Dramatic Arts Center Records, 1954-1966 (majority within 1955-1960)

Start Over Collection Dramatic Arts Center Records, 1954-1966 (majority within 1955-1960) Date range Unknown

1 collection found

Dramatic Arts Center Records, 1954-1966 (majority within 1955-1960)

2 linear feet

Corporation established in 1954 to operate a center for dramatic and theater arts in Ann Arbor, Michigan. DAC also sought unsuccessfully to establish repertory theater in Ann Arbor. The Center dissolved in 1967. records accumulated by DAC secretary and president Wilfred Kaplan. Included are background information consisting of bylaws and chronology of DAC; administrative records; activities materials concerning work of the Steering Committee for a Repertory Theater; publicity, programs, and other materials relating to DAC productions; and scrapbooks containing clippings, programs, and one photograph.

The records of the Ann Arbor Dramatic Arts Center were accumulated and maintained by DAC secretary and president Professor Wilfred Kaplan. The records cover the period 1954 to 1966, are arranged in five series: Background, Administrative, Activities, Production, and Scrapbooks. The records, consisting of correspondence, memoranda, and other files, detail the formation of the Dramatic Arts Centers, its activities, its planning for a theater in Ann Arbor, and its eventual demise.

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Background

The Background series includes bylaws and a chronology of the DAC.

Administrative

The Administrative series is composed of the usual organizational materials: agendas and minutes, newsletters, correspondence, and reports. A substantive part of this series is the long run of minutes of the Board of Directors from 1955 to 1967. Arranged in chronological order by year, these records summarize the activities and concerns of the DAC very thoroughly. They also show the structure of the organization in any given year. Although not every year is consistently documented, these minutes provide an invaluable retrospective source showing how the DAC changed and evolved over the course of time.

Also illuminating within the Administrative series, despite the obvious chronological gaps, are the general correspondence and the financial records. All of these records are arranged by year in ascending order. Given that these records span from the founding of the DAC in 1954 up to the mid 1960s, they complement the set of minutes and fill in the details that these can only summarize. The correspondence mainly documents two things: 1) organizational structure and 2) the DAC's relationship with other individuals, associations, agencies, or institutions.