Guides: Theatre Arts: Set and Costume Design

Set and Costume Design

Penn Libraries has several databases and print materials for researching the scenic design elements of an era: costume, architecture, furniture, and other stage elements.

Art & Architecture Source
A leading database for the study of art and architecture...provides full-text coverage of 380 periodicals and more than 220 books. [Coverage of periodicals mostly begins with 1980s or later, but some titles are indexed for longer periods as far back as the 1930s.] In addition, Art & Architecture Source offers cover-to-cover indexing and abstracts for more than 780 academic journals, magazines and trade publications, as well as for over 230 books. The database also provides selective coverage for 70 additional publications and an Image Collection of over 63,000 images provided by Picture Desk and others. Designed for use by a diverse audience that includes art scholars, artists, designers, college students, and general researchers, [t]his database covers a wide variety of pertinent subjects, including antiques, art, art history, interior and landscape design, and much more. {adapted from publisher's description}
Art Index Retrospective 1929-1984
Indexes articles from more than 420 art publications.
Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals
Covers architecture, architectural design, archeology, furniture and decoration, historic preservation, the history of architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, urban planning. 1930-present.

Design and Applied Arts Index, 1973-present
A leading source of abstracts and bibliographic records for articles, news items, and reviews published in design and applied arts periodicals.

MLA International Bibliography
Journal articles about literature, languages, folklore, and linguistics, 1963-present.
Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature
Bibliographic citations with indexing for all aspects of English literature, literary culture, and linguistics. Coverage 1920-present (with content lagging behind by 1 year).

Stage-setting and Scenery Books in Franklin
Costume design books in Franklin
Furness Collection at Penn Libraries
Broadway Productions Image Collection
Digitized by the Museum of the City of New York. When completed, the online archive will contain over 30,000 Broadway images.
Penn Libraries Images Guide

Historical Context

A terrific way to get a sense of a particular historical context is to read the primary sources from that time period. For those studying the 1950s, those sources might include:

Books and articles on set design, costuming, and the theatre industry written in the 1950s
Newspaper articles and magazines from the 1950s
Diaries and correspondence from the 1950s
Personal collections and papers stored in archives, containing material from the 1950s

Often, you can use a date restriction on your database search to find material written from your time period. Some other relevant collections below:

Victorian Popular Culture - Music Hall, Theatre & Popular Entertainment
The primary sources in this module not only celebrate well-known and popular forms of entertainment [such as variety, vaudeville and theater] but also highlights lesser-known activities and leisure interests. Advertising posters, guidebooks, admission tickets and handbills represent the diverse forms of entertainment available to growing numbers of people from the late Georgian period and throughout the Victorian and Edwardian era. ...Highlights from the collection include a set of early pantomime programmes; unique material from the May Moore Duprez archive; and visual material related to Belle Vue, Manchester's popular Zoological Gardens.

Women's Magazine Archive I
An archival resource comprising the full backfiles of leading women’s interest consumer magazines, scanned in full resolution color. Coverage ranges from the late-19th century to 2005. Titles include Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, and Chatelaine.