Abstract

Programs and other materials for events taking place in the early years at Chicago's Auditorium Theater. Envisioned as a world-class theater and opera house by Chicago impresario Ferdinand Peck, the Adler and Sullivan-designed Auditorium opened in 1889 on the corner of Congress and Michigan Avenue.

Abstract

Seventeen mounted photographs of opera stars, many autographed to Frederick Setzler (1904-1983), who volunteered and then worked at the Chicago Civic Opera in the 1920s and 1930s. Also includes a Chicago City Opera Company season announcement from 1939-1940, an advertisement from the Chicago booking agent Frederick Barnes featuring names of musicians represented, and a 1967 clipping remembering the soprano Mary Garden.

Abstract

Material relating to the career of Chicago ballet dancer Harriet Lundgren. Includes three scrapbooks of clippings, articles, pictures and reviews regarding Lundgren, other dancers, and opera singers of the 1920s and 1930s. Also, a few articles and magazine excerpts on the ballet, several programs, and a collection of miscellaneous photographs of performers and celebrities.

Abstract Six scrapbooks and large folder of loose material relating to the dance and performance career of Iva Kitchell. Scrapbooks contain articles, clippings, programs, reviews, advertising material, memorabilia and other miscellaneous items that cover Kitchell’s life, from her affiliation with the Chicago Civic Opera Ballet in 1926 to her retirement from an international stage career as a satiric dance mime in 1961. Also, a 1984 catalog of an exhibition of the paintings by her husband Stokely...

Abstract

Choreographic notes, clippings, photographs, programs, and other materials documenting the career of ballet and Hungarian dancer John Petri (1892-1963).

Abstract

Photographs of opera singers and conductors, collected by May Valentine, chorus director and music librarian for the Chicago Lyric Opera for 44 years. Mostly undated professional stills of individuals, plus a few stage scenes and miscellaneous group shots.

Abstract

Material collected by Thomas Conolly, decorative plasterer and handyman for fifty-two years at the Auditorium Building in Chicago, which consists mainly of autographs and autographed historical letters. Also, bookplates, clippings, miscellaneous memorabilia, a few items relating to the Chicago Civic Opera Company and the Auditorium Theater, several photographs and pictures, and a group of personal letters to Conolly.