Harry M. Bagdasian theatre posters collection
Collection
0076-SCPA
The Harry M. Bagdasian theatre posters collection consists of 68 posters from the Washington, DC theatre community. The posters are from a variety of theatres, but predominantly those of Arena Stage, Ford's Theatre, and the John F. Kennedy Center. Mr. Bagdasian (b. 1949) collected these posters out of his own interest in theatre local to DC. He is an active participant in the professional theatre community of the Washington, DC metro area as an author (specializing in comedy), director, producer, stage manager, and speaker coach. Mr. Bagdasian was also a founding member of the New Playwrights' Theatre Company, which he led from 1972 through 1984.
The collection is open for research use. Materials from this collection must be used in the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library's Irving and Margery Morgan Lowens Special Collections Room during SCPA’s operating hours. Please contact the curator for an appointment or if you have questions related to digital access of the materials.
Copyright was not transferred to the University of Maryland with the gift of any copyrighted materials. All rights remain with the creators and rights holders. The University of Maryland Libraries is granted permission for the use in scholarly research by the Libraries’ patrons under fair use in Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act.
To inquire about duplication of materials for research or for publication, please contact SCPA’s curator.
4.00 Linear Feet
The Harry M. Bagdasian theatre posters collection covers the period from 1970 to 1985; the bulk of the materials date from 1972 to 1980. The collection consists posters from the Washington, DC theatre community. The posters are from a variety of theatres, but are predominantly from Arena Stage, Ford's Theatre, and the John F. Kennedy Center. While the vast majority of the posters were mass-produced, some were silk-screened. Many of the posters do not contain years, or in some instances no dates at all. The processors researched the productions at the companies' websites or in the Special Collections in Performing Arts Theatre Program Collection to determine when the productions occurred. When the year is uncertain, it is either left blank or represented in brackets. Even for the instances where the year is not designated, all of the productions occurred between 1970 through 1985. Dates associated with the posters are the productions dates, not the printing dates.
Harry M. Bagdasian (1949-2022) was an active participant in the professional theatre community of the Washington, DC metro area as an author (specializing in comedy), director, producer, stage manager, and speaker coach. He was also a founding member of the New Playwrights' Theatre Company, which he led from 1972 through 1984.
This collection is organized into one series. The posters are arranged in the original order presented by the donor.
Gift of Harry M. Bagdasian in May 2009 with accruals in 2015 and 2019.
Part of the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library