Location: 350 Douro Street, Stratford, Ontario, N5A 3S7
Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM
The Stratford Festival’s centre for exploration and inspiration is its Archives which maintains, conserves and protects recent and historical records about the Festival and makes those materials available to staff, the Company, and researchers around the world. In doing so, we spotlight the Festival’s work and its contributions to
world theatre.
Our multi-media archival holdings date from 1952 and extend through to contemporary materials that transfer to us each season; our many special collections are the personal archives of renowned theatre artists including Tanya Moiseiwitsch (designer), Richard Monette (actor and director) and Stanley
Silverman (composer). We house correspondence, production records, Board minutes, photography, design artwork, scores, audio-visual records, costumes, props and set decoration, press releases and other promotional materials: these document the processes that bring a production to the stage and
reflect all aspects of mounting a play from the administrative to the creative and beyond.
USING THE ARCHIVES
The Archives is open for in-person research by appointment, Monday to Wednesday,
10:30 AM to 4:30 PM
We encourage researchers to contact us directly with requests so that we can prepare materials in advance. Some of the records in our Collection are designated as “restricted” which means that permission must be obtained in order to use them. Copyright is observed
on all materials and reproductions must be appropriately credited wherever published.
A portion of our materials can be accessed via our online catalogue where you may perform a simple or advanced search using a person’s name or a production title; alternatively you can search on one of our specific collections using keywords, dates, and other criteria.
We are constantly
adding new entries to our database so please check back with it often!
PHOTOGRAPHY
The majority of our requests involve the Festival’s extensive photography collection. Please note that restrictions apply to the reproduction of images from all our seasons, as per our agreements with professional unions/associations and other theatre organizations. As part of our standard photo release
procedure, we require a copy of any publication in which an image appears; it is sufficient to supply this in digital form.
Note that you may not reuse the same image(s) for any purpose other than that stated in your request; permissions are always granted on a case-by-case basis only.
To use photography from the Archives:
- Submit your detailed request in writing
- A Photo Release form will be sent to you which must be signed and returned to us
- Your request is reviewed for the context of intended use in order to determine if Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) fees apply
- In most cases, each of the actors in a photograph must approve the use of his/her/their likeness in writing; you may be asked to pursue these permissions
- Once permissions are in hand the Archives staff will forward you high resolution versions of the images for your use
- You will receive an invoice for processing and any research and PACT fees due from the Festival's Accounts Payable team, due on receipt
EXHIBITS AND LOANS
Heritage institutions and other professional organizations are welcome to submit requests for loans from our Collection for use in exhibits and other installations. Proof of insurance, security and adequate environmental conditions must be met. Loan requests must be submitted at least six months in
advance of opening.