November 9, 2010, Filed Under: Theatre + Performing ArtsRansom Center acquires Spalding Gray archive The Ransom Center has acquired the archive of writer and actor Spalding Gray (1941–2004). Spanning more than 40 years, the archive traces the author’s career since the late 1970s, when Gray helped define a new era in theater where public and private life became an indivisible part of each new… read more
September 2, 2010, Filed Under: Research + Teaching, Theatre + Performing ArtsScholar explores vaudeville circuits and regional architecture Paula Lupkin, a professor in the American Culture Studies Program at Washington University in St. Louis, recently spent time as a fellow working in the Hoblitzelle-Interstate collection at the Ransom Center. Her research yielded some surprises and insights into the regional vaudeville circuits in the Southwest, which she shares here.… read more
July 5, 2010, Filed Under: Exhibitions + Events, Theatre + Performing ArtsRemembering P. T. Barnum’s pre-circus career on his birthday July 5, 2010 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of P. T. (Phineas Taylor) Barnum, famed circus showman, museum proprietor, lecturer, author, and one-time mayor of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Barnum loved that his birthday followed the July 4 holiday, and in his first autobiography, The Life of P.T. Barnum, Written… read more
