Abstract
Don Wilmeth, who specialised in American theatre, drama, and popular entertainment, was a man with a mission. He was educated at the University of Illinois by two of the founding fathers of American theatre history, Richard Moody and Barnard Hewitt. Throughout his career, Wilmeth excelled at compiling bibliographies, checklists, documentary records, glossaries, exhibitions, encyclopedias, guides, theatre histories and anthologies of drama. Editing was Don’s scholarly identity. He established himself as the most accomplished editor of his generation.
In his early career, he published a series of bibliographies within a five-year period: (1) The American Stage to World War I: A Guide to Information Sources (Gale Research, 1978); (2) American and English Popular Entertainment: A Guide to Information Sources (Gale Research, 1980); (3) The Language of American Popular Entertainment: A Glossary of Argot, Slang, and Terminology (Greenwood Press, 1981) and (4) Variety Entertainment and Outdoor Amusements: A Reference Guide (Greenwood Press, 1982).
In 1980, Wilmeth made a temporary break from editing when he published George Frederick Cooke: Machiavel of the Stage (Greenwood Press). Yet, editing remained his primary mission. In the same year that he published the actor’s biography, he and Rosemary Cullen co-edited three plays by Augustin Daly, the American playwright, manager and director (Cambridge University Press). This was the first of Don’s many editing partnerships. In 1983, he and Cullen again worked together when they collected three plays by the American actor and playwright William Hooker Gillette (Cambridge University Press). Then in 1988, he co-edited with Edwin Martin Mud Show: American Tent Circus Life (University of New Mexico Press). A decade later, he edited an anthology of nine American plays: Staging the Nation: Plays from American Theater, 1787–1909 (Bedford Books). This collection called forth a guiding spirit – a ghostly co-editor – because it features many of the plays that Richard Moody had selected thirty-two years previously for Dramas from the American Theatre, 1762–1909 (World Publishing, 1966). Wilmeth thus sanctioned a canon of early American drama that Moody had first proclaimed.
Perhaps most notably in the 1980s and 1990s, Wilmeth edited a book series entitled Cambridge Studies in American Theatre and Drama. Close to three dozen books by various scholars were featured in the series. In 2005, he launched a second book series, ‘Palgrave Studies in Theatre and Performance History’. Besides this commitment to publishing the works of theatre scholars, Don also wrote book reviews that appeared not only in the familiar theatre journals such as Theatre Survey, Theatre Journal, Theatre History Studies, New Theatre Quarterly and Theatre Research International, but also in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Journal of American History, Victorian Studies, North Carolina Historical Review and USA Today. He also wrote over 300 theatre reviews for Choice, the journal that delivers brief assessments of books for purchase by libraries. In turn, for three decades, Wilmeth served as a judge for the annual George Freedley Memorial Award that was offered by the Theatre Library Association. The personal library that he accumulated, which spread throughout his home, provided the basis for updated bibliographies that he continued to publish in several issues of Theatre History Studies (e.g. recent books on popular entertainment; sources on actors and the history of acting in the West since 1950).
Wilmeth’s editing career reached its high point with two major books. In 1993, he and Tice L. Miller published The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. Close to 100 scholars contributed entries. Three years later, a paperback edition appeared. Then in 2007 Wilmeth published a second edition, which contains a ‘Bibliography of Select Books since 1995 on the American Theatre’.
Don’s other outstanding achievement was the Cambridge History of American Theatre, co-edited with Christopher Bigsby. It appeared in three volumes (1998, 1999, 2000), each volume integrating an introduction by Wilmeth and Bigsby with a timeline by Wilmeth and Jonathan Curley. Volume One, which covers the origins of American theatre to 1870, provides an overview essay by Bruce McConachie, followed by eight topical essays by specialist scholars on plays, playhouses, actors, design and popular entertainment. Volume Two, 1870–1945, offers an overview essay by Tom Postlewait, and ten topical essays. Volume Three presents an overview essay by Arnold Aronson and ten topical essays. The paperback edition appeared in 2006.
In 2013, Wilmeth took on a special task when he and Milly Barrenger edited Helen Krich Chinoy’s The Group Theatre. After Chinoy’s death, they spent two years revising her unfinished manuscript and notes. They also carried out additional research in order to complete and publish the study (Palgrave Macmillan). This was one of many cases of Don’s generous service to individuals and to organisations as well. We celebrate these accomplishments, and his leadership, especially in the Theatre Library Association and the American Society for Theatre Research.