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Vincent Peranio Papers

 Collection
Call Number: YCAL MSS 1346

Content Description

The Vincent Peranio papers consists of correspondence, legal and financial records, scripts, photographs, props, miniature set models, concept art, architectural plans, ephemera, computer media, one audiocassette, and other materials documenting the career of production designer and art director Vincent Peranio. Peranio had a close working relationship with American director John Waters, and included are materials related to the production of Waters movies such as Polyester (1981), Hairspray (1988), Cry-Baby (1990), and Serial Mom (1994). Also present are materials related to Peranio’s work on a number of Baltimore-based crime drama and police procedural television series, including David Simon’s The Corner (2000) and The Wire (2002-2008), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999), and Unforgettable (2011-2016). The collection additionally contains production materials for over a dozen other films and television series by directors including Steve Antin, Joe Berlinger, John David Coles, Agnieszka Holland, Barry Levinson, Michael Preece, Mark Rosman, Shawn Ryan, Richard C. Sarafian, and Joseph Sargent.

Dates

  • 1966-2017

Creator

Language of Materials

In English

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Box 59 (audiovisual material and computer media): Restricted fragile material. Reference copies may be requested. Consult Access Services for further information.

Conditions Governing Use

The Vincent Peranio Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Royal Books on the Sinclair Lewis Fund, 2019.

Arrangement

Organized into four series: I. John Waters Projects, 1966-2014. II. David Simon Projects, 1999-2017. III. Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999), 1992-1999. IV. Other Projects, 1970-2014.

Extent

19.90 Linear Feet ((59 boxes) + 15 broadside, 2 broadside oversize, 4 roll)

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.peranio

Additional Description

Overview

The Vincent Peranio Papers consists of correspondence, legal and financial records, scripts, photographs, props, miniature set models, concept art, architectural plans, ephemera, computer media, one audiocassette, and other materials documenting the career of production designer and art director Vincent Peranio. Peranio had a close working relationship with American director John Waters, and included are materials related to the production of Waters movies such as Polyester (1981), Hairspray (1988), Cry-Baby (1990), and Serial Mom (1994). Also present are materials related to Peranio’s work on a number of Baltimore-based crime drama and police procedural television series, including David Simon’s The Corner (2000) and The Wire (2002-2008), Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999), and Unforgettable (2011-2016). The collection additionally contains production materials for over a dozen other films and television series by directors including Steve Antin, Joe Berlinger, John David Coles, Agnieszka Holland, Barry Levinson, Michael Preece, Mark Rosman, Shawn Ryan, Richard C. Sarafian, and Joseph Sargent.

Vincent Peranio (1945-)

Vincent Peranio (1945-) is an American film and television production designer and art director. Born in 1945 in Baltimore, Maryland, he earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 1968 and met filmmaker John Waters shortly thereafter. Peranio became part of a group later known as the “Dreamlanders,” a term coined for regular members of the cast and crew of Waters’s early films. After designing the costume for—and playing the part of—Lobstora in Waters’s second feature-length film, Multiple Maniacs (1970), Peranio served as production designer for all of Waters’s subsequent Baltimore-based feature films, such as Hairspray (1988) and Cry-Baby (1990). Other films on which Peranio has worked are Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), the Blaxploitation film The Hitter (1979), and cult horror film The House on Sorority Row (1982). His notable TV series include Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999) and The Wire (2002-2008).

Processing Information

Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit. Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing. This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.

Subjects

Related Names

Creator

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Vincent Peranio Papers
Status
Completed
Author
by Emma Gronbeck
Date
July 2021
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/
Contact:
P. O. Box 208330
New Haven CT 06520-8330 US
(203) 432-2977

Location

121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours

Access Information

The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.

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