F. Curtis Canfield (AC 1925) Papers, 1929-1981
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Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Sarang Gopalakrishnan. 2003-06-24
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Canfield Papers
Creation of Canfield Papers
Time of Creation of Canfield Papers
3 records storage boxes, 1 archives box, 2 oversize flat boxes
Canfield, Curtis, 1903-
Biographical History for: Canfield Papers
Biographical Note Fayette Curtis Canfield (AC 1925), drama professor and director, was born on July 29, 1903 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. After his graduation in 1925, he worked at Amherst as Professor of Theatre and Dramatic Art until 1954. From 1938 onwards, he was also Director of Amherst's Kirby Theater. In 1954, he was appointed the first dean of the Yale University School of Drama, a position he held for thirteen years. He left Yale in 1967 to teach Theatre Arts at the University of Pittsburgh, where he stayed until his retirement in 1973. Canfield was a trustee of the National Theatre Conference from 1958 to 1964 and of the American Shakespeare Theatre Festival Academy from 1962 to 1968; and a member of the Century Association of New York from 1953 to 1971. He was awarded honorary degrees by Amherst and Emerson Colleges, and by Yale University. Canfield was married to Katherine F. Newbold on May 21, 1927. He died in Northampton on June 8, 1986, at the age of 82. Canfield wrote and edited several books on theatre, including Plays of the Irish Renaissance (1929), Plays of Changing Ireland (1936), The Seed and the Sowers: A Chronicle of the Founding of Amherst College (1955), and The Craft of Play Directing (1963).
Scope and Contents of the Collection The bulk of the collection is made up of notes and other materials relating to Canfield's courses, lectures, and speeches, spanning his careers at Amherst, Yale and the University of Pittsburgh. The papers also include some correspondence, newspaper clippings, and material for his books, as well as a few framed portraits and photographs.
Theater--Massachusetts--Amherst.
lcsh
Theater--Study and teaching (Higher)--Connecticut--New Haven.
Theater--Study and teaching (Higher)--Massachusetts--Amherst.
Theater--Study and teaching (Higher)--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
lcnaf
Amherst College--Faculty.
Amherst College--Students.
University of Pittsburgh--Faculty.
Yale University--Faculty.
Amherst College. Class of 1925. Canfield.
aat
series
Series 1: UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, 1967-1973
Merrill Trust 1972-73
Ibsen: Peer Gynt 1968-69
Records of the Merrill Fellowships
Albee; The Soundbox; The Puzzle; Tiny Alice; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Playbills and notes)
Notes for Speech 82 1972-73
Lecture notes for Speech 82 1968-69
O'Neill: Long Day's Journey...
Rostand: Cyrano de Bergerac 1973
Wilde: Lady Windermere's Fan
Shaw: The Doctor's Dilemma
Fry: The Lady's Not For Burning
Irish Drama - Juno
Shakespeare: The Tempest
Stoppard: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Director's problems
Rice: The Adding Machine; Typist Shisgal
Speech 227 - Dramatic Literature and Styles 1978
Gorki: The Lower Depths 1973
Brecht: Mother Courage
Miller: Death of a Salesman; All My Sons
Absurdists
Pirandello
Odets
Chekhov: The Seagull
Eliot: Murder in the Cathedral
O'Neill: The Homecoming
Saroyan 1971
Ibsen: A Doll's House
Shakespeare comparisons
Strindberg: The Father
Dramatic Literature and Styles: The Hairy Ape 1973
O'Neill: Morning Becomes Electra
Clytemnestra
Oedipus
Tragedy III
Talk to Women's Association on the New York season 1969
Pittsburgh II 1968-69
Pittsburgh I 1968-69
Talk at Pittsburgh drama rally 1967
Rehearsal photos (?)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern... - photos and playscript
Marat-Sade - playscript, notes
John Brown's Body 1973
Visiting British director - Tyrone Guthrie and FCC
Classical Tradition (folder empty) 1973
Talk at Massachusetts Chapter of AETA (folder empty)
Speech on Abbott Van Nostrand and the Samuel French plays (folder empty) 1980
Happy as Larry
Notes on John Brown's Body
Chekhov
Miscellaneous letters 1971-
Report on the future of the arts at University of Pittsburgh 1970
Mowatt: Fashion, or Life in New York
