Fine Arts Library to Acquire Collections of Dr. Oscar G. Brockett and Dr. Francis R. Hodge
The papers, photographs and publications of Dr. Oscar G. Brockett and Dr. Francis R. Hodge are finding a permanent home at The University of Texas at Austin Fine Arts Library. The materials will be available to students, faculty and the public beginning in the fall of 2011. “I am thrilled at the thought of being able to store, organize, and protect this material in the Fine Arts Library for theatre researchers everywhere,” explains Beth Kerr, Theatre and Dance Librarian. “The importance of both men’s careers in theatre education and history is undeniable. And since they both spent so much of their careers at UT, it seems only right that their archives should stay here.”
Dr. Francis Hodge was a Professor Emeritus in The University of Texas at Austin Department of Theatre and Dance and served as professor of directing from 1949–79. Among his many scholarly contributions, Hodge supervised more than 100 master’s thesis productions and contributed in an editorial capacity to the Educational Theatre Journal and the Journal of Speech. He is the founder of the American Society for Theatre Research, an organization for theatre scholars that promotes theatre as a field of serious scholarly study and research. Hodge was also a member of the College of Fellows of the American Theatre Association. His published works include: Play Directing: Analysis, Communication and Style, Innovations in Stage and Theatre Design, and Yankee Theatre: The Image of America on the Stage, 1825–1850, the latter for which he received the Golden Anniversary Book Award from the National Communication Association. In 1984, the Francis Hodge Endowed Scholarship in Drama was created in his honor to support outstanding directing majors.
What Starts Here Changes the World The leadership, scholarship and passion of Dr. Oscar Brockett and Dr. Francis Hodge have left an indelible imprint on the identity of the Department of Theatre and Dance. In the coming months we will create a Founder’s Wall to be housed in the F. Loren Winship Drama Building, which will honor those who have helped build and shape the department and its mission.
Dr. Francis R. Hodge, teaching class 1963.
ENCORE Spring 2011
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