British Library saves Richard D’Oyly Carte archives for the nation

A slice of theatrical history has been saved for the nation after the British Library bought the archive of the D’Oyly Carte Theatre Company.

The archive, which includes posters, props, musical scores and hundreds of pages of correspondence, tells the story of the company founded in 1878 by Richard D’Oyly Carte to perform the work of Gilbert and Sullivan.

Its success with shows including The Pirates Of Penzance paid for the construction of the Savoy Theatre and later the Savoy Hotel in The Strand which the family ran for many years.

General manager Ian Martin, who started at the company in 1987, said: “The collection has mostly been kept in storage in Kennington for the last 10 years and it’s been growing bit by bit.” He said he saved four cases of archives — from the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies — after they were found when the old Savoy laundry in Clapham Road was being demolished.

The collection could have gone abroad with “serious interest” from America. The sale will help fund a new production of The Mikado.

The library will catalogue the archive and carry out preservation work before opening it to the public in 2017.