Record

LevelFonds
Finding Number (Click this to view full catalogue structure)MS897
TitleTheatre Programmes
Extent5 standard boxes
Date[c 1948]-2014
DescriptionExtensive sequence of UK theatre programmes. Heavy coverage of productions held in various theatres in London's West End and at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. Some programmes relate to productions held in the Midlands, including the Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham.

Programmes primarily relate to plays, including some Noël Coward productions such as 'Present Laughter'. A few programmes relate to ballet performances, musical theatre productions and pantomimes.
Access ConditionsAccess to all registered researchers
LanguageEnglish
Finding AidsThis is a preliminary description and will be enhanced at a later date.
Access StatusOpen
Creator NameLong, Dr Merton, 1926-1997, medical practitioner and theatre enthusiast
Administrative HistoryMerton Long (1926-1997) studied Medicine at the University of Birmingham, qualifying in 1950 before becoming a General Practitioner in Essex. Two of his three children are Birmingham graduates, as are numerous members of his extended family. From an early age he was an inveterate concert- and theatre-goer and in the course of more than 50 years saw almost every production staged in the West End and countless others in provincial theatres around the country.

Following Merton Long's death in 1997 this collection of theatre programmes was added to by his widow.

Sources: information supplied by depositor.
Custodial HistoryCollected maintained by Dr M. Long and passed, upon his death, to his son David Long
AcquisitionPresented by David Long, July 2016
Related MaterialThe 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.

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