This collection contains manuscripts, programs, photographs, publications, and other materials pertaining to Thomas Hardy, English novelist and poet, and the Hardy Players, a group of performers. Included are manuscripts with programs and related material, photographs and sketches of individuals and performances, publications regarding performances and the works of Thomas Hardy, and correspondence. The material within the collection aims to exhibit the work of Thomas Hardy and the Hardy Players as well as their influence on society at that time.

Thomas Hardy, 1840-1928, was an English novelist and poet best known for his novels such as Far from the Madding Crowd (1874), The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), and Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891). Most of Hardy's fiction works were first published in serials and set in the semi-fictional region of Wessex. Hardy was considered a Victorian Realist and many of his works focused on the social constraints of life in Victorian England. The Hardy Players were a group that performed adaptations of novels by Thomas Hardy. Members of The Hardy Players originated from the Dramatic Section of the Old Dorchester Debating Society. The group mainly performed in Dorchester and London, but occasionally performed where the story was set.

2.94 Linear Feet (5 boxes)

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This collection is unprocessed. Please contact Special Collections & University Archives regarding the availability of materials for research use.