Stage & Screen: The Star Quality of Vanderbilt’s Performing Arts Collections
September 7, 2012-June 28, 2013
This year’s library exhibition draws on some of the most visually interesting resources in our archives. Stage & Screen: The Star Quality of Vanderbilt’s Performing Arts Collections highlights collections of dance, music, film, costume, set design, theatre, and radio. Many of the items are drawn from The Francis Robinson Collection of Theatre, Music and Dance, one of the gems of Special Collections. Objects include early images of performances at the Ryman Auditorium, drawn from Robinson’s career working for Ryman manager Lula C. Naff, to musical ephemera saved from his Nashville Banner journalist days, and theatrical memorabilia from his time as a press agent, to the magnificent collections of opera, theatre and dance that Robinson amassed during his career at The Metropolitan Opera. Another important source for the exhibition is materials from director Delbert Mann’s years in television and film, including the generous loan of his Oscar and Palme d’Or for the film, Marty. Other significant items were culled from the WSM Collection, the David Schnaufer Papers, the Jack Hurst collection of interviews with country musicians, and many other sources.
Exhibits are on display in the Divinity Library, the Peabody Library, and the Martha Ingram Center for Performing Arts, as well as the Central Library Lobby, Second Floor Gallery, and the newly-renovated Special Collections. A web presence is under development and new LED Exterior exhibits are visible across the northeast corner of the Central Library.