Ariel S. Ballif, Jr. papers

Ariel S. Ballif, Jr. papers, 1930s-1992

Overview of the Collection

Creator: Ballif, Ariel S., 1926-1994
Title: Ariel S. Ballif, Jr. papers
Dates: 1930s-1992 (inclusive)
19301992
Quantity: 215 linear feet
Collection Number: ACCN 2127
Summary: The Ariel S. Ballif, Jr. papers (1930s-1992) consists of original costume and set designs, production scripts, architectural designs, and personal and teaching materials. Ballif was a prominent stage designer and co-founder of Theater 138, Salt Lake City's first "alternative" theater. He was born in Rexburg, Idaho, raised in Utah, graduated from Brigham Young University, and received a M.F.A. from Yale University. He was with the theater faculty at the University of Utah and designed major productions for the Pioneer Theater Company, Ballet West, Utah Opera, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, and others.
Repository: University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions: Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
Languages: English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

Ariel Smith Ballif, Jr. (1926-1994), a prominent stage designer and co-founder of Theater 138, Salt Lake City's first "alternative" theater, was born in Rexburg, Idaho, the son of Ariel S. and Artamesia Romney Ballif. He was raised in Utah, graduated from Brigham Young University, and later received a master's of fine arts degree from Yale University. During the 1950s through 1970s, Ballif directed and co-produced productions for little theaters in Richmond, Virginia; taught design at the Yale School of Drama; and worked in the Yale Resident Theater. Later in life, he served with the theater faculty at the University of Utah and designed major productions for Pioneer Theater Company, Ballet West, Utah Opera, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, and others.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The Ariel S. Ballif, Jr. papers (1930s-1992) consist of original costume and set designs, production scripts, architectural designs, and personal and teaching materials of Ballif's. Most of the materials are arranged by size and listed by theatrical production for which they were designed. There are four different sizes of oversize materials, thus there are instances where a production is listed with several different boxes. Some work by designers other than Ballif can be found throughout the collection.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Preferred Citation

Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Box 98 and painter's sketch donated by Pioneer Memorial Theater via George Maxwell in 2012.

Separated Materials

Photographs were transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections (P1154).

Processing Note

Processed by Lisa DeMille in 2005.

Addendum processed by Betsey Welland in 2012.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Personal and Family MaterialsReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
1	1-3	Correspondence	1944-1992
1	4	Ariel Smith Ballif Sr., Speech	1975
1	5	Arta Romney Ballif, Poetry and Art List
1	6	Maralyn Ballif, Artwork	1947
1	7	Biographical Sketches
1	8	Calendars	1971; 1983
1	9	Genealogy
1	10	Miscellaneous

School and Teaching MaterialsReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
2	1	Artwork by Ballif
2	2	Class Lists	1965-1967
2	3	Drama Class Correspondence, examinations, and an outline.	1970
2	4	Graphic Representation, Notes and Illustrations	1944
2	5	Light Labs	1950-1951
2	6	Making Murals, Notebook
2	7-9	Notebooks	1946; 1950
3	1	Val Deane Rice, Art History and Appreciation Journal
3	2	Student Writings	circa 1950s
3	3	Television Class, Notes and Assignments	1950
3	4	Theater Classes, Notes and Assignments	1960s-1980s
3	5-6	Yale University Correspondence, newsletters, notes, questionnaires, and other papers.	1949-1991
3	7	Miscellaneous

Subject FilesReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
4	1	American Community Theater Association (ACTA), Newsletters and Announcements	1971
4	2	Architecture History and Elements, Notes and Pictures
4	3	Babcock Gallery, Wall Sketches
4	4	Ballet West, Hanger Logs	1990
4	5	Biographies These are biographies of designers.
4	6	Tom Carlin, Personal Materials	1945-1962
4	7	Cast and Contact Lists
4	8	Center Stage Theater, Inc., Articles of Incorporation	1987
4	9	Robert Stewart Falconer, Personal Materials	1937-1946
4	10	Financial Materials	1950s-1980s
4	11	Furniture History, Sketches and Descriptions
4	12	Zola Rae Law, Artwork
5	1-4	News Articles	1920s-1980s
5	5	Pioneer Memorial Theater Memoranda, notes, expenses, and announcements.	1962-1967
5	6	"Plate Tectonics and Joseph Smith's Vision"	1974
5	7	Poetry, Quips, and Quotes
5	8	Postcards
5	9	Production Lists
5	10-13	Programs For theater and miscellaneous productions and events.	1930s-1980s
6	1	Prop and Stage Specifications
6	2	Recipes
6	3	Sheet Music	1966-1971
6	4	Silver King Theater Correspondence, notes, expenses, drawings, and other papers concerning the remodeling of this building.	1964-1965
6	5-7	Theater 138 Notes, programs, and sketches.	1960s-1980s
6	8	Utah Theater Association, Constitution
6	9	Miscellaneous

