Cambridge Drama Collection (1750-1850)
JISC (Non Formula Funding) award (1995) for cataloguing
During the 1870s and 1880s Henry Thomas Hall (1823-1894), a Cambridge man of private means with a strong interest in the theatre, built up an extensive collection of play texts and literature about the theatre. The Collection was given to Cambridge City Libraries in the late nineteenth century and subsequently presented to Nottingham University Library in 1960. The earlier imprints and rare materials were categorised as a Special Collection which with regular additions has accumulated to about 1,700 titles.
Until the award of the grant in 1995, catalogue access was only possible through the card catalogue records of the 1960s, which provided limited detail. The project enabled the conversion of these cards to electronic form, expanded with details about the works, and using the current standards for rare book cataloguing. It concerned only the Cambridge Drama Special Collection, excluding late items from the original Cambridge Drama material which had been dispersed through other sections of the Library’s general holdings of English literature.
At the successful conclusion of the project, catalogue records became fully available through the Library’s online catalogue. As a result there is now full access to many individual drama texts which were not previously noted in records concerning published series of plays.
The project also included a review of the physical condition of the collection, providing records which have since guided the selection of items for rebinding.
A general collection level description of the Cambridge Drama Collection provides more background information to the collection and associated subject resources.
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