DEBORAH SIMMONS MEADER:

Deborah Meader was born in Chicago in 1895. She lived in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when she was young. Upon graduating from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, Meader married Amos Kingsley Meader in 1919. The family settled in Saint Paul in 1927. With the onset of the Great Depression and the prolonged illness of Amos, Meader took to making puppets and producing plays for wealthy families as a means of financial survival. Following her stint with the WPA, the Meader family left Minnesota in 1942.

Deborah Simmons Meader was a driving force in the educational use of puppets throughout Minnesota and the Midwest during the 1930s and 1940s. The technical innovations Meader introduced in the early 1930s, such as the "semi-transparent back drop" and the "miniature puppet theatre," helped make puppetry a more accessible art form. Through the programs of the New Deal, Meader taught courses on puppetry and staged shows for the Work Projects Administration. Meader's belief in the egalitarian nature of puppetry meant that a wider variety of people could be afforded an important educating and entertaining experience.

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Meader's papers relate her adoption of puppetry as a means of supporting her family during a period of financial hardship, her championing of puppetry as an educational tool, her employment by the Minnesota WPA, and her writings and presentations about her puppetry work. Papers include correspondence, articles and speeches, academic lecture notes, puppet and performance design notes, play scripts, and related materials.

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These documents are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Deborah Meader Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples

Accession Information:

Accession number: 16,065

Processing Information:

Processed by: Kit Smemo, July 2005

Digitized by: Minnesota Historical Society, June 2021.

Digitization was made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008.

Catalog ID number: 990037014380104294

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The General Files consist of puppet designs, articles, speeches, and correspondence from the late 1920s through the early 1980s, though little postdates her Minnesota years. The patents for the puppet theater demonstrate the inventiveness Meader brought to bear in terms of the technical aspects of puppetry (1931). Meader used these developments to launch her own Meader Puppet Company which specialized in selling miniature puppet theaters. These theatres were advertised regularly in Child Life Magazine, a publication to which Meader also contributed articles (1935-1937). Meader felt that puppets could be of considerable educational value; her essay "Puppets Solve Patty's Problem" is meant to demonstrate how puppetry can help children overcome hardship (1935). Throughout the rest of her career Meader spoke and wrote extensively on this topic.

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Box

146.I.7.14F

1

Elizabeth M. Colburn, "The Power of Puppetry: The Career of Deborah Simmons Meader, 1927-1942," after 1998. 33 pp. ; typescript.

Digital version

Puppet Theatre patent information, 1931.

Includes patents for a "semi-transparent back drop" and a "miniature theatre" as well as detailed schematics and the research of St. Paul lawyer Thomas H. Simmons.

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Design for puppet stage, approximately 1930s.

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Ads in Child Life Magazine, undated, 1935-1937.

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Puppet construction articles by Deborah Meader, June 1936-December 1936.

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Deborah Meader, "Puppets Solve Patty's Problem" (essay), approximately 1935.

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Notes on puppet construction, 1930s.

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Correspondence, 1931-1942.

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News clippings, undated, 1929-approximately 1942.

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Articles, undated, 1935-1936.

Digital version

Speech notes, undated, 1949-1982.

Digital version

Miscellaneous documents, 1939-approximately 1980.

Digital version

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The University of Minnesota Files contain information on Meader's time (1935-1940) as a student and lecturer at the university. They include transcripts and registration for courses that Meader took, as well as notes from her own lectures. Meader's time at the university reflects her own academic interest in the history and development of puppets, principally Chinese shadow puppets.

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Box

146.I.7.14F

1

Lectures for University of Minnesota courses, 193-.

Digital version

Syllabi for course material from University of Minnesota, 1939.

Digital version

Transcripts and university documents from University of Minnesota, 1935-1940.

Digital version

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The WPA Files cover Meader's work in the Work Projects Administration, 1935-1941. Meader's role was in training teachers how to most effectively employ puppets in their curricula. For six years Meader traveled the Upper Midwest producing plays that taught children about topics such as hygiene and cooperation. While many criticized the WPA's funding of puppetry as frivolous, Meader responded with numerous editorials and articles championing the puppetry's worth.

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Box

146.I.7.14F

1

Work Projects Administration training materials, approximately 1930s.

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United States Work Projects Administration (Minnesota) Summary Report, 1936.

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"Manual on Certification," 1938.

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Work Projects Administration articles, undated, 1935-1940. 2 folders.

Undated, 1939

1935-1940

Miscellaneous Work Projects Administration material, approximately 1930s.

Digital version

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Comprising scripts from various puppet plays and the accompanying puppetry materials, this section begins with 156 scripts reflecting a wide variety of entertainments and educational plays. The scripts span more than thirty years, from the early 1930s through the early 1960s. Titles such as A Christmas Carol and The Frog Prince were typical Meader productions. Meader also worked with churches to produce religiously themed stories like Jonah and the Whale and The Prodigal Son. The final section contains materials used in the productions themselves such as back drops, shadow play cutouts, and designs for sets. Of particular note is an entire mock-up for a production of The Frog Prince (approximately 1930s).

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Box

146.I.7.14F

1

Scripts for puppet plays, approximately 1930-1962. 7 folders.

Includes scripts for 156 plays produced from the early 1930s through the mid 1960s; titles include The Frog Prince, Playing Hooky, and Winnie the Pooh.

A-C

D-F

G-H

I-L

M-P

Q-S

T-Z

Backgrounds for puppet plays, approximately 1920s.

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Puppet theater model, approximately 1930.

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Puppet designs, undated.

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Shadow puppet cut-outs, undated.

Digital version

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Hand puppets.

Puppet making -- Minnesota.

Puppet plays.

Puppet theater in Christian education -- Minnesota -- Saint Paul.

Puppet theater in education -- Minnesota.

Puppet theaters -- Design and construction.

Puppets -- Therapeutic work.

Persons:

Colburn, Elizabeth M, author.

Organizations:

Unity Church (Saint Paul, Minn.).

Works Projects Administration. Minnesota Division of Women's and Professional Services.

Document Types:

Scripts (documents).

Design drawings.

Occupations:

Puppeteers.

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