Collections

The collection includes correspondence, writings, newspaper and journal articles, photographs, and publications relating to Walther Volbach's research and writings on Adolphe Appia. Included are over sixty typescript essays, articles, and scenarios by Adolphe Appia, many bearing the stamp of the Fondation Adolphe Appia, Geneve. A typescript of Volbach's translation of many of these writings which was published as Adolphe Appia: Essays, Articles, and Scenarios in 1989, is included in the collection. The majority of correspondence consists of letters received by Volbach in the course of his research from Appia's relatives and friends including Appia's cousins Edmond Appia and Blanche Bingham, Appia's pupil and friend Jean Mercier, as well as librarians and fellow researchers, and colleagues with whom Volbach corresponded regarding publications by the American Educational Theatre Association. One reel of microfilm contains letters to Houston Stewart Chamberlain. A stage design by Appia for Act I, scene 1 of Parsifal is the only original design in the collection; however, his designs are represented by copy photographs that were used as illustrations for Volbach's book, Adolphe Appia, Prophet of the Modern Theatre: A Profile.