The Mander & Mitchenson theatre collection: enhancing access for research

"The MMTC exists thanks to the extraordinary lifetime’s work of Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson, who met as young actors in a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor at the London Docklands Settlement in the East End in the late 1930’s, and formed a professional and personal partnership that was to last until Raymond’s death in 1983.

Both were already keen collectors of theatre-related material, and the home they shared at 5, Venner Road in Sydenham was filled over the years with the vast collection of theatre ephemera, works of art, books and props which they accumulated together. Friends in the theatre such as Noel Coward, Sir John Gielgud and Dame Sybil Thorndike made generous personal donations, and Raymond and Joe also acquired original paintings of theatrical subjects, theatre costumes belonging to Henry Irving and others, and an outstanding collection of nineteenth century ceramic theatrical figures". (see project web site for more details).