Papers of Dore Schary, a playwright, motion picture executive, and activist in Jewish and liberal political causes documenting both his personal and professional life. Included are general correspondence; microfilmed scrapbooks; scripts and production material for plays and motion pictures; records pertaining to MGM; non-dramatic writings, speeches (many in recorded form), and an autobiography and a family memoir; home movies and photographs; correspondence, reports, lists, financial records, and speeches from his tenure as national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League and subject files on other organizations with which he was involved such as the American Civil Liberties Union, the American Jewish Committee, and the Democratic Party; and personal and biographical information. Documentation in the production files varies but may include correspondence, notes, variant drafts of scripts, clippings, financial records, publicity, stills, designs, and casting information. Records of Schary's years as executive producer, studio head, and vice-president at MGM include reports of executive meetings, correspondence and memoranda, and scattered financial reports. Also present are papers pertaining to the career of Schary's wife Miriam, painter M. Svet. The collection is arranged in four parts: the Original Collection, the 1968 Additions, the 1977 Additions, and the 1981 Additions. The Original Collection dates 1923-1962 and is organized in these categories: Biographical and Personal Material, General Files, General Writings, and Production Files. The 1968 Additions date 1933-1952 and consist of Production Files only. The 1977 Additions date circa 1920-1980 (though primarily 1956-1977) and again contain Biographical and Personal Material, General Files, General Writings, and Production Files, as well as a new category, Anti-Defamation League Files. Finally, the 1981 Additions date 1924-1980 (primarily 1974-1980) and include the same categories as the 1977 Additions plus a separate category for Disc Recordings. The Original Collection includes other disc recordings, and tape recordings are present in all but the 1968 additions. Some records are present only in microfilm format.
Content types:
Still image, Two-dimensional moving image, and Spoken word
Formats:
Acetate open reel tape, Lacquer disc, Pressed LP disc, Photographic print, and Microfilm
Extent:
74.2 c.f. (203 archives boxes, 1 record center carton, and 1 flat box), 37 reels of microfilm (35 mm), 26 tape recordings, 231 disc recordings, 55 reels of film, and photographs
The collection consists of correspondence dealing with the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions; personal papers, mainly promotional documents, and biographical and/or pedagogical writings; newspaper and magazine clippings; annotated scores, programs, photos, scrapbooks and recordings. Recordings include opera broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera which include Mario Chamlee, also his performance and rehearsal broadcasts on KFAC, and numerous transcription discs from his appearances on the Tony & Gus show in 1935 on WJZ.
Content types:
Notated music, Performed music, Spoken word, Still image, and Text
Formats:
Pressed 78rpm disc, Lacquer disc, Analog audiocassette, Polyester open reel tape, Photographic print, Text document, and Microfilm
Based in Newark, Delaware, Dreamstreets is a magazine featuring local poetry and writing with an irregular but persistent publishing history since 1977. After appearing once a year, and then in several issues per year, in 1984 the magazine began using radio station WXDR to broadcast performances of its poetry and fiction. Contributors to Dreamstreets also performed at various literary events and poetry readings. Steven Leech is the editor and publisher, with regular contributors such as e. jean lanyon, Douglas Morea, and Phillip Bannowsky.
Content types:
Performed music, Spoken word, Two-dimensional moving image, Text, and Still image
Formats:
Text document, Open reel tape (unknown material), Analog audiocassette, VHS (including SVHS and VHS-C), Photographic print, and Microfilm
Extent:
Approximately 23 recordings, microfilm, 7 feet
Repository/Collector:
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
Ishmael Reed, African-American novelist, poet, and publisher, was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on February 22, 1938. Reed moved with his mother to Buffalo, New York in 1942. His mother worked in various wartime industries and Reed attended public schools, graduating in 1956. He also played violin and trombone and began writing a newspaper column on jazz for the Empire Star Weekly when he was thirteen. He enrolled as an evening student at Millard Fillmore College, the night school division of the University of Buffalo, and worked as a clerk at the Buffalo public library during the day. His writing ability was quickly recognized, and he moved into the bachelor of arts program at the University of Buffalo. He withdrew in 1960 because of a "dire shortage of funds" (Gates) and a "wide gap between social classes" (Gates). To escape "the artificial social and class distinctions that he associated with American university education," (Gates) he moved to Buffalo's Talbert Mall Project. Daily exposure to systematic poverty cycles in the projects led him to political activism in the civil rights and Black Power movements.
Content types:
Performed music, Spoken word, Two-dimensional moving image, Text, and Still image
Formats:
Pressed LP disc, LaserDisc, Open reel tape (unknown material), Analog audiocassette, VHS (including SVHS and VHS-C), Betamax, Text document, Photographic print, and Microfilm
Extent:
Approximately 20 recordings, microfilm, 65 feet
Repository/Collector:
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections