The collection comprises papers from a number of student drama groups and societies. The majority of the deposits have been made by the Oxford University Dramatic Society (OUDS), an extant student society which has produced and supported student theatre and drama on a university-wide basis since 1885. For a history of the society see OUDS: a centenary history of the Oxford University Dramatic Society, 1885-1985 by Humphrey Carpenter, Oxford University Press, 1985. The collection therefore primarily consists of papers relating to OUDS itself and productions staged or supported by the society. However, in addition to the OUDS papers, the papers of the Oxford Revue, an Oxford based theatre company specialising in comedy productions, and the Oxford Theatre Group (1985-1991), a registered limited company created by Oxford University students for the purposes of presenting and promoting theatre performances and the arts, have also been deposited with the Bodleian Library. It is also the case that, although OUDS is an umbrella organisation for many Oxford student dramatic societies, there are also many student drama groups that exist independently of O.U.D.S; therefore the Oxford Student Drama catalogue contains a selection of records from a cross-section of the many student drama groups in Oxford.