| Sidney P. Albert Bernard Shaw Collection at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto | It’s a large and scholarly collection, consisting of more than 2700 items — including approximately 230 pieces of Shaw correspondence, more than 150 photographs and portraits, and a wide array of ephemera, including hundreds of Shavian theater memorabilia and associated programs of productions of Shaw plays. In addition to almost a thousand publications by Shaw, the collection includes an intelligent assemblage of relevant material from and concerning other related historical figures of Shaw’s time and intellectual circles, including biographical books and press clippings. | |
| Dan H. Laurence Collection, University of Guelph, Canada and Shaviana Collection. L. W. Conolly Theatre Archives | Artifacts Artwork Audiovisual Material Photographs Posters Published Material Unpublished Material and Manuscripts | 68 m of textual material, also albums, cassettes, VHS tapes; Oversized material: photographs, articles, posters |
| The Sidney P. Albert-Bernard Shaw Collection at Brown University, USA | The collection is rich in manuscript material, including autograph and typed letters, post cards, notes, inscriptions and signed photographs as well as costume designs and a fragment of music in Shaw’s hand. There are more than 2,000 books by and about Shaw and a strong collection of ephemera – pamphlets, “rough proof” rehearsal copies of plays, programs, press clippings, film stills, posters, publicity photographs, recordings, photographs of Shaw’s 1933 visit to Hollywood, and publications of Shaw societies in London, New York, Los Angeles and Tokyo. More than 200 periodicals containing pieces by or about Shaw round out the collection. The Brown University Library also holds the correspondence between Shaw and his American publisher, Dodd, Mead & Company. That purchase, including 15 letters, original contracts, sketches and photographs of Shaw, and more than 100 files covering contracts and reprint rights, provides a picture of Shaw as a businessman who composed his own contracts and championed the economic cause of writers. An inventory of the Dodd Mead Shaw Archive is available in pdf form. | |
| George Bernard Shaw Collection, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin | Holograph manuscripts and typescripts of working and finished versions of plays, essays, correspondence, and financial and legal records are all represented in this collection. Diaries, scrapbooks, materials accumulated by Shaw’s wife, and drafts of articles and books written about the Nobel Prize winning Irish journalist and playwright are also present. The bulk of the materials reflect many of Shaw’s most popular works, including Candida (1894), Pygmalion (1912), and Saint Joan (1923). | 80 boxes (33.3 linear feet), 1 oversize box, 13 galley folders, 10 oversize files, and 1 bound volume |
| The Bernard F. Burgunder Collection, Cornell University | Shaw’s work in the theatre is well represented by a range of material in the collection including rehearsal notes, prompt books, play manuscripts, production photographs, broadsides, posters, and programs. Highlights include a shorthand manuscript draft of Getting Married, the promptbook for the original production of Arms and the Man with manuscript revisions, and Shaw’s rehearsal notes for numerous productions including Heartbreak House, You Never Can Tell, and John Bull’s Other Island. Shaw’s theatrical correspondence includes letters to many directors and actors including Lady Gregory, Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Viola Tree, Syndey Carroll, and H.K. Ayliff. The book collection contains hundreds of editions of Shaw’s plays, as well as numerous proof and rehearsal copies. The collection also has notable holdings in areas other than theatre. Personal items include oil portraits of Shaw’s paternal grandparents, his address book, an early love letter to Shaw still containing pressed flowers, and his personal motoring file. Shaw work outside the theatre is documented by extensive holdings of his political and critical writings, newspaper clippings which include articles on his many speeches and lectures, as well as related correspondence. | |
| Richard S. Weiner Collection of George Bernard Shaw, Colgate University | 1570 letters from Shaw to various correspondents, as well as holograph manuscripts, typescripts, revised proof, play books, art works, photographs and published materials by and about Shaw, and a sampling of Shaw ephemera. The collection also contains six Max Beerbohm cartoons of Shaw. | 100 Cubic Feet (80+ boxes) |
| George Bernard Shaw Papers, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | The collection includes items related to George Bernard Shaw collected or received by Archibald Henderson (1877-1963), mathematics professor at the University of North Carolina, and other materials. Included is correspondence between Henderson and Shaw, his secretaries, and members of his family, largely relating to Henderson’s biography of Shaw. Also included are letters and cards received from Shaw by Otto Kyllman of Constable & Co., London, publishers of Shaw’s collected works, and carbon copies of the letters sent by Kyllman to Shaw. These letters, dated 1909-1950 (bulk 1929-1933), are concerned primarily with the business relations between the author and his publisher. Letters, 1891-1945 (photostatic copies), from Shaw to Sidney and Beatrice Potter Webb concern their common interest in the Fabian Society and socialism in theory and practice. Also included is correspondence, 1910-1950, between Shaw and Cyril Clemens. This consists largely of letters from Clemens to Shaw requesting permission to quote Shaw’s work and to dedicate works to him, and soliciting his advice on publishing activities. Letters, 1888-1907 (copies), from Shaw to British publisher Thomas Fisher Unwin (1848-1935), concern publishing possibilities for his own work and that of others. Letters, 1896-1928, from Shaw to British actress Margaret Halstan (1879-1967) deal with the production of Shaw’s plays in which Halstan appeared, offering advice on acting and making comments on the British theatrical scene. Letters from Shaw to Louis Calvert, Shavian actor and director, concern productions of Major Barbara. There is a small amount of other correspondence and compositions by Shaw as well as prints and photographs of Shaw and other subjects. | 5.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 5,000 items) |