National Collegiate Players, 1924. The OAC chapter of the National Collegiate Players (formerly the Mask and Dagger Club) departs on its annual 40-mile trip to the logging camp of the Covallis Lumber Company. They presented a varied program of skits and one-act plays in a hastily constructed theatre in the cookhouse at the camp using a portable stage, battery unit lighting system, scenery, and curtains transported by truck from campus.[OSU Archives P112:414]
University Theatre Photographs (P 112)
1921-1968 (inclusive), 1924-1950 (bulk)
1.6 cubic feet; approx. 1000 prints and 260 negatives
Scope and Content Note
These photographs consist primarily of images of University Theatre productions from the 1920s through 1950s. The collection also includes images of set and scene construction, make-up sessions, and costume design as well as portrait photographs of individual cast members. It includes images of productions at the Majestic Theater as well as the Mitchell Playhouse on campus. Many of the photographs were taken by Howells Studio of Corvallis.
New Accession, 2004Forms
This collection includes approximately 1000 b/w prints, many with accompanying camera negatives. The collection also includes about 250 negatives, predominately 8x10 with some 5x7 and 4x5. Approximately half of the negatives are nitrate. There are accompanying photographic prints or laser prints for most of the negatives in the collection. Photographic prints for which the original nitrate negative is part of the collection (but has a different number) have been labelled as such. The collection also includes two 5x7 color positive transparencies.
Organization and Arrangement
The collection consists of two major components. More than half of the collection consists of images that have been assigned individual item numbers (P112:1-487). The remainder of the collection consists of images that were transferred from the Horner Museum collections (Accession 96:031) and have the numbers 982-25-1 thru -512 and 893-4-457 thru -475 and 893-4-601 thru 661. For this component of the collection, negatives and their accompanying prints have often been assigned different numbers.
Historical Note
Dramatic productions began at Oregon Agricultural College in the 1890s; the Mask and Dagger Club was formed in 1912 "to encourage and promote dramatic work". A theater program was formally established in 1920 as part of a new Public Speaking and Dramatics Department (now the Speech Communication Department). Dramatic productions were presented at the Majestic Theater in downtown Corvallis and a small theater in Benton Hall until 1950 when a campus structure was remodeled into the Mitchell Playhouse. The University Theatre moved to Withycombe Hall in 1991 after Mitchell Playhouse was declared unsafe.
Related Materials
Adminstrative records, programs, and promotional posters are available in the University Theatre (RG 180) and Mask and Dagger Club (RG 42) Records and the Memorabilia Collection (MC-University Theater and MC-Drama, History of) .
Container Note
These photographs are housed in four document boxes and three oversize boxes.