New York Times Book Review - review of Broadway, by FCC 1970
The Craft of Play Directing - by FCC - manuscript
The Craft of Play Directing - Permissions
Fashion, or Life in New York - newsclippings
Early miscellaneous clippings, programs, etc. by Ralph C. McGoun (AC 1927) 1930's
Sentiment cards
Series 2: AMHERST COLLEGE, 1929-1980
Order of exercises at Stanley King's Inauguration 1942
Letter to Andrew Canfield re: end of Navy and future 1946
The Seed and the Sowers, by FCC - written for 125th Anniversary of the Masquers 1946
Burgess Meredith (AC 1930)
Amherst reunion 1980
Kirby Theatre
Chapel Talk - An Amherst Astronomer 1954
Pouffer: The Shapes Arise manuscript
Irish phase 1929-
Oral History interviews with Hewlett
The Afterglow - a tribute to Robert Frost
Writings and copies by FCC
Talk to Amherst Faculty Club re: MIT WWII experiences
Older notes from courses at Amherst College
Miscellaneous talks - Hartford alumni 1947-48
Tad Mosel
Masquers Trip to Vienna 1933
Fashion - Abbott Van Nostrand
Letter from FCC on the impermanence of theater art
Senior Chapel speech 1947
Humorous talk on the occasion of the Class of 1923 Reunion
Jones Library 1947
M. Abbott Van Nostrand and his collection of the publications of the Samuel French Companies - President's House 1980
Chapel talk 1949
Evolution of a Playgoer
Class notes - Humanities 22 1954
Class notes - Dramatic Arts 43, Directing 1953
Williamstown, MA - The Reluctant Debutante
Address to the Amherst Alumni, New York 1946
Macmillan Company - Correspondence
Explanation of TV
Remarks - Prelude to Presentation of Award at Emerson College
Remarks at Memorial Service for Charles E. Rogers 1980
Memorial Service for David Morton - Johnson Chapel 1957
Memorial Services, for Eugene S. Wilson; Dan Seymour
Speech to Sabrina Society 1975
Chapel talks on Amherst College 1947
Class notes - Humanities 21, Medieval Drama
Class notes - Maeterlinck (Symbolism)
Class notes - Humanities 22, Dryden 1951
Lecture notes - Humanities 22 1951
Class notes - Humanities 22 1951
Speech to 45th Reunion of the Class of '52 1977
Speech to 45th Reunion of the Class of '33 1978
Class notes - Stage composition
Humanities - Finished work - Ibsen
Humanities - Finished work - Frye
Humanities - Finished work - O'Neill
Humanities - Finished work - Odets
Humanities - Finished work - Miscellaneous
Poetic Drama... Irish plays
Sean O'Casey
Irish plays 1957-59
Kaiser - Expressionism
Miscellaneous notes - clippings used in compiling
Humanities 126B
Talk at AETA - notes by President
Lecture notes - Evolution of a Playgoer 1934
Class notes - Early American Drama
Old notes for course on Greek and Roman theatre 1930-
Lecture notes - Dramatic History 1930-
Amherst Summer Theater: 1940?
Anderson - Winterset
O'Neill - Ah, Wilderness
Series 3: YALE UNIVERSITY, 1954-1992
Letters - Ralph Williams, John Whicher, Herschel Williams
Yale Alumni Magazine 1954
Tragedy of (Xenathaeis?) - 45 rpm vinyl disc
"Cole" - Yale salute to Cole Porter
Lecture - The Performing Arts - Toronto 1965
"Lost Portraits of Thomas Jefferson," Mead Art Gallery 1959
First speech at Yale as 1954
Drama
End of first school year at Yale 1955
Commencement addresses at Yale 1959-64
Lecture - The Yale Plan
Talk to Yale Club of New Haven 1961
Talk to Alumni group - Cincinnati and Louisville 1963
Honorary degree - Emerson College 1956
Honorary Degree - University of Pittsburgh 1973
Letter of Resignation - FCC to Kingman Brewster 1968
Speech to Yale alumni at Winter Park 1960
Correspondence - Katherine Canfield to Yale School of Drama 1992
Series 4: MISCELLANEOUS, 1936-1981
Newsclippings from the American Press Clipping 1936
Service
Miscellaneous letters, articles, pamphlets, etc.
MIT Class of 1946 Reunion Book
Speech at 20th Navy Reunion, Provincetown, MA 1960
Speech at 35th Navy Reunion, Woodstock VT 1981
MIT Navy V-12 Unit 1943-46
Photograph - FCC at MIT 1945
TECHNIQUE (MIT Yearbook) 1945
Series 5: PORTRAITS AND PHOTOGRAPHS, 1946, n.d.
Sketched portrait, 10 x 13 1/2 - "To Curt Canfield with warm appreciation," signed "Stanley King" 1946
Unidentified portrait, B/W photo, 6 1/2 x 9 1/2
Unidentified portrait with Sabrina, color photo, 10 3/4 x
Professor Charles Morgan, B/W photo, 11 3/4 x 13 3/4
Series 6: THE CRAFT OF PLAY DIRECTING, ca. 1963
Art and blueprints for Canfield's book The Craft of Play Directing. ca. 1963