Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1968 - 2009 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
10.7 m (824 files of textual records) and other records:
- 66 photographs : b&w and colour ; 20 x 25 cm or smaller and 19 photo slides
- 42 posters
- 4 videocassettes
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
John Murrell was one of Canada’s most successful and respected playwrights. His plays Waiting for the Parade, Farther West and The Faraway Nearby all won the Chalmers Award for best Canadian play of the year. He was an accomplished librettist for operas and earned an international reputation for translating plays into English. He also served as associate director of the Stratford Festival, head of the Banff Playwrights Colony, head of the theatre section of the Canada Council for the Arts and artistic director of theatre arts at the Banff Centre for the Arts. He was a Member of the Alberta Order of Excellence and an Officer of the Order of Canada. He received the Canada Council’s Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
Archival history
Acquired in 1985, 1995 and 2006. Accession 580/95.18 donated by J. Murrell through the University of Calgary Foundation.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Fonds consists of correspondence; manuscripts, ranging from rough drafts and fragments to production scripts, of stage, radio and television plays, screenplays and operas (Filumena and Frobisher); English translations by J. Murrell of plays by Henrik Ibsen, Victorien Sardou and others; promotional, production and review material; works about J. Murrell; works by others; miscellaneous; published work; and moving image of Waiting for the parade.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Some items restricted.
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Text in English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents of the fonds.
Note
Further accruals expected.
Alternative identifier(s)
ckey
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
Script(s)
Sources
Archivist's note
Completed May 2025 (KK).
Spreadsheet complete, photographic and video contents verified.