Problems in the Storage, Cataloguing, and Filing of Puppet Material

Abstract

To anyone interested in theatrical history, it is self-evident that a puppet is created for and functions only in relation to a set of particular circumstances and a special environment. Consequently, if in a museum the puppet is to have meaning, it must be accompanied by a large collection of accessories and information, say, in the form of books, tapes, slides, scenery, or photographs. This presents special problems of housing and cataloguing: the problems may range from a four-foot knight weighing eighty pounds to a scrap of paper on which a scenario is scrawled in long-faded ink.