collection. It has now been identified as an unconnected acquisition and catalogued as a discrete collection. |
| Acquisition | Source and date of acquisition is unknown. |
| Archival Note | Papers initially described during 2004. Additional work completed by Mark Eccleston, June 2011. |
| Related Material | The Special Collections Department holds other personal and artificial collections of theatre playbills, programmes, newscuttings and associated materials. These smaller collections, which were formerly incorporated into the Theatre Collection, include the following:
Theatre Collection, MS38;
Heron-Allen album of playbills, MS107;
Colyer-Fergusson albums, MS108;
The Williams Theatre collection, MS109;
Volume of playbills, MS110;
Album of programmes, MS111;
Louis Cohen Collection, MS112;
The Kemp album, MS113;
Volume of Shakespearian souvenirs and programmes, MS114;
Album of presscuttings, photographs and theatre programmes, MS808;
Theatre programmes, MS897;
Birmingham Repertory Theatre programmes, MS934,
Theatre programmes collected by Andrew Leigh, MS937;
Collection of miscellaneous theatre programmes, playbills, and related items, MS939;
Regional theatre programmes: artificial collection, MS991;
Theatre programmes and ephemera, MS1016;
Theatre programmes, MS1035;
Scrapbook for the 1912 production of 'Twelfth Night', MS1058;
Ephemera relating to Victoria Wood, MS1061;
Theatre programme of 1912 production of 'Twelfth Night', MS1062. |
| Associated Materials | West Sussex Record Office hold papers of Edward Heron-Allen |