The scrapbook which forms the chief element of these papers was created by W.B. Swain. It contains theater programs, reviews and Swain's notes about attendance and the performances at Marysville between 1886 and 1908. One of the Swains also collected a smaller number of San Francisco theatrical programs and newspapers dating from the same period.

The Swain Family operated a planing mill, a theatre and a bank in Marysville throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. Their Marysville Theatre, erected in 1865, was designed by Harry Majors and built by W.C. Swain for $30,000. The flood of 1875 damaged the building and it was use for a time as a dance hall. Swain remodelled it in 1886, introducing sloping floors and other improvements. W.B. Swain, son of the builder, was interested both in acting and in theatre management. His father began leasing the building to him in 1889 and the latter operated it until it burnt down, together with the family mill, in 1904.

Collection is open for research.