A Guide to the John Herbert Papers in the University of Waterloo Library

Virginia Gillham is Associate Librarian in the Public Service Library at
the University of Guelph.

Canadian playwright John Herbert (1926- ), who is perhaps best recognized for his internationally successful play Fortune and Men’s Eyes, has placed his literary papers in the library of the University of Waterloo. Although Mr. Herbert is still an active writer and very much in mid-career, the material included in the collection is a complete record of his writing from the mid-fifties to the mid-eighties, including rough notes, finished plays, and records of production, review, and reception. An extensive personal correspondence with many theatre people in Canada and abroad is also included.

The catalogue of this collection includes manuscripts of plays, short stories, essays, poetry, and juvenilia, listed chronologically within category. Thereafter, personal correspondence is listed alphabetically by the name of the other person involved in the exchange, reviews are grouped according to the work being reviewed, and programmes, photographs, and miscellany are listed by title.

No attempt is made to annotate or interpret. This catalogue is intended only as a finding aid to a collection that offers a major resource for students of contemporary Canadian drama in general, and the work of John Herbert in particular.