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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#000000><EM>Dear All,</EM> <BR><BR>Below is the official position from the
V&A regarding the collections at the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Theatre</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Museum</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>. Please circulate to all
colleagues and students. <BR><BR>Information regarding special collections
can be accessed via </FONT><A href="http://www.backstage.ac.uk"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">www.backstage.ac.uk</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000> as well as the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Theatre</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Museum</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> webiste. Online guided tours,
images and other resources are available via our peopleplay webiste </FONT><A
href="http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">www.peopleplayuk.org.uk</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000> and the library catalogue contains
information on some of the prompt-book collections, National Video Archive of
Performance and books catalogued since 1999: </FONT><A
href="http://catalogue.nal.vam.ac.uk"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://catalogue.nal.vam.ac.uk</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000> .<BR></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#000000><EM>Thanks, Kate<BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"></EM><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"></P></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0cm 0cm 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#000000><U>The Theatre Museum Collections Centre at Blythe
House</U>:<BR><BR>Although the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Theatre</st1:PlaceType>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Museum</st1:PlaceType>'s site in Covent Garden will be
closed from Jan 2007 there is no intention to change the status, role or
strategy of the <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Theatre</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">Museum</st1:PlaceType> as the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s national collection for the
performing arts. Our work of documenting performance and developing our
collections will continue, and research access to them will go on being
provided, as now, at our premises in Kensington Olympia, where the collections
have been located since June 2005. Indeed, one of the outcomes of the
closure of the museum building in <st1:place w:st="on">Covent Garden</st1:place>
will be to redirect financial resources into developing a range of online
materials and touring exhibitions designed to give the public better access to
our collections.<BR><BR>The <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Theatre</st1:PlaceType>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Museum</st1:PlaceType> possesses the largest
collections in the world relating to the <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s performing
arts. One of their strengths is that these are constantly updated with new
material relating to both contemporary and historical performance. Once items
are transferred to our ownership, we are committed to preserving them in
perpetuity and in accordance with the highest standards of
curatorship.<BR><BR>The Collections Centre is open to all researchers
(academics, theatre professionals, family historians, students and interested
members of the public) by appointment (tel: 0207 943 4727, email </FONT><A
href="mailto:tmenquiries@vam.ac.uk"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">tmenquiries@vam.ac.uk</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000>). Researchers can use the
reading room to watch videos, study documents, designs and photographs, make use
of the museum's library and obtain advice and guidance from curatorial
staff. In addition to this, the museum holds regular open days for
those interested in larger or more fragile objects which cannot be issued in the
reading room, these include costume and stage technology tours. We also
run an enquiries service for the profession and the general public available by
emailing </FONT><A href="mailto:tmenquiries@vam.ac.uk"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">tmenquiries@vam.ac.uk</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000> or ringing 0207 943 4735.<BR><BR>Dr Kate
Dorney, <BR>Curator of Modern and Contemporary Performance, <BR>V&A Theatre
Museum<BR><BR>Tel: 0207 471 9872<BR>Fax: 020 7471 9864<BR>E-mail: </FONT><A
href="mailto:k.dorney@vam.ac.uk"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">k.dorney@vam.ac.uk</FONT></A><FONT face="Times New Roman"
color=#000000> <BR> <BR>Visit </FONT><A
href="http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">www.peopleplayuk.org.uk</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman" color=#000000> to see Theatre History
online<BR><BR><BR></FONT><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"><BR
style="mso-special-character: line-break"></P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff>_________________________________________________________________<BR>"
. . . we have to accept that our tragedy lies always in our past, that we have
to live with our ancestors' folly and suffer for it, just as they, in their
turn, suffered, and as we, through our vanity and ignorance, ensure the pain and
suffering of our own children. How to correct history, that's the
thing."--Robert Fisk<BR>____________________________________<BR>"In 2005, the
world . . . pass[ed] the trillion-dollar mark in the expenditure, annually, on
arms. We're fighting for $50 billion annually for foreign aid for Africa: the
military total outstrips human need by 20 to 1. Can someone please explain to me
our contemporary balance of values?" --Stephen
Lewis.<BR>__________________________________________________<BR>Denis
Salter<BR>Professor of Theatre<BR>McGill University<BR>853 Sherbrooke St.
West<BR>Montréal, QC<BR>H3A 2T6<BR>Tel (514) 398 6592 <BR>Regular Fax (514) 398
8146<BR>Computer Fax (309) 294 0444<BR><A
href="mailto:denis.salter@mcgill.ca">denis.salter@mcgill.ca</A><BR>__________________</FONT></STRONG></DIV></BODY></HTML>