| Collection | Melville Theatre Collection |
| Description | This long Melville connection with theatres both in London and the Provinces generated paperwork connected with the day to day running such as accounts, insurance policies, employment contracts, lease and sale of properties. Also included in the section are memorabilia connected with specofic theatres. These include publicity material, prints, photographs and press cuttings.
The items are stored in acid free envelopes and files, with larger items in archive standard plastic envelopes. Oversize material is stored in the map cabinet in the Special Collections room with all other material in three boxes in the basement store. Includes:
* accounts (including pantomimes)
* advertisements
* agreements
* contracts
* galleyproofs
* inventories
* leases
* letters
* licences
* notices
* obituaries
* notes: theatrical and theatre history
* press cuttings
* prints
* publicity material
* reports
* reviews
* sale conditions
* staff lists
* theatre plans |
| Admin history | The Melville tradition of owning and managing theatres started with Andrew Meville I and his father George, but really came into its own with Andrew Melville I's sons Andrew II, Fred and Walter. This was the era of the great actor-managers such as Henry Irving and Herbert Draper Beerbohm Tree, and the Melvilles became a part of that tradition. Walter and Frederick formed a strong partnership, working together in theatres such as the Lyceum in the Strand, which they owned from 1909 to 1939, and the Prince's Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue, which they had built in 1911. Their relationship was often stormy but productive. Their pantomimes at the Lyceum were always very successful. |