The collection contains fragmentary documentation of Traube's career as director and producer. It has been arranged in two series: Subject File and Production File.
The most extensive portion of the SUBJECT FILE is the General Correspondence which relates to Traube's business activities and political concerns. Included is incoming correspondence from investors, actors, actresses, producers, and other individuals whom Traube hoped to interest in his productions. There is also fragmentary correspondence with several politicians which show his interest in environmental issues and in presidential politics, especially the 1968 Democratic nomination, the proposed impeachment of Richard Nixon and the related House Judiciary Committee hearings. He received many letters from prominent individuals in the fields of entertainment or politics and an index to these correspondents follows the Contents List below. Also noteworthy in the Correspondence File is a short article by Traube included as an enclosure with a Brooks Atkinson letter (October 29, 1957) and an undated eulogy for Franchot Tone also written by Traube. The remainder of the series consists of his applications to work at universities as a visiting professor or lecturer, speeches, a folder of general tax information regarding theatrical ventures, and miscellany.
The PRODUCTION FILE documents Traube's activities as a producer/director in theater, motion pictures, and television. The more extensive files can include correspondence, agreements, casting and director's notes, playbills, clippings, and miscellany and detail the general production, casting, and financing of a work. In this category are Children of the Wind and Memo, both theatrical productions. In addition the file pertaining to “A Day in the Death of Joe Egg” contains extensive correspondence between Traube, the director, and Peter Nichols, the playwright, in which they discuss the proper interpretation of the play. Finally, there is also a transcript of a 1943 radio broadcast entitled “Entertainment in Wartime.” Among the participants were Constance Bennett, Ed Sullivan, and Traube.
