About the Collection
Harlan Bradford, historian and fan of vaudeville, created what he described as a “labor of love”–a collection of over 5,000 index cards detailing vaudeville acts throughout North America with a focus on New England. This collection was named by Bob Hope as the premiere vaudeville collection in the world.
A photograph of Mr. Bradford
What makes the collection so significant is that every act–from acrobats to singing, dance to magicians, sketches to musical comedy– is organized by genre and is alphabetically arranged by the performers name. Each card contains any biographical information known about the act, including members, years active, alternative names for the act, and any associated taglines. It also contains every known (to Bradford) performance done by the act complete with dates, location, theater, and circuit information. Particularly important is that Bradford’s collection documents lesser known vaudevillians in addition to those who went on to have lucrative careers on the stage and screen .
Gordon Irving, a scholar writing about Sir Harry Lauder, a vaudevillian, noted that “A keen student of international theatre…Mr.Harlan F. Bradford, has also weighed in with dates and statistics [to] form the remarkable card index file he keeps of world vaudeville artists. His system is so excellent that he has been able to pinpoint for me exactly what acts were on the bill in support of Harry Lauder at the Shubert Theater in Boston Massachusetts, in that first week of January 1913 when the Great Scot went over so big with audiences.”[1]
Creation of the Collection
In a 1983 article, Don Lowe, director of the Colby-Sawyer College’s Sawyer Center, noted that Bradford “…began meeting all the entertainers that passed through his city and began a collection of file cards that described the act, the places they played, who they married and even, as in my case, when my parents brought me into the world”. This collection
is invaluable to researchers interested in which circuits the vaudevillians performed and their transition from vaudeville to radio and the silver screen, as well as to genealogists and descendants of the vaudevillians interested in tracing their family history. Bradford’s careful recordings also provide a lens of study for those researching vaudeville and variety acts of New England as well as old New Hampshire and Vermont theaters.
How Colby-Sawyer Came to Acquire the Collection
Harlan Bradford was a close friend of Don Lowe, who became the director of Colby-Sawyer’s theater, located inside the Sawyer Center, home of the College’s Fine Arts and Theater Department. This friendship as well as the vaudeville connection in the area surrounding the College made the Colby-Sawyer Cleveland Colby Colgate Archives an appropriate home for the collection. Bradford stated that “I am very happy to know where my thea. collection will terminate. Time marches, I will be 77, next mo., and while my memories cannot be handed on, the tangible evidence for reference, and nostalgia, I hope will be of some value”.
Works Cited
1.Irving, Gordon. Great Scot:The Life Story of Sir Harry Lauder, Legendary Laird of the Music Hall. Leslie Frewin Publishers Limited. London, England. 1968.11. Bradford, Harlan. Comedian- Lauder, Harry . Harlan Bradford Collection. Cleveland Colby Colgate Archives, New London NH. 2015
2. Carpenter, Eric. Publicity still of Judy Garland from MGM used in conjunction with promotion of The Harvey Girls, 1945. Photograph. Wikipedia. Bradford, Harlan. Singer- Garland, Judy. Harlan Bradford Collection. Cleveland Colby Colgate Archives, New London NH. 2015
3. Studio publicity photo of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. 1950. Photograph. Wikipedia. Bradford, Harlan. Comedian- Martin, Dean and Lewis, Jerry Harlan Bradford Collection. Cleveland Colby Colgate Archives, New London NH. 2015
4. Helen Kane. n.d. Photograph. Flickr Bradford, Harlan. Singer- Kane, Helen. Harlan Bradford Collection. Cleveland Colby Colgate Archives, New London NH. 2015
Harlan Bradford Vaudeville Collection 
