The Yale University Library operates a Drama Library of over thirty thousand volumes primarily for the use of the students in the School of Drama. The library, which is situated in the University Theater on York Street, houses one of the largest working collections of books and periodicals on drama and theater in existence. It includes plays by American, British, and foreign playwrights, books on the history of theater, theater architecture, dramatic criticism, stage and costume design, stage lighting, production, biographies, and reference books.
Periodicals range from scholarly theater journals to weekly trade papers.
Books on the performing arts other than theater, such as motion pictures, radio, television, dance, and opera are also represented in the collection. Included in the collection are Professor George Pierce Baker's gift to the School of his personal library, the Abel Cary Thomas, B.A. 1905, bequest of about one thousand bound plays, and some books from the personal library of Donald Oenslager.