Scripts and Production NotesReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
7	1	After the Fall
7	2	All Faces West	1962
7	3	Anne of the Thousand Days	1948
7	4	As Is
7	5	The Ascent of Oscar Cable
7	6	Bad Dreams and Be Bop	1984-1985
7	7	The Bride Wore Red Pyjamas
7	8	Christmas without Mr. C.	1985
7	9	Cole
7	10	The Colorado Plateau	1984
7	11	The Crucible	1961
7	12	Doin's at the Ruins
7	13	Dracula	1968
7	14	Europa
8	1	55 Minutes
8	2	The Geranium Is a Hardy Flower	1966
8	3	The Gypsy Baron
8	4	High Tea
8	5-8	Irene Gilmore, Lady Editor
8	9	It's Only the Beginning
8	10	The Jeweled Cross
8	11	Johnson's Boardin' House
8	12	The Lady's Not for Burning	1972
8	13	Light
9	1	Nevertheless
9	2	The Nutcracker	1990-1991
9	3	On the Park Bench
9	4-5	Papa and the Playhouse	1962
9	6	Prometheus
9	7	Promised Valley	1958-1967
9	8	The Red Plush Parlor
9	9	To Rise One Day
9	10	The Silverk Key
9	11	Stage Door
9	12	The Star Spangled Girl
9	13	This Is the Place
9	14	The Three Muskateers	1989
9	15	Uncle Vanya	1992
9	16	When the Sun Rises
10		Untitled Scripts

Fashion and Costume HistoryReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description
Box	Folder
11	1	German and French Costume Prints
11	2	Oriental Costume Prints
11	3-9	Twelvth-Twentieth Century Costume Prints
11	10-12	General Costume Prints
12	1-3	General Costume Prints
12	4-8	Eleventh-Twentieth Century Costume Notes
12	9	Miscellaneous
13	1-2	Oversize Fifteenth-Eighteenth Century Costume Prints
13	3-4	Oversize General Costume Prints

Costume DesignsReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description
Box	Folder
14	1-2	Barber of Seville
14	3-6	Berkeley Square
15	1-3	Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
15	4	A Man for All Seasons
15	5	The Marriage of Figaro
15	6	Rigoletto
16	1-5	Romeo and Juliet
16	6-7	Rossum's Universal Robots (R.U.R.)
16	8	Volpone
17	1-7	Costume Designs for Unidentified Productions
17	8	Character and Costume Layout Notes
17	9-10	Character Costume Measurements

Oversize Costume DesignsReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description
Box	Folder
18	1	Ah, Wilderness
18	2	Amahl and the Night Visitors
18	3	The Doctor's Dilema
18	4	Edmund Kean
19		Fenris
	Folder
20	1	High Tor
20	2	Joan of Arc
20	3-4	Noah
20	5	The Nutcracker
20	6	The Pie-eyed Piper
21	1-2	Playboy of the Western World
21	3	Salome
21	4	She Stoops to Conquer
21	5	A Streetcar Named Desire
21	6	Sweeney Todd
21	7	The Tempest
22	1	Beaux Arts Ball
22	2	Candida
22	3	Carnival of Thieves
22	4	Goldilocks
23	1	The Heiress
23	2	The Imaginary Invalid
24	1	Inspector General
24	2	Lute Song
24	3	The Magic Flue
25		The Maid's Tragedy
26		The Maid's Tragedy
	Folder
27	1	Major Barbara
27	2	Menaechmi
27	3	Les Precieuses Ridicules
27	4	Romeo and Juliet
28	1	Salade
28	2	The Taming of the Shrew
28	3	The Tempest
28	4	Thracian Horses
29	1	The Visit
29	2	Women's Festival
30	1	Alice in Wonderland
30	2	Auntie Mame
30	3	The Imaginary Invalid
30	4	The King and I
30	5	The Lady's Not for Burning
30	6	A Midsummer Night's Dream
30	7	Romeo and Juliet
30	8	Tosca
30	9	Costume Designs for Unidentified Productions
31		Unidentified Costume Designs
32		Unidentified Costume Designs

