Our Repertory Puppet Collection

The Puppet Co. Playhouse houses two puppetry collections: our Repertory collection and our Archival collection. Our Repertory consists of over 400 rod puppets, marionettes, hand puppets and hybrid puppets made by the Puppets Co. artists since our founding in 1983. Over 100 of these have been added since our re-opening in 2020. You will see these puppets on-stage in our Main Stage performances.

Our Archival Puppet Collection

The Archival Collection is a collection of about 300 puppets, centering on puppets made by artists in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Meticulously curated by founder Allan Stevens, the collection includes puppets and posters from:

• Tony Sarg, considered “America’s Puppet Master” as the father of puppetry in North America (1910’s - 1930’s)

  • Fun Fact: Sarg used puppetry techniques to build floating helium balloons for Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade!

• Margo and Rufus Rose (1930’s - 1960’s)

  • They are best known for Howdy Doody!

  • They had the first live television broadcast of a full-length marionette performance, A Christmas Carol in 1946.

• Bil and Cora Baird, New York City, protégés of Tony Sarg, known for their puppetry in broadways musicals. The Baird’s trained Jim Hensen. (1930’s - 1980’s)

  • Fun Fact: Bil Baird created the puppets in the Sound of Music film!

• Bernard “Bernie” and Edith “Edee” Paul of Paul's Puppets in Baltimore, MD (1930’s - 1970’s)

• David Wisniewski, Caldecott Award winner illustrator/puppeteer, known for founding with wife Donna the Clarion Puppet Theatre, which focused on shadow puppetry (1980s and 1990’s)

The Archival Collection also contains a smaller representation of puppetry from across the country as well as commercially made toy and souvenir puppets. Some of Allan's own puppets from his time at the Smithsonian Puppet Theater are among the most rare and beautiful of the collection.

When you visit the Puppet Co. in person, you are likely to see some of our historical puppets as they rotate through our lobby exhibits and window displays.

Our Puppet Library

When the Puppet Co. Playhouse was designed and built, a library was included which houses puppetry books, show posters, and other resources. There are over 300 books and videos ranging in subject matter from puppet performances through how-to puppet construction books, puppet play scripts and puppetry philosophy. There are also a number of volumes of background materials that we have assembled as we have done research for the productions in our repertory. For instance, there are about twenty books and videos concerning Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll and about ten about The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum. There is a small selection of books about stagecraft and design, and a number of volumes of children’s literature and the history and philosophies behind children’s literature. Finally, we have a file of well over a thousand pieces of paper ephemera reflecting the history of puppetry in the United States from 1930 through the present day. If you are interested in reserving time to study in our library, please reach out!

Make sure you are following us on our social media platforms as we photograph and explore the history and stories of our historical puppets.