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The Roy Waters Theatre Collection is a privately created collection of theatrical material amassed as a result of forty years of collecting by Roy Waters. The collection primarily comprises of theatrical ephemera, though it also includes the personal papers of Roy Waters, documenting both his career as teacher and later as a school inspector, and his collecting habits and cultural interests.

The nature of the material is diverse, with the printed ephemera including a sizeable collection of programmes from the 19th to the 21st century, collectable items such as cigarette cards, press cuttings collected for their relevance to named individuals and events and photographs reflecting a range of formats including postcards, cartes de visite and cabinet photographs. Toy theatre and juvenile drama are well represented with loose character and scene sheets, tinsel prints and twentieth century stage and script packs forming part of the collection. In addition, the prints series, although primarily consisting of portrait and scene prints of theatrical individuals, also includes a range of topographic and general entertainment prints. Artefacts and commemorative ornaments comprise a series, as do sound recordings relating to the specialisms of the collection in particular productions and well known individuals.

The theatrical ephemera, although initially collected with a broad interest in the theatre in mind, does reflect the specific areas of interest which developed as the collection grew; discreet collections of material relate to specific individuals or events, for instance Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde.

The collection also contains hundreds of individual autograph letters dating from the 18th to the 20th century representing the variety of professions involved in the performing arts, including letters from George Arliss, Sir James Barrie, Phineas Taylor Barnum, Charles Dickens and a sick note for J.S.Grimaldi [Joseph Samuel Grimaldi]. In addition, there are a small number of original art works relating to the theatre.

The collection contains administrative papers relating to Company contracts and internal and external correspondence; financial papers relating to budgets and funding, miscellaneous personal papers of the Company's director, Jonathan Holloway; production records including scripts, technical notes, rehearsal and production notes and directions, stage directions, information on casts, and tour and venue information; audiovisual recordings of productions; promotional, marketing and educational-outreach material; press-cuttings and reviews, photographs of named and un-named actors and productions; publications inspiring Red Shift productions; a study of the Company's production of 'The Love Child'; and an untitled script.

Photographs of the staff and students of Bedford College, [1849-1985], including academic and domestic staff, members of the governing body, and union committees. Photographs of the buildings of Bedford College, 1849-[1975]. Photographs of special events, 1913-1985, including royal visits, opening ceremonies, garden parties and the final reunion. Photographs concerning academic departments, 1922-1985, and resident students, 1946-1963. Photographs of student activities, 1887-[1970], including sports and drama. Correspondence relating to the photographic material, [1913-1985]. Photographic negatives and lantern slides, [1890-1940].

The collection consists of member lists and registers; correspondence, notes and publications relating to the building of the new theatre; financial papers relating to loans; financial papers concerning various productions; legal papers relating to the lease of land; applications to the Arts Council of Great Britain and the Greater London Council for funding, including annual reports and accounts; papers and publicity material relating to productions; scripts; programmes and posters for plays; material concerned with the Women's festival of June 1986; publications about fringe theatres and the East End of London; photographs of productions and cast; press cuttings.

The collection consists of minutes of management meetings, 1974 - 1994; membership lists; internal correspondence; external correspondence concerning the reactions of the public to the productions; correspondence regarding funding; copies of scripts written by members of the company and outside authors; audition notes and CVs; correspondence and accounts relating to tour arrangements; tour reports; posters and programmes for productions; photographs, video cassettes and loose film reel of productions; promotional material; newspaper cuttings relating to specific productions and Gay Sweatshop in general; theses based on Gay theatre.

Papers relating to the Athletics Union, comprising correspondence concerning the purchase and equipping of College sports grounds, 1919-1934, and an accounts book, 1937-1944; correspondence of the Sports Club, 1912 and 1942; minutes of the Architectural Society, 1894-1919; programmes and posters relating to the Bedford Light Opera Group, [1960-1970]; copies of Bots Up, the magazine of the Botany Department, 1972-1974; copy of Bio-Log, the magazine of the Biological Society (and successor to Bots Up), 1977; copies of Ho, the magazine of the Psychology Department, 1972-1974; minutes and member lists of the Geological Society, 1910-1944.

Articles, 1941-1968, mainly by Helen Maud Cam on historical topics, also including biographical articles and obituaries; report on 'The objections of the University of London Graduates Association to the scheme proposed by the Royal Commission on University education in London', Dec 1913, with notes by Cam on a meeting held by the students, 12 Nov 1913; items found in the Cam book bequest, 1918-1959, notably correspondence on literature, newspaper cuttings, especially relating to George Bernard Shaw, handwritten notes, and invitations; photographs, [1906-1918], mainly of groups of students at Royal Holloway College, including performances of College plays, and of Bryn Mawr College, USA.