Set DesignsReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description
Box	Folder
33	1	Big River
33	2	Driving Miss Daisy
33	3	Girl from Utah
33	4	The Glass Menagerie
33	5	Macbeth
33	6	Salome
33	7	The Skin of Our Teeth
33	8	Streamers
33	9-13	Set Designs for Unidentified Productions

Oversize Set DesignsReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box	Folder
34	1	Amadeus
34	2	Amahl and the Night Visitors
35	1	Beethoven
35	2	Blind Alley
36	1	Candida
36	2	Candide
36	3	Cyrano de Bergerac
36	4	Design for Living
37	1	A Far Smiling Land
37	2	The Green Bay Tree
37	3	Hippolytus
37	4	Indian Village
37	5	Inherit the Wind
38	1	Lazardus Laughed
38	2	Lute Song
38	3	A Midsummer Night's Dream
38	4	The Nutcracker
39	1	A Pin to See a Peepshow
39	2	Pirates of Penzance
39	3	A Street in Salt Lake
39	4	Tosca
39	5	Trouble in Tahiti
39	6	Uncle Vanya
40	1	Amahl and the Night Visitors
40	2	Anna Christie
40	3	Arsenic and Old Lace
40	4	Ballet on a City Rooftop
40	5	Big River
40	6	La Boheme
40	7	Candide
40	8	Dead End
41	1	The Family Plan
41	2	A Far Smiling Land
41	3	Fenris
41	4	Glass Menagerie
41	5	The Great Catherine
41	6	Hamlet
41	7	High Tor
42	1	The King and I
42	2	Lazardus Laughed
42	3	The Liar
42	4	Like Snow Falling
43	1	Love for Three Oranges
43	2	The Magic Flute
43	3	Major Barbara
43	4	Man of La Mancha
44	1	The Merry Widow
44	2	The Mighty Magician
44	3	No Sex Please, We're British
44	4	Pelleas and Melisande
44	5	Peter Pan
44	6	Pit Stop
44	7	Salome
44	8	The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wife
44	9	Snow White
44	10	Star Spangled Girl
44	11	Time of the Cuckoo
44	12	Two by Two
45	1	Affairs of State
45	2-3	Amadeus
45	4	Amahal and the Night Visitors
45	5	Auntie Mame
45	6	The Barber of Seville
45	7	Beethoven
46	1	Big River
46	2-4	La Boheme
47	1	Candida
47	2	Candide
47	3	A Choice of Wars
47	4	Death of a Salesman
48	1-2	Fenris
48	3	La Fille Naive
48	4-5	Die Fledermaus
49	1	The Imaginary Invalid
49	2	International Set
49	3	The Lady's Not for Burning
49	4	A Man for All Seasons
49	5	The Mighty Magician
49	6	The Nutcracker
50	1	O Pioneers
50	2	Pirates of Penzance
50	3	Prometheus
50	4	Promised Valley
50	5	Ring around the Moon
51	1	Strike a Match
51	2	The Tempest
51	3	Thracian Horses
51	4	A Thurber Carnival
51	5	Time for Elizabeth
52	1-2	Tosca
52	3-4	Toxcatl
52	5	Triumph of Honor
53	1	La Valise
53	2-3	The Visit
54		Oversize Unidentified Set Designs
55		Oversize Unidentified Set Designs
56		Oversize Unidentified Set Designs
57		Oversize Unidentified Set Designs
tube
58		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Ah! Wilderness, All God's Chillun Got Wings (1963), All the King's Men, Amadeus (1984), Amahal and the Night Visitors (1980, 1984), and Anthem (1979).	1963-1984
59		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for As You Like It, The Ascent of Oscar Cable (1964), and Auntie Mame (1962).	1962, 1964
60		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for The Barber of Seville (1966), A Bedroom to Scale (1965), Big River (1990), La Boheme (1978), and Born Yesterday (1958).	1958-1990
61		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for The Cabin, Candida (1965), and Candide (1984).	1965, 1984
62		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Catch Me If You Can (1978), Cavalleria Rusticana (1980), Charley's Aunt (1964), A Choice of Wars, and Cole (1988).	1964-1988
63		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Dance 65, Dangerous Corner, Deadly Game (1989), Death of a Salesman (1963), Desert Song (1976, 1980), Doors (1977), and Driving Miss Daisy (1990-1991).	1963-1991
64		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for The Fantasticks (1965), La Fille Naive, and Die Fledermaus (1980).	1965, 1980
65		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Girl Crazy (1975), Golden Apple (1979), Habeas Corpus, Hamlet (1987), Hansel and Gretel (1990), House of Bernarda Alba (1983), and The Hyphen.	1975-1990
66		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Interface (1978), Java (1980), The Lady's Not for Burning (1969, 1980), Little Mary Sunshine, Lute Song, and Macbeth.	1969-1980
67		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for The Magic Flute (1974), Major Barbara, and A Man for All Seasons (1964, 1983).	1964-1983
68		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Mary, Mary (1965), The Miser (1990), Modern Dance (1967), Mourning Becomes Electra (1976), Murder in the Cathedral, My Fat Friend (1979), and My One and Only (1987).	1965-1990
69		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Naughty Marietta (1978), New Moon (1974), Nothing Doing Cabaret, The Nutcracker (1990-1991), and O Pioneers (1993).	1974-1993
70		Rolled Set Drawings Included are designs for Pagliacci, Peter Pan (1963), Promised Valley, and A Pin to See a Peepshow.	1963
71		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for The Reluctant Debutante (1972), Rhinocerous (1962), Rigoletto (1966, 1981), and Ring around the Moon (1966).	1962-1981
72		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Rise and Fall and Romeo and Juliet (1989).	1989
73		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for The Shoemaker's Prodigious Wife (1965), 6 RMS RIV VU (1974), Skin of Our Teeth, Strangers (1981), and The Subject Was Roses (1967).	1965-1981
74		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for The Tempest (1985), Threepenny Opera (1977), and The Three Muskateers (1989).	1977-1989
75		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Thurber Carnival, Tipple, and Tobacco Road (1977).	1977
76		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Tosca (1978), Toxcatl, Triumph of Honor (1966), and Two by Two (1978).	1966; 1978
77		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for Uncle Vanya (1991), La Valse (1964), and Veronica's Room (1986).	1964-1991
78		Rolled Set Designs Included are designs for The Visit (1963), Wake Up Old Man, A Water Engine (1983), and You Can't Take it With You (1966).	1963-1983
79		Unidentified Rolled Set Designs
80		Rolled Costume Design Prints

