Personal Materials

The materials in this collection document the professional life of R. Russell Porter while he was a member of the faculty of the University of Denver, from 1946 until his retirement in 1976. Administrative materials provide a chronological framework for the artistic works that follow. They include biographies, obituaries, press releases and newspaper clippings, faculty personnel records and evaluations, insurance packages, travel records, brochures, personal papers, interviews, photographs and correspondence. The papers and speeches reflect U.S. society at the time. One paper discusses the assassination of U. S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, and another the concert at Woodstock, New York. Several concern race relations and the University's responsibility to equal opportunity. Many papers are concerned with the University, and how it could be positioned to successfully educate young people. Several address the current and future state of the American theater. The bulk of the material is composed of artistic works by Porter and others. In some cases, only the finished product is represented. In others, only a program, a press release or piece of correspondence documents the existence of a work. Several drafts of a play (Shale Oil) show the evolution of a particular creation. Early Dawn is particularly well documented, with drafts and correspondence between Porter and Normand Lockwood revealing how a librettist and a composer collaborate to create a work of art. The collection also includes works by Porter including scholarly articles, speeches, radio scripts, plays, and librettos along with documentation such as playbills, correspondence, publicity photographs, and newspaper clippings. The final segment of the collection includes plays by others to be considered for production at the University of Denver Theatre.