Phyllis T. Dircks is a professor of English at Long Island University in Greenvale, New York. A specialist in contemporary American drama, she lives in Huntington, New York.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

PART I. AMERICAN PUPPETRY TODAY AND YESTERDAY

A Snapshot of Puppeteers of the United States and Canada

A Short View of American Puppetry

PART II. SIGNIFICANT COLLECTIONS

Puppetry and Related Materials in the Harvard Theatre Collection

Asian Puppets at the UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History

The Center for Puppetry Arts Museum Collection

The Bread & Puppet Theater Company Collection

Puppets and "The Iconography of Drama": The Brander

Matthews Collection at Columbia University

The Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry Collection

Paul McPharlin and Puppetry at the Detroit Institute of Arts

The Bil Baird World of Puppets at the Charles H. MacNider Museum

The Puppet Collection of the American Museum of Natural History

The Burr Tillstrom Collection and Archives at the Chicago Historical Society

The Marionette Theatre of Peter Arnott at Harvard University

The Lou Harrison Collection: Music and Puppetry East to West

The Dwiggins Marionettes at the Boston Public Library

The Puppet Collection of the National Museum of American History

PART III. PUPPETRY IN ACTION

"Bringing Together Man and Nature": The Theater of Julie Taymor

Exhibitions and Collections of the Jim Henson Company

Howdy Doody in the Courtroom: A Puppet Custody Case

The Fundamentals of Marionette Care

Puppetry in Cyberspace: Developing Virtual Performance Spaces

Appendix A: Selected Additional Puppetry Collections

Appendix B: Films and Videos on Puppetry at the Donnell Media Center of the New York Public Library

Selected Bibliography

About the Contributors

Index