Location: 350 Douro Street, Stratford, Ontario, N5A 3S7
Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday, 9AM to 5PM
The Stratford Festival’s centre for exploration and
inspiration is its Archives which maintains, conserves and protects recent and historical
records about the Festival and makes those materials available to staff, the
Company, and researchers around the world. In doing so, we spotlight the Festival’s work and its contributions to
world theatre.
Our multi-media archival holdings date from 1952 and extend through
to contemporary materials that transfer to us each season; our many special
collections are the personal archives of renowned theatre artists including Tanya
Moiseiwitsch (designer), Richard Monette (actor and director) and Stanley
Silverman (composer). We house
correspondence, production records, Board minutes, photography, design artwork,
scores, audio-visual records, costumes, props and set decoration, press
releases and other promotional materials: these document the processes that bring a production to the stage and
reflect all aspects of mounting a play from the administrative to the creative
and beyond.
USING THE ARCHIVES
The
Archives is open for in-person research by appointment, Monday to Wednesday,
10:30 AM to 4:30 PM
We encourage researchers to
contact us directly with requests so that we can prepare materials in
advance. Some of the records in our Collection
are designated as “restricted” which means that permission must be obtained in
order to use them. Copyright is observed
on all materials and reproductions must be appropriately credited wherever
published.
A portion of our materials can be accessed via our online
catalogue where you may perform a simple or advanced search using a person’s
name or a production title; alternatively you can search on one of our specific
collections using keywords, dates, and other criteria.
We are constantly
adding new entries to our database so please check back with it often!
PHOTOGRAPHY
The majority of our requests involve
the Festival’s extensive photography collection. Please note that restrictions apply to the
reproduction of images from all our seasons, as per our agreements with
professional unions/associations and other theatre organizations. As part of our standard photo release
procedure, we require a copy of any publication in which an image appears; it
is sufficient to supply this in digital form.
Note that you may
not reuse the same image(s) for any purpose other than that stated in your request;
permissions are always granted on a case-by-case basis only.
To use photography from the Archives:
- Submit your detailed request in writing
- A Photo Release form will be sent to you which must be signed and returned to us
- Your request is reviewed for the context of intended use in order to determine if Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) fees apply
- In most cases, each of the actors in a photograph must approve the use of his/her/their likeness in writing; you may be asked to pursue these permissions
- Once permissions are in hand the Archives staff will forward you high resolution versions of the images for your use
- You will receive an invoice for processing and any research and PACT fees due from the Festival's Accounts Payable team, due on receipt
EXHIBITS AND LOANS
Materials from our Collection are available on loan to
heritage and professional organizations for exhibits and other special
events. Proof of insurance, security and
adequate environmental conditions must be met.