Oversize Architecture DesignsReturn to Top

Container(s)	Description	Dates
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81	Rolled Architecture Designs Included are designs for the LDS administration building, garage roof and plaza slab, Utah (1962); the LDS Colton 2nd Ward, California (1966); Gull, Inc. office building, Utah (1972); Park City Center for the Arts, Utah; and Silver King Restaurant, Utah (1964).	1962-1972
82	Rolled Architecture Designs Included are designs for Valley Music Hall, Utah (1964); George Q. Morris building remodel (1955); Capitol Theater ground plan, Utah; ZCMI mall shopping layout, Utah; and Ballif's, Utah.	1955; 1964
83	Rolled Architecture Designs Included are designs for the Salt Lake Memorial Theater main floor (1959); Royce Hall, California; Western State College Little Theater; Professional Repertory Theater; and the University of Utah Babcock Theater floor, Utah (1982).	1959; 1982
84	Rolled Architecture Designs Included are designs for the Temple Square Christmas production; Yale Cabaret; telephone answering business building; Judge Memorial High School auditorium addition, Utah (1965); Brandeis Forum Theater; and the Boston Arts Festival (1963).	1963; 1965
85	Rolled Architecture Designs, Theater 138
86	Rolled Architecture Designs, Theater 138
87	Rolled Architecture Designs Residential plans for Ballif and others.
88	Rolled Architecture Designs Included are designs for Park City, Utah, buildings and miscellaneous designs.
89	Miscellaneous Rolled Items

General Oversize MaterialsReturn to Top

Container(s)		Description	Dates
Box
90		Oversize Babcock Theater Scrapbook This scrapbook contains posters/broadsides for various productions performed at Babcock Theater.	circa 1960s-1980s
91		Oversize Orfeo Framed Item	1960
92		Oversize Artwork
93		Oversize Artwork
94		Oversize Artwork
95		Oversize Artwork
96		Oversize Artwork This box also contains very large set designs for Uncle Vanya (1992) and an unidentified production, possibly The Visit.
	Folder
97	1	Theater 138, Broadsides	1980s
97	2	Theater Broadsides and Program	circa 1970s
97	3	Miscellaneous
98		Set Design Model for The Tempest	1985
mapcase-folder
1		Painter's Sketch for Charley's Aunt	1964

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

Set designers--Utah
Theater--Utah--History--Sources
Theaters--Utah--Stage-setting and scenery

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