Patrons enjoy the resources of SF PALM.

The San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum is growing so rapidly, it has changed homes four times since it opened to the public in 1975. Originally called “The Archives for the Performing Arts,” the library was founded by the late Russell Hartley, a San Francisco Ballet dancer and designer. It began with Hartley’s collection of dance memorabilia from all over the world, including a vast number of photos and clippings on the San Francisco Ballet and the history of dance in California. It gradually expanded to include all aspects of theater and live performing arts—mime and puppetry, circus arts, classical music, opera, musical theater cabaret and some jazz.

“SF PALM,” as locals know it, moved into its current quarters—a 6,000-square-foot, five-room space—on the fourth floor of the San Francisco Veterans Building in 1999. Though it now has room for a sizable collection of books, magazines, photos, playbills, videos, CDs, LPs, tapes, etc., SF PALM is hard pressed to keep its online catalogue current with the influx of recent additions. “For this reason, we advise people to phone us if they can’t find what they want on our website catalogue,” advises Kirsten Tanaka, the head librarian.

Tanaka, who has been with SF PALM since 1991, recently took me on a tour of its facilities, which now houses over two million items in the library’s reference, circulating and special collections. As a musical theater educator, I was particularly impressed with the library’s newest acquisition: Joe Marchi’s entire musical theater collection, donated by The Center For The American Musical. It consists off 3,000 LPs, 1,000 pieces of sheet music (including a rare Irving Berlin collection), 600 books and hundreds of videos, CDs and taped radio interviews. I was also delighted to learn that SF PALM keeps videos of all local theater and dance productions. (San Francisco was the second city—after New York—to be granted permission to videotape Actors Equity productions.)

Also fascinating was a collection of postcards depicting architecture and interior design of theater buildings, many of which were constructed before the city’s devastating 1906 earthquake. The sizable collection of personal papers and scrapbooks of local performers, conductors, designers and choreographers from 1850 to the present is also impressive, not to mention a priceless resource for biographers and historians. In fact, the library is noted for its extensive archives tracing the history of the performing arts in San Francisco, dating back to the Gold Rush.

Inside the San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum

The library’s gallery presents exceptional exhibits. On display last spring was “The Art Of Making Art: A Celebration Of Stephen Sondheim.” It featured documents that showed Sondheim’s creation of a song from his first thoughts to the final version. Thus, instead of simply viewing the artist’s work, visitors had the rare privilege of seeing a display of the artist’s mind at work. Other past exhibits include “Princely Designs”, which displayed costume designer Judy Dolan’s work for musicals directed by Hal Prince; “S’Wonderful: A Celebration of George Gershwin” and “Sarah Bernhardt: Artist & Icon.” The current exhibit, “Experimental Theatre Of The 1970s” is presented in conjunction with The Bay Area Playwrights Festival and features photographs by Theodore Shank, a University of California theater professor.

SF PALM also offers lectures, mini-courses and conversations with legendary performers. Broadway babies Patti LuPone, Carol Channing, Barbara Cook and Betty Buckley have been part of this series, as have opera singers Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade and Joan Sutherland. Celebrated dancers Natalia Makarova and Judith Jamison and famed violinist Yehudi Menuhin have also appeared.

In an effort to make students and teachers aware of its rich resources, SF PALM offers teacher workshops, in-school education programs and tours of its facilities. For instance, fourth and fifth graders, who are required to study California’s history, learn about the history of the performing arts in their state by taking such a tour. The tour is also given to American Conservatory Theatre’s new MFA students as part of their orientation.

The library, which is open to the public and free of charge, has facilities for viewing videos and listening to CDs, tapes and LPs. It has a circulating collection of 1,500 books, which can be borrowed by paying a $15 yearly fee. (PALM members, who pay $40 a year for membership, may borrow the books without charge.) However, the library’s extensive resources are not limited to fortunate Bay Area residents. According to reference librarian Lee Cox, SF PALM receives over 4,500 inquiries a year via phone, fax, e-mail and snail-mail throughout the U.S. and abroad. “Our website is now receiving 60,000 hits a month, including dozens from Estonia, Iceland and Hong Kong,” says Cox.

Executive director David R. Humphrey is delighted that SF PALM is rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the finest and most extensive performing arts resources in the United States. He hopes the Internet and improved technology will offer even greater worldwide access to them. “Eventually, we hope that via cybercasting, people all over the world will have access to all of our resources, even our live interviews with legendary artists.”

SF PALM’s library is open 11-5 Thursday to Saturday and 11-7 Wednesday. The Gallery is open 11-5 Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and 11 to 7 Wednesday. For more information, call PALM at 415-255-4800; e-mail: info@sfpalm.org web: www.sfpalm.org.