et
Design
Search The Cat for Books
Try doing a subject search, changing Keywords Anywhere to LC Subject on the search screen. Books on set design in general can be found by using subject headings such as:
- Theatres - Stage-setting and scenery
- Set designers and
- Stage props.
Books on interior design can be identified by using subject headings such as Interior decoration, and Furniture-Design.
To locate books about the period and locale of the play, try combining the locale or era with pictorial works or photographs. For example, choose Advanced Search and enter Chicago in the first search box and photographs in the second.
Or...ask
a librarian for help. 
Many books related to the theatre, including those listed in the Theatre 100 bibliography and those on reserve behind the circulation desk, contain photos or sketches of productions of various plays. Check the indexes of these books for the play's title.
Look at
portraits or other paintings of the era. To identify artists of the period,
check a chronology
such as The New York Public Library Book of Chronologies. Then
look for books which include illustrations of the artist's work or look
for the artist in the Encyclopedia of World Art located on the
encyclopedia shelves. Volume four of this encyclopedia includes an article
on costumes with many colored plates of illustrations.
Use Periodicals
Browse magazines or newspapers of the period if possible. Public libraries often have back issues of popular magazines such as "Harpers", "Life", and "Ladies Home Journal".
Use Internet Resources
Google
Directory: Set Designers
Theatre Links.com:
Set Design Links
The Perseus
Project - Greek Art and Architecture
Shakespeare
Illustrated
WWW Virtual Library:
Theatre and Drama: Theatre Images Online
Shakespeare's Globe Research Database
Architecture
and Interior Design for 20th Century America
- collection from the Library of Congress of 28,000 photographs from
1935-1955. Search by keyword (i.e. powder room) or browse by subject.
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For
more information, contact
Janice Pope, jmp12@psu.edu
Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts
Judy Sandt, jsandt@psu.edu
Reference Librarian, Penn State Lehigh Valley
last updated October 2006
