Harry Ransom CenterThe University of Texas at Austin

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Popular Entertainment: Vaudeville, Circus, Pantomime, Magic, Puppetry, and Minstrel Shows

Harry Houdini poster.

Poster depicting Houdini's Giant Milk Can
Escape, ca. 1908. Harry Houdini Collection


In addition to these major holdings, the Book Collection contains the McManus-Young Collection of books about magic. Costume designs for French music-hall dated ca. 1920-1955 can be found in the W. H. Crain Costume and Scenic Design Collection. For an overview of puppetry holdings, see Carolyn Roark, "The Harry Ransom Center: An Archive for Scholars and Artists," Puppetry International 19 (2006): 36-38.

 

The Mike Wallace Interview

Watch broadcast journalist Mike Wallace's interviews from the television program The Mike Wallace Interview. Wallace donated the show's footage on 16mm kinescope to the Ransom Center in the early 1960s. Most episodes have not been seen since they aired.

Watch the interviews