Portland Civic Theatre Guild records

Collection

Identifier: Coll 1048

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of records of the Portland Civic Theatre Guild in Oregon, a volunteer theater support organization, from the 1990s and early 2000s. The records reflect a period when the guild's mission shifted from supporting the Portland Civic Theatre, which closed in 1990, to funding theater artists' professional development. Records include meeting agendas and minutes, financial records, programs for First Tuesday Readers Theatre performances, membership directories, and bylaws. Other materials in the collection include newspaper clippings and information relating to the guild's Leslie G. Fulton Endowment and fellowship awards.

Dates

1990-2004

Creator

Portland Civic Theatre Guild (Portland, Or.) (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

Administrative History

The Portland Civic Theatre Guild was a volunteer organization founded in 1958 by Mary Brand in Portland, Oregon. The guild's purpose was to act as an independent support group for the Portland Civic Theatre. It sponsored daytime play readings on the Portland Civic Theatre's main stage to raise funds for educational scholarships and special projects for the theater. When the Portland Civic Theatre closed in 1990, the guild's purpose shifted to supporting annual fellowships for theater artists' professional development. After the Portland Civic Theatre's building was demolished in 1993, readings were held in the Old Church in Portland. The guild dissolved at the end of 2023.

Sources: "The Portland Civic Theater Guild is Dissolving at the End of the Year," Willamette Week, November 3, 2023; "Portland Civic Theatre," by Susan Stelljes, Oregon Encyclopedia, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/portland_civic_theatre/; collection materials.

Extent

0.36 Cubic Feet (1 letter document case)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Records of the Portland Civic Theatre Guild, a volunteer fundraising organization in Portland, Oregon. The collection's contents include administrative records, programs, bylaws, directories, information about the Leslie G. Fulton endowment and the guild's fellowship awards, and clippings. The Portland Civic Theatre Guild was founded in 1958, and dissolved in 2023. The records in this collection reflect the period in the 1990s when the Portland Civic Theatre closed and the guild shifted its mission from supporting that theater to awarding fellowships for theater artists' professional development.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Kathy Littlefield, April 2007 (Lib. Acc. 26224).

Related Materials

Other materials at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library relating to the Portland Civic Theatre Guild include the Susan Stelljes collection of Portland, Oregon, theater memorabilia, Coll 1047; the Portland Civic Theatre records, Mss 2965; and the Portland Civic Theatre photographs collection, Org. Lot 847.