Betty Corwin Explained

Betty Corwin
Birth Name:Betty Linkoff
Birth Date:19 November 1920
Birth Place:New York City, U.S.
Death Place:Weston, Connecticut, U.S.
Occupation:Theater archivist
Awards:Tony Award
League of Professional Theater Women, Lifetime Achievement Award

Betty L. Corwin (November 19, 1920 – September 10, 2019) was an American theater archivist, known for her creation in 1970 of what would become the Theater on Film and Tape Archive of the New York Library for the Performing Arts.[1] Corwin proposed the idea of the archive to the library, volunteering her services for the first four years.[2] She would go on to direct the archive for 31 years,[3] [4] retiring from the position in 2000.[5]

Life and career

Corwin was born as Betty Linkoff in New York City to James Linkoff, a bookmaker, and Mae (née Rosenberg) Linkoff, a homemaker, but grew up in Manhattan. While working as a script reader in a theatrical office, she met Henry Corwin, a dermatologist. She married him in 1943 and then moved with him first to Westport and then finally settling in Weston, Connecticut. While living in Weston, she established and managed a bookstore in Westport while volunteering at the psychiatric emergency department of Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.[6]

She died September 10, 2019, in Weston, Connecticut.[6]

Awards

She received a special Tony Award in 2001 for her efforts to archive theater performances.[7] In 2017 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Professional Theater Women.[8] [9]

Notes and References

  1. Book: International Dictionary of Library Histories. 9781136777851. Stam, David H.. 2016. 131.
  2. New York. June 2001.
  3. Book: Lucille Lortel: The Queen of Off Broadway. Greene, Alexis. September 18, 2004. Hal Leonard Corporation. 307. 9780879103026.
  4. Web site: Thanks to Betty Corwin, Broadway's Best Live on in Film. . November 17, 2017. September 18, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20180812055936/http://observer.com/2017/11/betty-corwin-honored-for-creating-lincoln-center-broadway-theater-archive/. August 12, 2018. live.
  5. Book: American Theatre. 17. 2000.
  6. News: Betty Corwin, Who Preserved Theater's Legacy, Dies at 98. The New York Times. September 17, 2019. Collins-Hughes, Laura. September 18, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190918115640/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/17/theater/betty-corwin-dead.html. September 18, 2019. live.
  7. Betty Corwin, Creator of the Theater on Film and Tape Archive, Dies at 98. Clement, Olivia. Peikert, Mark. Playbill. September 17, 2019. September 18, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190918071222/http://www.playbill.com/article/betty-corwin-creator-of-the-theater-on-film-and-tape-archive-dies-at-98. September 18, 2019. live.
  8. Web site: Betty Corwin to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award. October 27, 2017. AMERICAN THEATRE. September 18, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20171231091743/http://www.americantheatre.org/2017/10/27/betty-corwin-to-receive-lifetime-achievement-award/. December 31, 2017. live.
  9. News: Betty Corwin Awarded for Archiving Thousands of Theater Performances on Video. November 15, 2017. HuffPost. September 18, 2019.