This Halloween marks the ninetieth anniversary of the death of the great illusionist Harry Houdini. Born Ehrich Weisz in Budapest in 1874, he got his start as a trapeze artist before turning his attention to magic. [Read more…] about Houdini: Illusionist and collector
New digital collection of The Black Crook musical released
The Harry Ransom Center is proud to announce that our collection of materials relating to the 1866 megamusical The Black Crook has been fully digitized in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the production. The collection is now publicly available through our online Digital Collections gallery. [Read more…] about New digital collection of The Black Crook musical released
Celebrating the reissue of Adrienne Kennedy’s memoir
The Harry Ransom Center celebrates the reissue of Adrienne Kennedy’s groundbreaking memoir People Who Led to My Plays from Theatre Communications Group. First published in 1987 as a response to the frequently asked question of what inspirations have influenced her work, Kennedy recorded brief, fragmentary memories covering 1936–1961. A deeply influential and radically innovative kind of memoir, novelist Ishmael Reed called these glimpses into her life “a new form of black autobiography.” [Read more…] about Celebrating the reissue of Adrienne Kennedy’s memoir