Correspondence and reports, 1891-1892, relating to a proposal to include Bedford College as one of the Schools of the University of London, including drafts and printed copy of a petition sent to the House of Commons and the House of Lords, 1891. Correspondence and reports, 1891-1898, relating to the establishment of the teaching University of London, notably resolutions and reports, 1892, by the Council and Staff of Bedford College giving their opinions on the proposed teaching University; copy of a speech by J Spencer Hill, Honorary Treasurer of the Chelsea Centre of the London University Extension Society, entitled 'A few words concerning the draft charter for the new teaching University for London', given at Gresham College, London, Nov 1891; letters and reports from the Committee for Opposing the Grant of the Albert University Charter, outlining the Committee's objections, Jan-Mar 1892; a printed copy of 'London University Commission Bill: arrangement of clauses' (1897); a pamphlet by members of the Convocation of the University of London, entitled Note on the occasion, effect and expediency of the compromise embodied in the London University Commission Bill, 1898. Correspondence, 1894-1895, comprising letters from William Bruce, Secretary of the Royal Commission on Secondary Education, to Henrietta Busk, thanking her for help given to the Commission. Text of lecture on 'The position of women in the University of London, the provincial universities and the University of Wales', [1910], given by Professor Beatrice Edgell, Head of Philosophy at Bedford College, to the Council of the National Union of Women Workers. Papers, 1903-[1911] and 1967, relating to Busk's post as Honorary Secretary of the Bedford College Building and Endowment Fund, notably reports, 1903-1906, relating to proposals for a new site for Bedford College, including recommendations for fundraising and outlines of accommodation needs; two plans, [1908-1911], relating to the Regent's Park site and showing the proposed and actual development of the site by the architect Basil Champneys; correspondence, programmes and financial records, 1906-1911, relating to the performances of Greek plays by students and staff to raise money for the move of Bedford College to Regent's Park, including correspondence, 1967, between Doris Bains, Bedford College Librarian, and Kathleen Spears, Secretary of Bedford College, concerning material for use in the Granville Bantock Centenary Exhibition at the Barber Institute, Birmingham. Letter, Dec 1923, from Ethel Hurlbatt, Principal of the Royal Victoria College for Women, Canada, to Henrietta Busk, mainly concerning Canadian views of the League of Nations, and the Canadian Federation of University Women. Correspondence and notes, 1908-1936, relating to the history of Bedford College, mainly comprising accounts by Busk, [1934-1936], of the origins and early history of the College, notable early students, the roles of the Honorary Secretary of Bedford College Council, the Lady Resident and the Committee of Management in the running of the College, courses offered by the College in the 1850s, and reminiscences of Busk's mother concerning the early days of Bedford College; notes, [1933-1936], made by and for Dame Margaret Janson Tuke during her research for A History of Bedford College for Women, 1849-1937 (Oxford University Press, London, 1939), including handwritten notes of informal interviews with Busk.

Papers relating to fundraising for the buildings of Bedford College, 1897-1981, notably minutes, 1897-1905, and correspondence, 1905-1917, of the Endowment and Buildings Fund Committee; minutes and papers of various Appeals Committees, 1906-1916; correspondence, 1910-1933, concerning financing of building schemes at the Regent's Park site; papers of the Extension Fund Committee, 1919-1932, including committee minutes, minutes and correspondence of the Publicity Sub-Committee, appeal letters, programmes and leaflets for fundraising plays. Material relating to building and development at the Regent's Park site, 1910-1947, including architects' correspondence, mainly from Basil Champneys, concerning plans for the new Bedford College buildings at Regent's Park and the progress of the building work, 1910-1917; Champney's plans, 1913, for the Administrative Block, Senior Common Room, and Science Blocks A and B; plans by Haddocks of the Bursar's Office, 1922; plan and elevations of South Villa, 1926, by Simpson and Maxwell Ayrton; engineer's plans for the Botany Greenhouse and the heating system in the Physiology Laboratory, 1925; plans and watercolour impressions of the Tate Library, 1910, by J R Smith; coloured plans for the layout of rooms in the Physiology Laboratories, [1913]; Maxwell Ayrton's plans, 1925-[1930], for the Tuke Building; correspondence and plans relating to the drainage system at Bedford College, 1920-1947. Papers concerning post-war rebuilding of the Regent's Park site, 1942-1980, notably plans, 1942-1957, by Maxwell Ayrton of Oliver Block, the Herringham Building, the North Science Block (Darwin Building), and extensions to the Tuke Building; correspondence, papers and plans relating to the Tuke-Darwin Infill, 1966-1972; correspondence and plans relating to the Development Programme, 1964-1980, including a report on future library accommodation in the Acland Building, 1971, and proposed plans for an Oliver Infill, a Bedford College Union Society Building and a North Spur, 1979-1980; correspondence concerning the purchase of land for sports facilities, 1922-1925 and 1969-1971. Bursar's papers, 1924-1985, relating to the maintenance of Bedford College buildings, including minutes of the Premises Sub-Committee (Bursar's Meetings), 1965-1976, and minutes and papers of Special Bursar's meetings, 1982-1984; minutes, papers and accounts, 1966-1981 of the Refectory; Bursar's correspondence, 1924-1959; Bursar's working papers, 1978-1981; Bursar's copy of a management study on the efficiency of the Bedford College Administration, 1971, and the Peat-Matwick Report on the financial implications of the merger with Royal Holloway, 1983; minutes and papers of the Safety Committee, 1974-1985, and the General Services Sub-Committee, 1979. General material relating to the Bedford College Halls of Residence, 1873-1982, including legal correspondence concerning the lease and purchase of residential properties, 1922-1953; minutes and papers of the Lodgings Sub-Committee, 1892-1921, formed to vet accommodation offered to students; bound volume of letters offering lodgings to students, 1934-1937; correspondence concerning general policy matters, 1956-1974, and financial management, 1974-1982, of residential Halls; minutes and papers of the Halls of Residence Sub-Committee, 1976-1978; Boarding House accounts, 1873-1901. Correspondence and papers relating to the purchase, lease and maintenance of specific properties used as Halls of Residence, 1895-1985, namely 7, 8, 9, 10 and 28 York Place; South Villa; 17, 20, 35, 36 and 37 Dorset Square (Notcutt House); Bedford College House (Adamson Road and Buckland Crescent), later Lindsell Hall; Hanover Lodge, including plans and Warden's papers; Tennyson Hall; York Gate and Nottingham Terrace; The Holme; Broadhurst Gardens; Nottingham Place (Rachel Notcutt Hall); and St John's Lodge.