Posner Curatorial Intern Claire Thurston holds an archival item from the collection.
As the theatre world celebrates acclaimed lighting designer Jules Fisher with the 2026 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries is pleased to announce the acquisition of the Jules Fisher Collection of Edward Gordon Craig, a major research collection documenting the work of one of the most influential and visionary figures in modern theatre.
Fisher, who graduated from the College of Fine Arts in 1960, has been nominated for two dozen Tony Awards — more than any other lighting designer — and won a record nine Tony Awards for Lighting Design. He also built what is largely recognized as one of the most important private collections devoted to Edward Gordon Craig (1872–1966).
An artist, writer, printer, and theorist, Craig transformed conceptions of stage design, lighting, and directing in the 20th century. The son of Victorian actor Ellen Terry and associated early in life with Henry Irving, Craig developed a radically new vision of the theatre as a unified art form. His innovations remain foundational to the history of performance, stagecraft, and design.
Fisher’s gift to Special Collections includes a remarkable body of material assembled over more than six decades, including books, original prints, drawings, manuscripts, correspondence, photographs, ephemera, and rare periodicals by and about Craig. Particularly strong in original art, letters, and complete runs of the journals Craig edited and designed, the collection offers insight into his artistic practice, intellectual networks, and enduring influence on modern stagecraft.
“This gift deepens the research strengths of the Posner Center for Special Collections and creates new opportunities for scholarship and engagement in theatre history, drama, and book arts,” said Curator of Special Collections and Posner Center Director Sam Lemley. “It also places Carnegie Mellon among the major centers for the study of Edward Gordon Craig, alongside the Harry Ransom Center and the Harvard Theatre Collection.”
The acquisition also strengthens Special Collections’ longstanding areas of distinction in the history of the book, graphic arts, and fine printing. In addition to transforming modern theatre design, Craig was an influential book artist and printmaker whose work explored typography, illustration, and graphic design through journals, bookplates, and experimental printed works.
Special Collections, housed in the Posner Center, is Carnegie Mellon’s repository for rare books, manuscripts, and early scientific instruments and calculating machines. Since the 1964 donation of Rachel McMasters Miller Hunt’s non-botanical books, the collection has grown through major gifts including the bequest of Charles J. Rosenbloom, the Posner Memorial Collection, and the Traub-McCorduck collection.
The acquisition of the Jules Fisher Collection of Edward Gordon Craig reflects the Libraries’ growing commitment to preserving the creative and intellectual history of theatrical design through collections connected to influential alumni, faculty, and practitioners whose work has shaped performance culture around the world. It builds upon recent additions to the University Archives documenting the work of costume designer and alumna Ann Roth and longtime School of Drama faculty Barbara and Cletus Anderson, further strengthening Carnegie Mellon’s growing collections in theatrical design and performance history.
The collection will support teaching, exhibitions, and visiting scholarship, and will be made available to researchers at the Posner Center for Special Collections.
by Sarah Bender