On the 20 July 2018 Mr Bruce Brown delivered a set of records containing the complete minute books of the Victoria Theatre Company Limited and plans to Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle.
Mr Brown had been the accountant charged with winding up the operations of the Victoria Theatre. The records had been sitting in his residence for the past thirty years, and in his words, he could never be brought to have them destroyed.
Following a reference in an academic paper written in 1988 by the late Dr Lionel Fredman, naming Mr Brown as the custodian of the records, it was thanks to the Newcastle community network that tracked him down, during the hive of activity and excitement that was generated during the creation of the Victoria Theatre 3D Reconstruction Project. These records helped shape the final 3D VR model that was launched on 13 November 2018.
A selection of the more important records have now been digitised to PDF format, thanks to Jessica Waugh, one of our student volunteers in the UON’s GLAMx Lab.
Digitised:
B17758 Victoria Theatre Company Limited Minute Book 1893 – 1919 (272 MB PDF File)
B17759 Victoria Theatre Company Limited Minute Book 1919 – 1976 (327.7 MB PDF File)
B17760 Victoria Theatre Company Limited Minute Book 1976 -1982 (37.7 MB PDF File)
B17754 Register of Mortgages & Charges (2.3 MB PDF File)
B17755 Register of Directors (3.4 MB PDF File)
B17756 Director’s Attendance Book (43.6MB PDF File)
Victoria Theatre Plans (Digitised by Zane Metcalfe)
Click on the images below to view the plans in higher detail.
Not digitised:
B17745 Cash Book – 1917 – 1926
B17746 Cash Book – 1926 – 1939
B17747 Cash Book – 1939 – 1953
B17748 Cash Book – 1953 – 1971
B17749 Account Ledger
B17750 Account Ledger
B17751 Share Ledger
B17752 Share Register
B17753 Share Certificate Book
Gionni Di Gravio
14 December 2018
I recall that Lionel, a history lecturer at UoN had an interest in local theatres and I recall a magazine I think he produced, it may have been a single issue only about local theatres. The Victoria may have have been featured in it.