Almost seven years later, staff members from The University of Miami Special Collections Library were able to enter and retrieve what they could salvage, including files, programs, photographs, and audio-visual materials.
Due to funding priorities, papers remained unsorted in 933 boxes in the University’s storage facility. There was only a simple list of the boxes with a one-line indication of their contents. When the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation project started in late 2023, researchers went through as much of the University of Miami’s collection as possible. It became the primary source for photographs, as well as for some hard-to-find programs and memorabilia .
Photographing a program cover at History Miami.
Researching materials at University of Miami’s Special Collections.
Additionally, these other sources were used to document the productions:
- The Research Center at HistoryMiami Museum held several collections that included theater programs, and this was the primary source for production programs, particularly those prior to 1985
- Carol Cohen’s “Broadway by the Bay” book had significant information about plays prior to 1986.
- Playwrights, directors, and Playhouse staff (see the Acknowledgements below) were able to provide especially hard-to-locate documents.
- Newspaper articles, accessed through the Newspapers.com website, were quoted or are included in whole or in part for the most significant productions from 1985-2006. For the period 1956-1985, this source was also invaluable for general research.