Research Guides: Theatre Studies: Primary Sources

Introduction to Primary Sources: A Definition

What is a primary source? A primary source (also called original source) is a document, recording, artifact, or other source of information that was created at the time under study, usually by a source with direct personal knowledge of the events being described. It serves as an original source of information about the topic.

Primary Sources

Materials that contain direct evidence, first-hand testimony, or an eyewitness account of a topic or event under investigation
Primary sources provide the raw data for your research

Secondary Sources

Examples of secondary sources include materials like scholarly books and articles
Secondary sources use primary data to solve research problems

Using Archives & Manuscripts
This research guide contains an overview of using archives and manuscripts, including tips for research visits, handling materials, and quoting and citing in academic work or publications.

Online Theatre Reviews

Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Search the PDF full text and image archives of more than 100 major U.S. and African American newspapers.

Highlights include: Atlanta Constitution (1868-1945), Atlanta Daily World (1931-2003), Baltimore Afro-American (1893-1988), Chicago Tribune (1849-1986), Christian Science Monitor (1908-2004), Los Angeles Times (1881-1995), New York Amsterdam News (1922-1993), Pittsburgh Courier (1911-2002), The Chicago Defender (1910 - 1975), The New York Times (1851-2014), The New York Tribune (1841-1922), The New York Tribune (1900-1910), San Francisco Chronicle (1869-1922), The Wall Street Journal (1889-2000), The Washington Post (1877-2001), St. Petersburg Times / Tampa Bay Times (1901-2009), Korea Times (1956-2016)

Proquest Central
ProQuest Central is a large, multidisciplinary database with over 11,000 titles, with over 8,000 titles in full-text.

New York Newspaper Archive This link opens in a new window
Access New York Newspaper Archives and discover stories of the past with NewspaperArchive.com. The archive covers New York history from 1753-2023, with lots of content from smaller, local newspapers. Articles have been scanned as PDFs and include images and advertisements, and are full text searchable.

America's Historical Newspapers
America's Historical Newspapers includes articles from local and regional American and Hispanic American newspapers from all 50 states. Coverage dates from 1690 to the early 20th century

Times Digital Archive (London) This link opens in a new window
Provides full-text access to back issues of The Times newspaper. Dates of coverage: 1785 to 2006.

Hispanic American Newspapers, 1808-1980
Compilation of Spanish-language newspapers printed in the U.S. during the 19th and 20th centuries features hundreds of Hispanic American newspapers

Gale Newspaper Sources This link opens in a new window
Gale Newspaper Sources allows access to several historical collections of British newspapers and periodicals, published in the UK and its colonies around the world. Notable titles include the Times of London, Financial Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and the PUNCH archive. Coverage dates span the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries.
Access World News This link opens in a new window
Access World News provides the html full text and, for some titles, the pdf "as printed" visual representation, of articles from a variety of national and international news sources, including newspapers, digital-native news websites, television and radio transcripts, blogs, college and university newspapers, journals, magazines, and some audio and video. Most international titles are English language. Dates of coverage vary from title to title, but primarily span the late 20th century to present.
Black Historical Newspapers (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window
Black Historical Newspapers (formerly Historical African American Newspapers). Full historic content from major black newspapers: The Chicago Defender, The New York Amsterdam News, The Atlanta Daily World, The Baltimore Afro-American, and Los Angeles Sentinel.
American Periodicals Series Online This link opens in a new window
Search a selection of periodicals that first began publishing between 1740 and 1900, including special interest and general magazines, literary and professional journals, children's and women's magazines, and many other historically-significant periodicals.
Global Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Global Newsstream contains the html full text of hundreds of U.S. and international news sources. Coverage dates vary from title to title, but generally span the most recent five to ten years.
Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive This link opens in a new window
The Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive offers digitized primary sources for studying the history of the film, music, theater, and broadcast industries from 1880 to the near present. Magazines include American Cinematographer, Back Stage, Billboard, Broadcasting, Hollywood Reporter, Mix, Musical Express, Radio and Records, Reggae & African Beat, Spin, Stage, Variety, and Writers Guild of America.

Print Reviews

A Guide to Critical Reviews, by James M. Salem. New York, Scarecrow Press, 1966-71. 4 parts in 5 vols. NYU Bobst: Z5782 .S34

Contents:
- pt. 1. American drama from O'Neill to Albee.--
- pt. 2. The musical from Rodgers and Hart to Lerner and Loewe.--
- pt. 3. British & continental drama from Ibsen to Pinter.--
- pt. 4. The screenplay, from The jazz singer to Dr. Strangelove (2 v.)
Contents 2nd edition. 1973-76:
- pt. 1. American drama, 1909-1969.--
- pt. 2. The musical, 1909-1974.--
- pt. 3. Foreign drama, 1909-1977
Contents 3rd edition. 1984-1991:
- pt. 1. American drama, 1909-1982 --
- pt. 2. The musical. 1909-1989.

New York Theatre Critics' Reviews. New York, Critics' Theatre Reviews, inc. 1940-1994. NYU Bobst: PN1601 .N4

"Theatre reviews is a complete guide and record of the New York stage, reprinted from New York sun, New York times, New York herald tribune, New York post, New York daily news, New York world telegram" 1940- ; reprinted from the New York daily news, Wall Street journal, Time, New York post, Women's wear daily, New York times, Christian science monitor, Newsweek, NBC.

Theatre Record (formerly London Theatre Record). 1991 - date. NYU Bobst: PN2596.L6 L66

Reprints published reviews of theatrical performances in London and elsewhere in the UK. Includes production credits and dates of performance. Review sources include The Spectator, The Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Independent, Time Out, Guardian, The Times and other UK publications. Annual Index.

New York Times Theater Reviews. New York Times and Arno, 1971- . Bobst : PN1581 .N42n; YEARS:1971-1999/2000

Facsimile reprints of the reviews of theater productions as they appeared in the New York Times. Arranged chronologically, the set also includes appendices of awards and prizes and of productions and runs by season as well as indexes by title, production company, and personal name. The first 21 volumes cover the years 1870-1970. Since then volumes have been published biannually. [NOTE: these reviews can also be found online through Proquest Historical Newspapers]

Samples, Gordon. How to Locate Reviews of Plays and Films: a Bibliography of Criticism from the Beginnings to the Present. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1976. Bobst: Z5781 .S19

Lists resources for finding theatrical reviews, including indexing services, theatre periodicals, reference guides, etc. Somewhat dated, but still useful for historical research.

Theatre Studies

Introduction to Primary Sources: A Definition

Archives

Online Theatre Reviews

Print Reviews