Library
Archives and Special Collections
Discover the special collections at York St John University.
Post-1945 York Theatre Royal Archive
York St John University acts as custodian for the post-1945 York Theatre Royal Archive. The Archive contains scripts, prompt copies, stage plans, programmes, photographs, show tapes, books of playbills, posters, press cuttings and information on actors from the period after 1945. The collection receives updated material on a regular basis.
Members of staff, students and the general public may access the collection by prior appointment. For further information please contact ysjarchives@yorksj.ac.uk.
Search Post-1945 York Theatre Royal Archive
The Rees-Williams Collection of Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian Children's Books
Originally collected by James Rees-Williams, a former York St John Librarian in the 1970s, the York St John University collection of historic children's books consists of over 3000 volumes dating from around 1780 to the 1920s.
The collection includes well-known 'classics' of children's literature, as well as a wide spectrum of adventure yarns, improving tales, annuals and now long-forgotten stories.
Find out more about the Rees-Williams Collection using the link below, including a content warning.
About the Rees-Williams Collection
York St John Historical Archives
The University Archive pre-1975 is housed in the archives room in Fountains Learning Centre. It contains items from the York Diocesan Society, Ripon Training College and York Training College, such as minute books, correspondence, academic board papers, admissions registers, college magazines, photographs and more.
There is no public access to the Archive, which is held in Fountains Learning Centre, but if visits are arranged in advance, material can be brought out for viewing. Photocopying is possible by arrangement. Digital photography may be permissible but please check with Library and Learning Services staff.
Please email ysjarchives@yorksj.ac.uk for further information, to arrange a visit, or to deposit items of interest. Alternatively, please write to us at: Library and Learning Services, York St John University, Lord Mayor's Walk, York YO31 7EX.
Yorkshire Theatres playbills and posters
Within the City of York there are a number of collections of playbills which were published to accompany productions at theatres which were part of the 'York Circuit'. This initially included the York, Hull, Leeds, Wakefield, Doncaster and Pontefract Theatres. The oldest playbills, dating back to the mid-18th century, and collected by the antiquarian and bibliophile, Edward Hailstone (1818-1890), were bequeathed to the Dean and Chapter of York Minster and placed in the York Minster Library as part of what is now called the Hailstone Collection.
Further playbills from the Yorkshire Theatres are deposited with York City Archive. These cover much of the 19th century, although there are gaps in the collection from the latter part of the century. A small amount of playbills from the Yorkshire circuit are housed at the Borthwick Institute. There are also both playbills and posters in the post-1945 Theatre Royal Archive Collection housed at York St John University. Many of the playbills from these collections provide historical detail and unwitting testimony which illuminates the social and political history of the time.
Part of the agreement between the Theatre Royal and York St John University in respect to the Theatre Royal Archive, was to look at the eventual digitisation of the collection. It was felt that a collaborative pilot project between all parties (to include the University of York which hosts the cataloguing records of the York Minster Library) to digitise a small number of playbills as a pilot project, would afford a superb platform for, and generate interest in, the playbills themselves and the Theatre Royal Archive generally. There would also be the added possibility that further playbills, from the 'missing' period of the 19th century, would be discovered and added to the collections.
A pilot project was implemented to digitise 30 of the playbills and posters, covering the period 1746 to the present day, using the Creative Commons license. The digital images are hosted by York St John University, currently on Moodle.
The latest playbills to be digitised are those belonging to the City Archives and are specific to the period just before and during the Great War. A selection of these formed part of a series of exhibitions in Fountains Learning Centre in 2014, focusing on the Great War.
View the Yorkshire Theatres Playbills and Posters
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