Southwestern Writers Collection adds drama archive

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS — Texas theater director Paul Baker and his wife, Kitty, have donated their archives to the Southwestern Writers Collection at Southwest Texas State University.

Paul Baker is best known for establishing the Dallas Theater Center in 1959 and developing it into one of the nation’s leading regional theater centers. Under Baker’s guidance, the center produced a number of award-winning plays, most notably Preston Jones’ A Texas Trilogy, which has since become a classic of American drama.

Paul Baker’s influence on Texas drama has come as a director and educator. He was a professor of drama at Baylor University and Trinity University and is a pioneer in drama education.

He received the Rodgers and Hammerstein Award in 1956 for outstanding contributions to theater in the Southwest.

Kitty Baker is a former math professor and artist, as well as co-founder of the Baylor Children’s Theater in Waco.

The Paul and Kitty Baker Archives contain materials dating from 1942 to 1999, including correspondence, scrapbooks, sound recordings, play scripts, video cassettes, books, clippings and items that document their lifelong involvement with education, drama and theater.

The Baker Archives complement a number of major drama archives housed in the Southwestern Writers Collection, including those of Preston Jones, Robert Flynn, Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Sam Shepard, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas writer Larry L. King, Tony Award-winner William Hauptman, R.G. Vliet and Ramsey Yelvington.

The Southwestern Writers Collection is a major archival repository focusing on the literature, film and music of the Southwest. The collection is located adjacent to the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and Mexican Photography at SWT. The collection is housed on the top floor of the Albert B. Alkek Library. Hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday (until 8 p.m. on Tuesdays), 1-5 p.m. Saturday and 2-6 p.m. Sunday.