The Adelphi Theatre 1806-1900 Preface - University of ...

The first major project initiated by The London Stage 1800-1900 program emerged at a conference on
the Nineteenth Century Theatre held at the University of Massachusetts in 1974. Gilbert B. Cross and
Alfred L. Nelson, both of Eastern Michigan University, proposed to compile a nearly century-long
Calendar of the Adelphi Theatre, beginning in 1806, when the theatre started life as the Sans Pareil,
through to 1900. Nelson and Cross, acting as Co-General Editors, assembled a team of historians as
contributing editors. Employing the London Stage Handbook for Compilers, they began issuing elements
of the calendar in preliminary form in a printed work published in loose-leaf binders, later augmented by
microfiche, by Greenwood Press, as the Sans Pareil Theatre/ Adelphi theatre: A Chronology and
Index. The Greenwood Press series culminated in Alfred L. Nelson and Gilbert B. Cross, gen. eds.,
Theatre Royal, Adelphi: A Daily Calendar of Performances 1806-1900, Part I: 1806-1850; Part II: 1850-
1900. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press; Part I, 1990; Part II, 1993. Well before this time Theodore
J. Seward Jr., a student at Eastern Michigan University, had joined the Adelphi project as Systems
Analyst.
Eventually the Adelphi Theatre Calendar became a self-sufficient database operation, housed on the
Eastern Michigan computer. After the much regretted loss of Alfred Nelson, Gilbert Cross went on
serving as General Editor of the project while Theodore Seward continued to maintain and improve the
database and Joseph Donohue continued in an advisory capacity.
Later Developments
A recent change in web hosting circumstances has prompted the editors to undertake a revision to the
Adelphi Theatre Calendar. This revision, limited in scope, has left intact all the data and calculations of
activity itself: cast lists, number and dates of performance, and other related information.
The most important change has been one suggested by the Calendar's systems engineer, Theodore
Seward, now of the Northrop Grumman Company (Seward's valued contributions have been crucial to
the completion and success of the project). The change he proposed was to add a "book" version of the
Calendar to the web site. This addition is not to be confused with the early, two-volume calendar issued
in a ring-binder published by Greenwood Press, which never contained a daily calendar of performance
(and is long out of print). The proposed virtual book format is designed to permit downloading parts of
the Calendar in coherent and convenient forms. It comprises thirteen volumes divided by history and
focus, which makes it easy to access and download. (For details about the availability and use of
information, please see the Copyright statement.)
For example, in recent years there has developed great interest in Jane M. Scott, who founded and ran
the Sans Pareil Theatre from its beginnings in 1807 to 1819. Scott's extensive contributions on and off
stage could be assembled into a "book" and treated separately as a stand-alone historical
record. Scholars interested in researching her career need only concern themselves with the first three
volumes and volume V, which contains the daily calendar of each season. Other researchers, focusing
on day by day activity at the Adelphi, have accessible to them seven volumes of data, conveniently
divided by decade. For those seeking an overview of theatrical activity during a season, summaries are
collected in volumes III and IV.
It is the editors' hope that improved accessibility, broad distribution, and low cost will encourage users
to download information directly from the book version and perhaps self-publish it on Kindle, Sony,
Vol I: Sans Pareil/Adelphi Theatres—General Index: 1806-1899 3