Guides: Archives & Special Collections Exhibits: August Wilson and Place: How does Place allow further exploration of August Wilson & his work? (Spring 2023-Present)

August Wilson and Place: How does Place allow further exploration of August Wilson & his work?

Introduction
Related Guides & Collection Materials

Date of Exhibition: Spring 2023 – Present

Curator: Dr. Jessica FitzPatrick (Professor in English & Director of Digital Narrative Interactive Design)

Location: Digital Interactive Wall, Archives & Special Collections exhibit gallery, 3rd floor Hillman Library, University of Pittsburgh 3960 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15260

Description: This is a work of cultural and spatial studies; visit the living map at https://arcg.is/0STDvH. View this exhibit in the mindset of Dr. Kimberly C. Ellis: "Our places are important to us because they are what we have, at any given time, as human beings grappling with meaning for ourselves, our lives, and each other. We build community with our wants, our needs, and our imaginations." (August Wilson: Pittsburgh Places in His Life and Plays, eds. Laurence A. Glasco and Christopher Rawson, xiii).

August Wilson Archive
Webpage for the University of Pittsburgh Library System’s August Wilson Archive.
Guide to the August Wilson Archive, SC.2020.05
August Wilson (1945-2005) was a Pittsburgh-born playwright best known for his cycle of ten plays referred to as the American Century Cycle that depict the lives and experiences of African Americans throughout the twentieth century. The August Wilson Archive contains the documentation relating to his writing career including drafts of each of his published and unpublished plays along with correspondence and other writings. Also included are notebooks, artwork, documentation on several hundred productions of his plays, audio-visual recordings, awards, photographs, and more.
Charles Richardson Photographs, 1952-1954, AIS.2013.10
Visual images by Charles Richardson which depict life in Pittsburgh, including Downtown, steel mills, and neighborhoods between 1952-1954.
William J. Gaughan collection, 1887-1988 (bulk 1940-1980), AIS.1994.03
The William J. Gaughan online collection contains images of the Homestead Steel Works from 1886 through 1970 showing plant and community activity, machinery, workers, strikes, safety and accident concerns, and social activities. Employees are depicted on the job and participating in their family and community life. These images also contain images of World War II production, morale campaigns in the mill, and female employees during the war.
Pittsburgh City Photographer Collection, 1901-2002, AIS.1971.12
This collection serves as a visual documentation of the construction of streets, bridges, parks, and recreational facilities in the city of Pittsburgh as taken by members of the Department of Public Works (City Photographer). These views include building, transportation, industry, housing, and peripheral details of the history and development of Pittsburgh from the early 1900s to the early part of the twenty-first century. The focus of the City Photographer changed in the early 1970s, becoming part of the Department of Public Safety and taking police photographs in addition to continuing to take photographs for the Mayor's office and other departments. Digital reproductions of the collection are available online.
Rivers of Steel Archives
The Rivers of Steel Archives have served as a repository for thousands of donated and sourced items that tell the story of the Pittsburgh Industrial District’s domination of the steel industry throughout the better part of the 20th century.

University of Pittsburgh Library System

Course & Subject Guides

Archives & Special Collections Exhibits

August Wilson and Place: How does Place allow further exploration of August Wilson & his work?

Exhibit Photographs