| PW-259028-18 | Preservation and Access: Humanities Collections and Reference Resources | Museum of the City of New York, Inc. | Conservation and Digitization of the Museum of the City of New York’s Theatrical Broadsides | 5/1/2018 - 4/30/2021 | $143,804.00 | Lindsay | | Turley | | | | Museum of the City of New York, Inc. | New York | NY | 10029-5221 | USA | 2018 | U.S. History | Humanities Collections and Reference Resources | Preservation and Access | 143804 | 0 | 143804 | 0 | The preservation and digitization of 700 early,
one-sheet playbills from New York theaters from 1785 to the 1880s. The Museum
of the City of New York would complete the conservation, description, and
digitization of its Collection of Theatrical Broadsides, ensuring the survival
of documents important for the study of early American performing arts.
This two-year project will improve stewardship of and increase public access to 700 early one-sheet playbills comprising the Collection of Theatrical Broadsides. In addition to providing a record of theatrical history, these items provide diverse scholarly perspectives on New York City, and hold value for scholars interested in cultural history, as well as evidentiary documentation of day-to-day life. Dating from 1785 through the 1880s, the Collection of Theatrical Broadsides is comprised of the earliest and most fragile group of materials in the Theater Collection. If successfully funded, this project would provide for the Museum to carry out conservation on half of the broadsides, digitize 95% of the items, and catalog and rehouse all 700 objects. Upon the project’s conclusion, the digitized broadsides will be publicly searchable and freely available via the Museum’s online Collections Portal—http://collections.mcny.org—and a descriptive finding aid will be posted online. |