Harold Obee collection

The Harold Obee collection is comprised of predominantly research files, student papers, printed materials, and news clippings focused upon the study of drama and theater history. Dr Obee was especially interested in compiling a collection of source materials relevant to the development, history, and activities of community and college theaters throughout Ohio. About half of the documents in the collection are evidence of this effort. The remainder focus upon general theater and speech instruction.

Some of the collection's earliest documents (1906-1912) include programs from both the Chidester and Everybody's Theaters in Bowling Green, Ohio. Research cards produced from Ohio theater resources located at Ohio repositories and libraries provide details about theater programs, performances, and events from the 19th into the 20th centuries at theaters in such Ohio cities as Cincinnati, Toledo, Findlay, and Bowling Green. A hand drawn floor plan made in approximately 1960 of the auditorium of the Chidester Theater (formerly the Hankey-Taber Opera House) based on the memory of Minibelle Conley will be of interest to Bowling Green historians. Season theater schedules from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (Ontario, Canada), Cincinnati Playhouse from the 1980's, and miscellaneous tourist brochures are included among the printed materials.

Dr. Obee's involvement with the Ohio Sesquicentennial Commission's 1953 stage production, "Ohio: The Seventeenth Star" is documented in files that once comprised MS-485. The dramatic pageant about the state’s history was envisioned as a centerpiece of the celebrations, performed at the state fairgrounds in Columbus for twelve performances during the state fair in 1953. Paul Green wrote the script, a survey of the state’s history in nine episodes divided into fifty-three scenes. The pageant featured an original orchestral score, three hundred singing and dancing actors, and many galloping horses.