FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (6/06)
Contact: Amy Giglio, Director of Research Development, Centenary College, 318-869-5136; or Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120

Vintage Playbill Collection Gives a Glimpse of Shreveport's Cultural Past; Reception June 14 to Celebrate Donations to Centenary, Symphony, Woman's Department Club and LSUS

SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary College, the Woman's Department Club, the Shreveport Symphony and LSUS Archives are due to receive an extensive collection of vintage playbills. They are being donated by the daughter of longtime Shreveport arts patron Mary Goldstein Abramson during a reception at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 14 in the lobby of Hamilton Hall on Centenary's campus. The event is free and open to the public.

A lifelong Shreveport resident, the late Mrs. Abramson (1912-1996) participated in numerous activities in the arts community and is a past president of the Woman's Department Club. Throughout her patronage of Shreveport arts, she meticulously saved and preserved a collection of over 600 playbills from the 1920s-1980s. Both local talent and visiting artists are featured in the collection, which illustrates the cultural history of Shreveport during much of the 20th century.

The collection, which is being donated by Mrs. Abramson's daughter, Adelle Shaw of Houston, Texas, includes The Philadelphia Story with Katharine Hepburn, Van Heflin Joseph Cotton and Nicholas Joy, 1941; Alirio Diaz, classic guitarist, 1965; and Dorothy Hepburn, mezzo-soprano, 1962. Several New York playbills have also been preserved.

Centenary's portion of the collection will be professionally framed and displayed in the Hurley School of Music where students and visitors can appreciate them. The Woman's Department Club and the Shreveport Symphony will also display playbills in their respective facilities, and the remainder of the collection will be placed in the LSUS Archives.

Ms. Shaw hopes the public will enjoy the playbills and consider them a "glimpse of Shreveport's cultural past."Accepting the donation for the Woman's Department Club are Maredia Bowdon and Marjorie Davis; for Centenary College are Gale Odom, dean of the Hurley School of Music, and Amy Giglio, director of research development; for the Shreveport Symphony, Scott Green; and for LSUS Archives, Lauren McLemore.

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