Dramatic Guild Files

Summary: The Dramatic Guild Files, 1915-1965, arranged alphabetically, document the activities of the club which put on plays in Free Acres. Types of material include minutes (1915-1923); photographs (1915-1930); and costume sketches (1965).

Photographs include stereographs of the Open-Air Theater and cast and performance photographs. Programs include those for a 1915 production of Robin Hood, with Ethel Webster Fischer in the title role and O.G. Fischer as Richard, and a 1917 performance of a Lady Gregory play featuring Amy Mali Hicks. Of particular interest are costume sketches for "Treasure Island" by Jane Eberlein Hall.

The Garden Guild Files, 1932-1951, which are arranged chronologically, are the files of a club which looked after the Free Acres gardens. Its members planted trees, pruned shrubs and prepared the ground for seedlings. At Garden Guild meetings, lectures were given on bulb planting, trees, and landscaping.

Includes a business card, 1932-1940 meeting minutes, and meeting announcements from 1951, when an attempt was made to revive the Garden Guild.

The Library Guild Files, 1940-1969, include material pertaining to the library in Free Acres.

Types of documents include minutes, correspondence, reports, lists, a brochure, and canceled checks.

Book reviews were presented at meetings of the Library Guild and of the Library Group (a name change which only seemed to be in effect in 1941). The 1964 Report of the Library Committee decries the death of Free Acres cultural institutions, including the Dramatic Guild and summer camp, and stresses the importance of the surviving cultural institution, the Free Acres Library.

The minutes are from the Library Guild (1940), and the Library Group (1941). The list of books may be ones that were donated to the Free Acres Library by MacKinlay Kantor.