The history of Boston's theaters often provides the researcher and theater aficionado with some fascinating drama of its own. In the nineteenth century, when Boston was the center of a thriving community of theaters, an ongoing conflict between artistic freedom and the city's ubiquitous Puritan strain was clearly in evidence. Even as early as the eighteenth century, theater going in Boston was regarded as a fashionable, but not entirely legal pursuit.

A quaint example of Boston's secret love-affair with the theater is witnessed in the names of early playhouses such as Exhibition Hall and the beloved Boston Museum, which really were theaters in very thin disguise. Indeed, the term "banned in Boston" was one used either pejoratively by theater lovers, or perhaps frequently as an added incentive. From public condemnation by such patriots as John Hancock and Sam Adams to city censors starting in 1904, the history of the Boston stage is one that clearly reflects the deep religious and artistic strains, that were all too often at cross purposes.

An example of Boston's early, uneasy alliance with the theater is found in the following advertisement from The Boston Independent Chronical [sic] and Universal Advertiser of October 18, 1792:

"New Exhibition Room. Board Alley. To-morrow evening will be presented a Moral Lecture in five parts...called the Contrast, delivered by Messrs. Harper, Morris, Mrs. Murray, Miss Smith, and Mrs. Morris."

In spite of all the controversies, or perhaps because of them, Boston theater houses flourished throughout most of the nineteenth century. The Boston Athenæum's collection of theater programs and ephemera reflects the popularity and variety of the Boston theater scene during this period.

The first major playhouses in Boston were the Federal Street Theatre (1794, also called the Boston Theatre) and the Haymarket Theatre (1796-1803). As the nineteenth century progressed, prominent theaters were the Boston Museum (1841-46 and 1846-1903), the Howard Athenæum (1845-1953) and the (second) Boston Theatre (1854-1925). The majority of playhouses were, and some still are, located within half a mile radius of Tremont and Boylston Streets, conveniently situated near Boston's commercial center and the Beacon Hill residences of some of Boston's more affluent theater goers.

              

For Histories A-C      For Histories G-M   For Histories N-W

 

Instructions on Searching the Database

Each theater program in the collection has at least two records in the database; one for each of the first two actors listed in the program. Each record includes actor name, theater name, play title, date of performance and call number. The database is not case sensitive. More than one field can be searched at the same time. The asterisk (*) can be used in all search fields. For vaudeville performances, search by actor name(s) in the play field only.

Types of searches:
Browse: Click on "browse" to see lists of plays by first letter or number.

Search:
Search for a specific actor: Enter last name and first into appropriate field. If search yields too few results, search only by last name. Often, actors are listed in the playbill by last name only. An asterisk (*) may be used as a truncation device.

Search for a theater: Remember that Boston theaters spell the word "theater" as "theatre". Do not include article "the" in searches.

Search for a specific play: With the exception of foreign language titles, leave out all articles ("the", "an", "a", etc.) and punctuation. If search result is unsatisfactory try spelling out numbers and dates.

Search by date: This search can be a bit more complicated. Dates are displayed like this: For 19th century dates: 11/3/889, 2/6/870. 20th century dates: 10/28/02, 1/1/18. The asterisk (*) is useful for searching the database when the day, month or year is unknown. For instance, to see all records for programs dating from 1889, the search should be entered like this: */889. Likewise, a search for a specific date, Feb. 4, without a year is entered: 2/4/* . A search for playbills from March of 1901: 3/*/01

A list of search results will be displayed. Click on the magnifying glass icon on the left to see full record information.

Members and researchers should contact the Reference Department for information on viewing theater programs and scrapbooks.

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