The search engine below contains 19th century performance data from four sources. Professor Mary Elizabeth Smith's research on 19th century theatre in Saint John (Too Soon the Curtain Fell, Fredericton 1981) has provided information on over 5000 performances in Saint John, as well as in other parts of the Atlantic provinces. Her performance calendar was published in 1987 on microfiche as "The Maritime Stage: Saint John, 1789 - 1899" by the University of New Brunswick, Saint John. The Fredericton material for the 1800s comes from Professor Ed Mullaly's background work for his study of Fredericton theatre in the mid-1800s, Desperate Stages (Fredericton, 1987). This data also traces the full career of a minor and quite unsuccessful actor/manager, Henry W Preston, who was active from the Carolinas to Newfoundland from the late 1820s to the early 1850s. Performance information for eastern New Brunswick for the years 1875 - 1885 has come from Suzanne Alexander's Honors thesis VARIETY TONIGHT: Theatre in New Brunswick Town and Villages, 1875 - 1885 (UBC - 1980), and for the following decade from Ralph William's MA thesis Theatre in Chatham and Newcastle 1886-1895 (UNB - 1986). In addition, this calendar includes performance data taken from the "Playbills" section of ACTS.
Note that performances for which we have no precise dates are entered for the sake of the sort engine as though they had taken place in "1800".
The Newfoundland material in this data base has been drawn largely from Professor Denyse Lynde's research on 19th century theatre in St. John's.
The performance calendar is also home to Patrick B. O'Neill's Halifax Newspaper Archives research, a database of all references to theatre contained in the Halifax newspapers from 1759 until 1900 (and beyond). Before the untimely death of this most rigorous scholar and generous friend - April 27, 2006 - Professor O'Neill had proofread and approved all entries up to 1875 for inclusion on this site. A search within this research can be made by choosing "Halifax Newspapers" in the "ALL" drop down menu box below.
This database will continue to grow as other research becomes available.
