Motley collection, 1932-1976 | Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Title: Motley collection, 1932-1976

ID: 01/01/MSS00041

Primary Creator: Motley

Other Creators: Devine, Sophie (1901-), Harris, Margaret (1904-), Montgomery, Elizabeth (1902-)

Extent: 321.0 Cubic Feet

Languages: English

Motley is the corporation name of Sophia and Margaret Harris (sisters) and their friend Elizabeth Montgomery Wilmot, who designed sets and costumes from 1932 to 1976 for plays by Shakespeare and modern classics, opera, ballet, and motion pictures. Their designs were used in productions in the West End of London, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the English National Opera, and in the United States on Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

The Motley Collection contains costume plates, scene design renderings, production plans and notes of the celebrated British theater design team, "Motley." The Motley collection spans 50 years of theater history, including 3000 original costume sketches, story boards and fabric samples from over 160 productions.

Motley is the corporation name of Sophia and Margaret Harris (sisters) and their friend Elizabeth Montgomery Wilmot, who designed sets and costumes from 1932 to 1976 for plays by Shakespeare and modern classics, opera, ballet, and motion pictures. Their designs were used in productions in the West End of London, the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, the English National Opera, and in the United States on Broadway and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Repository: Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Access Restrictions: Open to researchers.

Use Restrictions:

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Box and Folder Listing

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Miscellaneous Costumes],
[Series 2: Miscellaneous Sets],
[Series 3: Productions],
[All]

Series 2: Miscellaneous Sets

Note: No digital surrogates of original design items related to this series are available.

Microfiche frames for images of series: 1/A7-11

Acquisition Information: Sotheby's Lot number: 160

UnitID: 000002

Sub-series 1: Miscellaneous Sets. (000002)

Box-Folder 2/1-4: Oversize materials

Sub-series 2: Royal Court Theatre. (000007)

Note: This collection of designs and plans all related to the Royal Court Theatre had been found boxed together.

Map Case Drawer/Folder 11/1 (000007)

Sub-series 3: Miscellaneous Research Sketches by Century (990101)

Note: Contains research sketches not associated with a particular production and/or used for teaching.

UnitID: 990101

Box-Folder 186/1-13: Oversize materials

Browse by Series:

[Series 1: Miscellaneous Costumes],
[Series 2: Miscellaneous Sets],
[Series 3: Productions],
[All]