Looking Up The Past

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Looking up the Past

When I look up information some times I have to implore so different means of finding it . For example :To find someone in Vaudeville . Here are somethings to try...The Internet is big help.. with web site's like ....Circus History Message Boards at Http://www.circushistory.orgNewspaper archives In my area the New York Times ; Keeps archives back to 1857.Obituaries The publication Variety has one . Called Variety Obituaries By Garland Publishing Inc.The stage and screen actors guild if the worked on stage or screen they had to belong to this union! There is also, a musicians guildThe Internet Broadway Database or IBDB .If they stared in a show on Broadway, they have them .I found one performer through Naturalization Records If they went through Ellis Island .They have a record of it.I found another performer through a song.http://parlorsongs.comThe library... Here are a couple books :The Encyclopedia of Vaudeville by Anthony SlideThe Dictionary of the Dance by Barbra Naomi Cohen-StatynerHere is some reference material from her :Heading West/Touring West: Mapmakers, Performing Artists, and the American Frontier by New York Public Library, Barbara Naomi Cohen-Stratyner, Alice C. Hudson Softcover, New York Public Library, ISBN 087104451X (0-87104-451-X)Preserving America's Performing Arts: Papers from the Conference on Preservation Management for Performing Arts Collection, April 28-May 1, 1982, Washington, D.C. by Barbara Naomi Cohen-Stratyner, Brigitte Kueppers Softcover, Theatre Library Association, ISBN 0932610072 (0-932610-07-2)Taking the Pledge and Other Public Amusements by Barbara Naomi Cohen-Stratyner Hardcover, Theatre Library Assn, ISBN 0032610130 (0-03-261013-0) Barbara Naomi Cohen-Stratynerat Library Thingcoauthors & alternates:Alice C. Hudson Brigitte Kueppers New York Public Library The Dictionary Of TheatherComplete Book Of The American Musical Theater.David EwenThe Historical Dictionary of American Theater by James FisherThe New York Public Library for the Performing ArtsJerome Robbins Dance Division40 Lincoln Center Plaza New York, NY 10023-7498Tel: (212) 870-1657Fax: (212) 870-1869dance@nypl.org The Library of Congress the on line cataloghttp://catalog.loc.gov/ ... They have lead me to some AMAZING findsIf your library does not have theses book they can borrow them or order them from other library's.Theses are some of the avenues you can try Remember don't give up .....Keep trying ...its out there somewhereGood Luck I hope this helpsPaul De Lorenzo