Gaiety Theatre press cuttings books

This subgroup consists of a series of 17 press cuttings books compiled by AEFH which reflects the whole history of her Manchester company from its inception as the Playgoers' Theatre Company at the Midland Theatre in 1907 through to the sale of the Gaiety Theatre to a cinema company in 1921.

The cuttings include play reviews taken from a wide range of local and national publications. These reviews embrace virtually every play - both one-act curtain raisers and full-length plays - ever performed by AEFH's company at the Gaiety Theatre. Also included are: the plays from the Midland Hotel season and the first tour by the Playgoers' Theatre Company; all the plays performed by the company during London seasons and on trips abroad; plays performed at the Gaiety by visiting companies while the resident players were away; and all plays performed after Aug 1917, when the Gaiety became a 'lodging house' theatre, hosting a range of touring productions. In addition to reviews, the volumes contain a variety of other newscuttings, including articles, features and reports on such topics as: trends in drama and issues relating to all aspects of the theatre at the time; individual performers and dramatists and their work, and Miss Horniman herself - her life, career, public work and interests.

The cuttings have been pasted into the volumes in more or less chronological order, and, as in AEH/1, Miss Horniman has noted next to each the date it was published and the journal or newspaper from which it was taken. Here and there she also adds her own comments on the text, which are often humorous, and are usually intended to point out inaccuracies.

The books form an invaluable source for research into the history of the Gaiety Theatre itself, illustrating the contemporary critical reception of the company's work and charting its successes and ultimate decline. The books also have research potential for other areas of study, including: the birth of the repertory movement and its early history in this country; various issues relating to the theatre in general, such as the debate over the provision of municipal theatres, and the establishment of a state-subsidised national theatre; trends in drama; the popularity of individual dramatists and the rise of many new British playwrights - particularly the writers involved in the 'new drama' which was born in the first decade of the century; the drama of the North West and the 'Manchester School'; more general social and political issues of the time, such as attitudes towards women and the women's suffrage movement; the cultural life of the time, eg. the increasing establishment of playgoers' clubs in the cities and the pressures placed on the theatre by the new popularity of cinemas - as illustrated by the closure of the Gaiety; and, of course, much biographical information on Annie Horniman herself, including articles and interviews with her which chart her career, her work for the theatre, her numerous public appearances and speeches, and her opinions on all manner of topics, both theatrical and otherwise.

A number of the volumes contain articles written in French and German.

The index pages at the front of each volume have been allocated roman numerals as in AEH/1, and the catalogue entries below outline notable events covered by each volume.

The Gaiety press cuttings books were formerly known as volumes A-Q, and the former reference is cited in each case.

Any loose items have been placed in an envelope at the front of the volume from which they came.

The cuttings books were compiled by AEFH and remained in her possession until she donated them to the John Rylands Library in 1921. The books were accessioned by the Library in July 1921, being described as 16 volumes, although the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, 6 (1921-2) announced AEFH's gift of 17 volumes. The 17th volume contains a compliments slip addressed to the Library and signed by AEFH in September 1921; this volume is not marked with an accession number, so it presumably came to the Library a few months after the other books and was simply added to the end of the sequence. The main run of press cuttings in volume 17 continues the chronological sequence from the 16th volume and ends in July 1921, although a few items dating from 1925 and 1929 have been added on the final pages. Miss Horniman may therefore have continued her practice of sending the Librarian any relevant items which she considered appropriate for inclusion in the cuttings books, as with the Abbey Theatre books in AEH/1. The 17th volume has been listed with the other books as it was clearly intended as part of the same accession despite not being recorded as such.