Split Britches Archive

Call Number

MSS.251

Date

1978-2000, 2025-ongoing, inclusive

Creator

Split Britches (Theatrical company)

Extent

9.75 Linear Feet

Extent

1 websites

in 1 archived website.

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Abstract

Split Britches is a lesbian theater troupe founded in 1980 by Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw, and Deb Margolin. This collection contains scripts, press materials and clippings, notes, an archived website, and photography spanning the troupe's existence.

Historical Note

Split Britches was formed in 1980 by Deb Margolin, Peggy Shaw, and Lois Weaver. The award-winning troupe has written, produced, and performed multiple plays, some of which were created in collaboration with other groups like Bloolips and Gay Sweatshop. Split Britches performances incorporate riffs on popular culture, examinations of LGBTQ+ culture and relationships, and musical numbers. They work primarily with women, women of color, and queer communities. Members of the group tour across the world, performing and leading educational workshops at schools and universities.

As of this writing, members of the group tour and perform across the world; they also lead educational workshops at schools and universities.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into four series:

Series I: Scripts and Notes
Series II: Promo, Press, and Clippings
Subseries A: Clippings
Subseries B: Press and Promotional Materials
Subseries C: Women's One World Festival Materials
Series III: Miscellaneous Papers, Notes, and Documentation
Series IV: Ephemera and Media

Folders are arranged alphabetically within each series when possible.

Scope and Contents

This collection is comprised of materials created and compiled by the members of the Split Britches in the course of their work as artists, playwrights, and performers. Materials include correspondence, notes, receipts, photographs, floorplans, and ephemera generated both by individual members of the group and by the group as a whole. Items in the collection range from 1978-2000, with the bulk from 1982-1992. The collection also contains their website, first archived in 2025.

Subjects

Organizations

Split Britches (Theatrical company)

Genres

Plays (performed works); Theater programs.; Playbills.; Lesbian erotic literature

People

Weaver, Lois; Margolin, Deb; Shaw, Peggy

Topics

Feminism and art.; Experimental theater -- 20th century; LGBTQ+ activism; Experimental theater -- New York (N.Y.); Playwriting.; Feminism; Lesbians' writings, American.; Queer art

Conditions Governing Access

Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact special.collections@nyu.edu.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date; Split Britches Archive; MSS 251; box number; folder number or item identifier; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.

To cite the archived websites in this collection: Identification of item, date; Split Britches Archive; MSS 251; Wayback URL; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated in 2009. The accession number associated with this gift is 2009.251.

https://www.split-britches.com/ was selected for capture in October 2025 by Nicholas Martin through the use of Archive-It. Archive-It uses web crawling technology to capture websites at a scheduled time and displays only an archived copy, from the resulting WARC file, of the website. The accession number associated with this website is 2025.028.

Audiovisual Access Policies and Procedures

Audiovisual materials have not been preserved and may not be available to researchers. Materials not yet digitized will need to have access copies made before they can be used. To request an access copy, or if you are unsure if an item has been digitized, please contact NYU Special Collections (special.collections@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596) with the collection name, collection number, and a description of the item(s) requested. A staff member will respond to you with further information.

Take Down Policy

Archived websites are made accessible for purposes of education and research. NYU Libraries have given attribution to rights holders when possible; however, due to the nature of archival collections, we are not always able to identify this information.

If you hold the rights to materials in our archived websites that are unattributed, please let us know so that we may maintain accurate information about these materials.

If you are a rights holder and are concerned that you have found material on this website for which you have not granted permission (or is not covered by a copyright exception under US copyright laws), you may request the removal of the material from our site by submitting a notice, with the elements described below, to the special.collections@nyu.edu.

Please include the following in your notice: Identification of the material that you believe to be infringing and information sufficient to permit us to locate the material; your contact information, such as an address, telephone number, and email address; a statement that you are the owner, or authorized to act on behalf of the owner, of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed and that you have a good-faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and made under penalty of perjury; and your physical or electronic signature. Upon receiving a notice that includes the details listed above, we will remove the allegedly infringing material from public view while we assess the issues identified in your notice.

Collection processed by

Rosemary K. J. Davis, 2011.

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-01-23 20:14:06 UTC.

Language: Description is in English.

Processing Information

The collection was minimally processed by an archivist in 2011. During processing, many duplicates were deaccessioned from the collection.

In 2025, the archived website was added to the finding aid in Series IV.

Revisions to this Guide

December 2025: Edited by Nicole Greenhouse for DACS and local standards compliance and addition of archived websites.

Repository

Fales Library and Special Collections

Series I: Scripts and Notes, undated, inclusive

Language of Materials

English

Scope and Contents

Series I consists of script copies (some annotated), technical notes, blocking diagrams, and other notes appended to script pages. Many loose, unattributed script pages are collected into folders.