Paul Bruce Pettit :
- Author:
- Pettit, Paul Bruce, 1920-1972.
- Call Number:
- MSS UA-902.007 local
- Abstract:
- This collection documents Dr. Paul Bruce Pettit's professional life as a researcher, professor, and arts administrator. Materials in the collection include folders that contain correspondence, academic papers and other samplings of work that Dr. Pettit produced while enrolled in graduate programs at Cornell University. Besides three bound copies of printed scripts from his radio broadcasts of theatrical reviews, 1947-1948, there are also copies of his master's thesis and doctoral dissertation. Correspondence, offprints of articles about theater related subjects, plays and reviews, and lecture notes from Dr. Pettit's tenure as a professor of theatre at the University at Albany are also part of the collection, 1947-72. Additionally, there is material from within this time frame that includes a bound copy of his play A Night from a Thousand Nights and a Night translated into Arabic, and presented while directing the National Theatre in Cyprus as part of a Fulbright scholarship, 1964-1965. Writings in the collection from the era and clippings give an account of Dr. Pettit's and other Americans evacuation from Cyprus when a Turkish invasion appeared eminent. There are other newspaper clippings chronicling Dr. Pettit's accomplishments throughout his life.
- Historical Note:
- Paul Bruce Pettit (1920-1972) was a professor of theatre and the first chair of the Department of Theatre at the University at Albany, 1947-1972. Pettit was born in Greensburg, Indiana, on July 9, 1920. Dr. Pettit was appointed to the faculty at New York State College for Teachers in 1947 in the combined English and Dramatic Arts Department and remained employed at the institution until his death. After the college became the State University of New York at Albany, he was instrumental in the forming of the Department of Speech and Dramatic Arts and fostered the evolution into the Department of Theatre which he initially chaired. As a professor of theatre, he was actively involved in the American Educational Theatre Association (AETA). After returning from a Fulbright Scholarship in Greece (1950-51) where he directed the Athens Players, and with a renewed interest in arena theater, Pettit founded the Arena Summer Theatre at the university in 1952. Dr. Pettit traveled extensively, particularly in the Mediterranean, on various grants and Fulbright Scholarships. From 1947-1949, WROW radio featured Dr. Pettit as an entertainment critic. He provided a start-up for Albany Civic Theater and served as president of the Albany League of Arts working directly with the New York State Council on the Arts. In his capacity as president of the Albany League of Arts, Dr. Pettit proposed and advocated for the building of a Cultural Arts Center for the City of Albany. In 1971, while on leave from the university, Dr. Pettit served as Visiting University Fellow and director of program development in the fine arts for the newly established Empire State College. Prior to returning to his teaching post at the university in 1972, Dr. Pettit died of a heart attack in his home.
- Physical Description:
- 2.0 cu ft.
- Access Terms:
- Access to this record group is unrestricted with the exception of one file noted on the inventory.
- Notes:
- Part of the University Archives Collection. local
- Subjects:
- Education, Higher New York (State), Arena theater New York (State), Fulbright scholarships Cyprus, Fulbright scholarships Greece, Theater Study and teaching New York (State) Albany, Arena theater, Education, Higher, Fulbright scholarships, and Theater Study and teaching
- Genres/Forms:
- Clippings. aat, Correspondence. aat, Files by subject. aat, Lecture notes. aat, Lectures. aat, Manuscripts. aat, Photographic prints. aat, Postcards. aat, Radio scripts. aat, and Theater programs. aat
- Names:
- Pettit, Paul Bruce, 1920-1972
- Corporate Names:
- State University of New York at Albany, State University of New York at Albany. Theatre Department, and State University of New York at Albany
- Geographic Terms:
- Cyprus, Greece, New York (State), and New York (State) Albany
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Rare books do not circulate
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