San Francisco Bay Area Theater Images and Memorabilia

This on-line archive contains photographs, program covers, seating charts, tickets and advertising cards related to theater buildings and performance spaces in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Oakland from 1853 to the 1970s. The Collection contains many images and materials from theaters prior to 1923, images of theaters destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire, and many of the great performance spaces in Bay Area history including the Alcazar Theatre, Alexandria Theatre, California Theatre, Civic Auditorium, Columbia Theatre, Fischer's Theatre, Fox Theatre, Grand Opera House, Macdonough Theatre, Maguire's Opera House, Majestic Theatre, Orpheum Theatre, Senator Theatre, Tivoli Opera House, and Woodward's Gardens. Digitization of these images was funded in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the LSTA, administered in California by the State Librarian

Chinese Theater in California

This on-line archive includes images from 1883-2004, although the majority of the photographs document performers and productions from the 1920s to late 1940s. The photographs depict scenes from plays such as "Heavenly Kings" and "Princess Cheung Ping," staged at the Great China Theatre, Great Star Theatre, and other venues, shots of actors and actress such as Mei Lan-fang, Dai Ngow Lok, Ma Shi-tsang, Kwan Duk Hing, Sew Jow Lee, and Hall Fay Jing in costume, in the studio, or on stage portraying various characters such as Kuan Kung, Chu Ko-liang, and Sun Yat-sen, interiors and exterior shots of different theater buildings, and ceremonies and banquets honoring performers such as Mei Lan-fang. A number of the photographs were taken by May's Studio. The materials were selected from four main sources -- the Wylie Wong Collection, Lois Rather Papers, Jack Chen Papers, and the Library's own Chinese Theater Collection.