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Macgowan (Kenneth) papers
LSC.0887  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Restrictions on Access
  • Restrictions on Use and Reproduction
  • Provenance/Source of Acquisition
  • Preferred Citation
  • Processing Information
  • UCLA Catalog Record ID
  • Biography
  • Scope and Content
  • Organization and Arrangement
  • Items Removed from Collection

  • Contributing Institution: UCLA Library Special Collections
    Title: Kenneth Macgowan papers
    Creator: Macgowan, Kenneth
    Identifier/Call Number: LSC.0887
    Physical Description: 44 Linear Feet (88 boxes)
    Physical Description: 3 oversize_boxes
    Date (inclusive): 1915-1970
    Abstract: Kenneth Macgowan (1888-1963) was a drama critic for newspapers and magazines, a publicity director, producer and director with the Actor's Theater (1927-29), and the first department chair at the UCLA Theater Arts Department (1946-58). He was also interested in the anthropological field of archaeology. His publications include The theater of tomorrow (1921), Footlights across America (1929), Early man in the new world (1950), and Behind the screen: the history and technique of the motion picture (1965). The collection consists of materials related to Macgowan's careers in theater, motion pictures, and academia as well as material related to his interest in anthropology.
    Physical Location: Stored off-site. All requests to access special collections material must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.
    Language of Material: Materials are in English.

    Restrictions on Access

    Open for research. All requests to access special collections materials must be made in advance using the request button located on this page.

    Restrictions on Use and Reproduction

    Property rights to the physical objects belong to UCLA Library Special Collections. All other rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.

    Provenance/Source of Acquisition

    Gift of Mrs. Kenneth Macgowan, 1965-71.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of item], Kenneth Macgowan Papers (Collection 887). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles.

    Processing Information

    Processed by Phyllis Herzog, October 1966. Revisions by Manuscripts Division staff, 1977.
    Collections are processed to a variety of levels depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived user interest and research value, availability of staff and resources, and competing priorities. Library Special Collections provides a standard level of preservation and access for all collections and, when time and resources permit, conducts more intensive processing. These materials have been arranged and described according to national and local standards and best practices.
    We are committed to providing ethical, inclusive, and anti-racist description of the materials we steward, and to remediating existing description of our materials that contains language that may be offensive or cause harm. We invite you to submit feedback about how our collections are described, and how they could be described more accurately, by filling out the form located on our website: Report Potentially Offensive Description in Library Special Collections.  

    UCLA Catalog Record ID

    UCLA Catalog Record ID: 9922210983606533 >

    Biography

    Macgowan was born in Winthrop, Massachusetts, November 30, 1888; graduated Harvard, 1911; married Edna Behre, 1913; drama critic for Philadelphia evening ledger, the New York globe, Vogue, Theatre arts magazine, and Shadowland; publicity director for Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, 1918-19; formed an association with Eugene O'Neill and Robert Edmond Jones at the Provincetown Playhouse; producer and director with the Actor's Theater, 1927-29; worked at RKO Studios (early 1930s-35), 20th Century Fox (1935-41), and Paramount Studios (1944-46); among his many film credits is La Cucaracha, the first production in modern Technicolor; instructor and first department chair at the UCLA Theater Arts Department (1946-58); studied both anthropology and archaeology; publications include The theater of tomorrow (1921), Footlights across America (1929), Early man in the new world (1950), Behind the screen: the history and technique of the motion picture (1965); he died of cancer on August 27, 1963.

    Scope and Content

    Collection consists of materials related to Macgowan's careers in theater, motion pictures, and academia. Also includes material related to Macgowan's interest in anthropology and archaeology. Correspondents include Robert Edmond Jones and Lee Simonson. Includes items related to Eugene O'Neill and the Provincetown Playhouse.

    Organization and Arrangement

    Arranged in the following series:
    1. Special projects (Boxes 1-12).
    2. Manuscripts (Boxes 13-22).
    3. Involvement with little theaters, ca. 1920-30 (Boxes 23-27).
    4. Motion picture production files (Boxes 28-39).
    5. Clippings from newspapers and periodicals, ephemera and other material (Boxes 37-53).
    6. Activities as an educator (Boxes 54-74).
    7. Additional material, June 1966 (Boxes 75-88).
    • Drawing, De Emp'rer's Palace, by Cleon Throckmorton catalogued separately in the Original Works of Art on Paper (Collection 99). Available at UCLA Library Special Collections.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Theater critics -- Archives.
    Theatrical producers and directors -- Archives.
    Motion picture producers and directors -- Archives.
    University of California, Los Angeles. Department of Theater Arts--Faculty -- Archives
    Macgowan, Kenneth -- Archives