Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Samuel Selden papers #4378, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Mrs. Samuel Selden of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in April 1987, and from University Archives (UNC-CH) in April 1983. Addition received from the estate of Tom Rezzuto through Bobbi Owen of Chapel Hill, N.C., and the North Carolina Collection, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in May 2001 (Acc. 98941) and July 2000 (Acc. 98982).

Received from the estate of Tom Rezzuto through Bobbi Owen of Chapel Hill, N.C., and the North Carolina Collection, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Received from Bobbi Owen of Chapel Hill, N.C., through the North Carolina Collection, Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Carolina Playmakers.
• College teachers--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• College theater--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• Dramatists, American--20th century.
• Selden, Samuel, 1899-
• Theater, Open-air--United States.
• Theaters--Stage-setting and scenery.
• Theatrical producers and directors--North Carolina--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill--Faculty--History--20th century.
• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dept. of Dramatic Art.

• University Archives. Academic Affairs: Records of the Department of Dramatic Arts.

On 2 January 1899, Samuel Selden was born in Canton, China, where his parents, Charles Card and Gertrude Thwing Selden, were medical missionaries. In 1917, Selden came to the United States. After his arrival, he served a year in the United States Army Medical Corps, and then attended Yale University where he received the A. B. degree in 1922. For the next five years, Selden worked in professional theater in New York, notably as assistant technical director and stage manager at the Provincetown Playhouse.

In 1927, Selden came to the University of North Carolina as technical director of the Carolina Playmakers and instructor in English. He stayed at the University for thirty-one years. For the last fourteen of those years, from 1944 to 1959, Selden served as chairman of the Department of Dramatic Art and director of the Carolina Playmakers. He left the University of North Carolina to go to the University of California at Los Angeles as chairman of the Department of Theatre Arts. When he left Los Angeles, he went for one year (1966-67) to Southern Illinois University as distinguished visiting professor. He then returned to Chapel Hill and was visiting professor in the Department of Dramatic Art from 1967 to 1971.

In addition to teaching, Selden wrote books on various aspects of theater, and wrote and directed plays. He became an expert on outdoor drama and directed, supervised, and advised numerous productions of outdoor plays. He directed the first seasons of Paul Green's The Lost Colony, from 1937 to 1941 and 1946 to 1952.

Selden married Wautell Gray Lambeth on 19 July 1936. They had two children, Priscilla Lambeth and Samuel Thwing Selden. Mrs. Selden died in May 1948. On 25 October 1951, Selden married Emily Polk Crow.

Samuel Selden died on 27 April 1979 at the age of 80.

This collection best reflects Samuel Selden as author and director. The majority of the material relates to Selden's books, plays, articles, and speeches or to plays he directed. Material related to outdoor drama appears in all parts of the collection. Although there is some material from early in Selden's career, the bulk of the material comes from later years.

In general, Selden's arrangement of items within folders has been retained.

Typed and handwritten drafts, galley proofs, page proofs, photographs, and a few other items related to Selden's books, Essentials of Stage Scenery (with Tom Rezzuto), and to Modern Theatre Practice, and Stage Scenery and Lighting.

Script and sheet music for "Love and Measles: A Musical Comedy" with book and lyrics by Emily Selden and music by Walter Golde. Also included is one letter about the play.

• P-4378/Folders 1-18.