Founded in 1901, the Harvard Theater Collection is considered as the oldest collection of its kind. Aside from the theatrical materials that it has, it also houses documentary materials for dance, opera, music, and other entertainment products from vaudeville, films, and circus. Ultimately, the Harvard Theater Collection holds an array of rare artifacts that showcases the history of performance arts across the world.
Some of the rare artifacts in the Harvard Theater Collection are a wide variety of unusual artifacts used as props for theatrical productions and souvenirs for notable performances and occasions, Harvard Gazette reported. One of these rare artifacts is Jean-Auguste Barré's figurine of the young French ballerina Emmy Livry in "Le Papillon" in 1861. Livry is the legendary Romantic ballet dancer trained under Marie Taglioni, who saw the ethereal lightness in the young ballerina.
Another rare artifact is the Russian dance scene Jigsaw puzzle that dates back 1850. The Harvard Theater Collection also has Samuel James Kitson's bronze cast of Sarah Bernhardt who is an actress who played Queen maria de Neubourg in "Ruy Blas." It is a role given to the actress by Harry Houdini himself back in 1916.
The German magic set called "The Little Conjurer" dating back 1880 is also in the collection. The bond used by actor Edmund Kean playing Shylock in Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice is housed in the Harvard Theater. The Clock face of James Tregent's pocket watch, which he gave to David Garrick dating back 1776 is also featured in the collection.
A souvenir for "The Beggar Student" in Boston's Nijou Theatre back in 1883 is there. It also houses the Bronze death mask of Clifford Odet in 1963. the gold medal that was minted by Joseph Callender, which was presented to Charles Bulfinch in 1794 is there.
An early movie projector from Germany in 1900 is also housed in the collection. The Castle Square Garden Theatre sign is also featured in the Harvard Theater Collection. On Saturday, the campus will have the Harvard Arts Festival, which can be enjoyed by those who are into performance arts, Cambridge Day reported
