Mississippi Theater Association Records

Collection

Identifier: MSS-834

Staff Only

Scope and Content

This collection consists of records of the Mississippi Theater Association from 1956-2015. The records include administrative files, committee records, correspondence, minutes, publicity files, photographs, and audio-visual materials. The collection documents the growth and change of the organization from its founding in 1956 and into the 21st century. Series A: Organizational has some gaps, there is little from the founding, and not every change to a charter or handbook was documented. Series B: Business, correspondence is usually between board members or community theater leaders, they are frequently discussing new ideas, such as updating the organization constitution or starting new events. There are gaps in the records of minutes and businesses. Series C: Financials, while being mostly forms and applications will sometimes include letters from people advocating for the MTA. Series D: Events, the consistency of convention records tends to vary from year to year, with the 2000s being heavy in technicalities, event coordination, and registration, while the 20th century seems to be mostly correspondence.

Dates

1956 - 2015

Historical Note

The Mississippi Theater Association exists to “foster appreciation of and participation in children’s, college, community, high school, professional, and university theater in Mississippi by sponsoring festivals, workshops, and retreats.” It was originally founded in 1956 as the Mississippi Little Theater Association, and was incorporated under state law as a non-profit in 1979. During the seventies and eighties, the organization expanded significantly, beginning many of the programs and events it still facilitates today. They cooperate with the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC), the American Association of Community Theatres (AACT, formerly ACTA) and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). (Quotation from folder "Publicity, 2009")

Extent

6 Cubic Feet (6 manuscript boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

System of Arrangment

Organized into four series: Within the series they are chronological, with the exception of Series D, they are grouped by topic, chronologically. (A): Organizational (B): Business (C): Financial (D): Events

Preservation Note

Most paper clips were removed, not all because we ran out of plasticlips. Staples remain. When Photographs were present they were either labeled and placed in an envelope or labeled and interleaved with acid free paper. All news clippings were photocopied.

Processing Note

The order of most of what are now the first and fourth series are significantly rearranged. The others remain very much how they were. Largely, documents in folders were simply removed from their original folder and placed in archival folders with no change to document order. In some cases given they were given a more thorough title, but the essence remains the same.If their were more than three copies of an items, the extras were removed.