Collecting Theatre (On)grijpbaar erfgoed

A wonderful journey through four centuries of theatre history
The theatre collection of the Allard Pierson will be 100 years old on 28 February. To mark this anniversary, the book Collecting Theatre | (On)grijpbaar erfgoed will be published. Over the past century, half a million pieces have been collected that tell the story of four centuries of theatre history; from set sketches from the 18th century to beer mats described by Ramses Shaffy. The book shares the stories behind 105 special collection pieces and thus unlocks part of the Dutch theatre heritage.

The theatre collection has a turbulent history. On exactly 28 February 1925, the Association ‘Het Tooneelmuseum’ started merging a number of private collections. In 1959, the museum for the theatre world was founded on the Herengracht in Amsterdam. When the Theatre Museum was forced to close in 2012, the collections found shelter at the Allard Pierson – The Collections of the University of Amsterdam. In the meantime, this theatre collection with attention to many disciplines such as dance, cabaret, circus, mime and puppetry has grown into an internationally renowned collection of Dutch theatre history with more than half a million objects: from masks and costumes to puppets, scenarios, posters, photos, programme booklets, models and miniature theatres.

The book Collecting Theatre | (On)grijpbaar erfgoed gives theatre lovers insight into the rich Dutch theatre heritage and describes how it is managed and collected today. How do you store a lighting plan? Should the director’s text messages also be archived?