This series comprises two large albums, identically bound, in which are mounted correspondence, cuttings and printed items relating to Alfred Darbyshire’s interests in theatrical matters and his membership of social and professional organisations in Manchester. Both albums contain theatre programmes; printed menus and programmes for the Brasenose Club, Manchester, and other societies and events in Manchester and surrounding districts; and watercolour sketches by various amateur and professional artists. ADC/1/1 contains correspondence, cuttings and printed items relating to the Memorial Performance organised by Alfred Darbyshire and others following the death of the actor and theatre manager Charles Alexander Calvert (1828-1879), at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, in October 1879.
Notable correspondents include: Lawrence Alma-Tadema, Dion Boucicault, Ford Madox Brown, Charles and Adelaide Calvert, Wilkie Collins, Walter Crane, Charles Dickens junior, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, Henry Irving, Henry Stacy Marks, George Du Maurier, Val Prinsep, George Gilbert Scott, Frederic James Shields, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, Ellen Terry, Genevieve Ward, Edwin Waugh, Hon. Lewis Strange Wingfield, and W. B. Yeats.
ADC/1/1 contains an autograph letter and a document signed by Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), while ADC1/2 contains an original drawing by John Ruskin (1819-1900).