JR Clancy presented the collection of materials to the FSU School of Theatre on 31 March at the opening of the USITT Stage Expo in Kansas City, Missouri. FSU will make the collection of documents accessible to students, historians and others researching the development of theatre rigging.
The documents include renderings and elevation drawings of installed theatre projects, as well as drafted drawings of equipment manufactured by JR Clancy. The archive will include digital copies of every JR Clancy catalogue, dating back to its beginnings in 1885.
“When you’ve been in one manufacturing business for 125 years, you can trace the development of the industry and see all of the innovations our company made possible,” said Bob Theis, JR Clancy chairman.
“This is a fascinating collection of technical drawings and other historical documents from an important period in the advancement of rigging technology.
“We know that this information is a valuable resource, especially the technical drawings, and we are delighted to make all of this available as an archive on the university level.”
FSU expects the archive to be available digitally on its website from the autumn. The university’s Strozier Library is equipped with scanning technology that will accommodate fragile historic documents, including large-scale renderings and elevations. Library staff will complete the scanning, after which the paper documents will go into archival storage.
