Eric Colleary, Photo: Pete Smith

Dr. Eric Colleary is the Cline Curator of Theatre & Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center, an international humanities research library, archive, and museum. He holds a Ph.D. in Theatre Historiography from the University of Minnesota. His research has focused on the relationship between performance, history and sexual identity and the ways that archives construct and perform identities over time. Currently, he is working on a book and exhibit on Harry Houdini and his library.

In his position as Cline Curator of Theatre and Performing Arts at the Harry Ransom Center, Dr. Colleary is responsible for the interpretation and management of the center’s extensive performing arts holdings. He is a lecturer in the Performance as Public Practice Program in the Department of Theatre & Dance at The University of Texas at Austin, and serves on the boards for the American Theatre Archive Project (ATAP), the Society of American Magicians Magic Endowment Fund (S.A.M. MEF), the Theatre Library Association (TLA), and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Literary Studies at the University of Essex. 

Dr. Colleary has organized several major exhibitions and is a frequent speaker on subjects relating to performance history, research methods, and caring for performance archives. His work as a food historian is largely published at The American Table, and his research has been featured in such a diverse range of publications as Popular Science, Smithsonian Magazine, and Vogue.

Prior to his time in Austin, he was a visiting professor in Theatre and Dance at Macalester College in Saint Paul where he taught classes in theatre history, performance theory, sexuality studies and public history/museum studies.

Education

  • PhD, Theatre Historiography – University of Minnnesota, Twin Cities
  • MA, Theatre Historiography – University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
  • BA with Research Distinction, Theatre Arts – The Ohio State University, Columbus
  • Certificates in Nonprofit Management and Board Development

Academic Appointments

Memberships