Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use

No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the Roland Holt Papers, #4003, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Constance D'Arcy Mackay, 1936.

Additional Descriptive Resources

A copy of the original finding aid for this collection is filed in folder 1a.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: SHC Staff

Encoded by: Noah Huffman, December 2007

Updated by: Adam Fielding, Kate Stratton, and Jodi Berkowitz, January 2011

This collection was rehoused and a summary created with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

This finding aid was created with support from NC ECHO.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Actors--United States--History--20th century.
• American drama--Women authors.
• College students--Connecticut--History--19th century.
• Dramatists, American--History--20th century.
• Henry Holt and Company.
• Holt, Roland, 1867-1931.
• Koch, Frederick H. (Frederick Henry), 1877-1944.
• Mackay, Constance D'Arcy.
• New York (N.Y.)--Social life and customs.
• Theater critics--New York (State)--New York--History.
• Theater--United States--History.
• Yale University--Students.

Roland Holt (1867-1931) of New York, N.Y., was vice-president of Henry Holt & Company, publishers, 1903-1924, theater critic, and lecturer on drama, and his wife, Constance D'Arcy Mackay (1887?-1966), was an author of plays, pageants, books, and articles for and about non-professional theater.

Roland Holt, son of publisher Henry Holt, Sr. of Henry Holt & Co., began his literary career as an editor of the Yale Courant and dramatic critic at the New Haven Palladium prior to his graduation from Yale in 1890. He began working for Henry Holt & Co. in 1890, and was vice president of the company from 1903-1924. From approximately 1923-1931, he wrote a weekly column, "The Living Stage," for numerous newspapers and periodicals, and he contributed articles on drama and the theater to various magazines including Social Progress, The Forum, and Theatre and Drama. He also lectured on theater-related topics around the country, and was the director of the Century Opera Company and the New York Drama League. In 1923 he married Constance D'Arby Mackay.

Constance D'Arby Mackay, a native of St. Paul, Minn., was an author who had numerous books published by Henry Holt & Co. She wrote plays and pageants, as well as books on amateur theatrics. Additionally, she directed numerous historical pageants throughout the United States, and contributed articles and poems to Woman's Home Companion, McCalls Magazine, Holland's Magazine, and other periodicals. She was the director of the Department of Pageantry and Drama of War Camp Community Service, 1918-1919, and a member of the Society of American Dramatists and Composers, American Pageant Society, Sulgrave Institution, and the P.E.N. Club.

The collection contains correspondence, writings, clippings, photographs, and other materials of Roland Holt (1867-1931) and Constance D'Arcy Mackay. Included are letters, late 1880s, from Roland Holt to his father about Holt's experiences as a student at Yale University; letters, 1910s-1920s, from actors and playwrights reviewed by Holt; published versions of articles by and about Holt; annual diary volumes, 1896-1920, of Holt, concerning social and theatrical activities; correspondence, 1906-1956. Mackay's papers include letters concerning theatrical business matters, including correspondence with Frederick Henry Koch (1877-1944); plays, poems, and articles by Mackay; and articles concerning MacKay's work, along with clippings, scrapbooks, and pictures. The Roland Holt Papers was originally labeled Series A, and the Constance D'Arby Mackay Papers was originally labeled Series B.

• Oversize Papers (OPF-4003/1)