The collection contains ephemera, primarily programs, from theatrical productions of the Irish National Theatre Society (later the National Theatre Society Limited) at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, from shortly after the Society's inception in 1902, through the burning and reconstruction of the theatre in the 1960s and up until 1988. Programs also include productions by the Abbey Theatre Players while on tour, as well as a smaller number for productions by other theater companies of works by Irish playwrights. A few articles about the Abbey, booklets on its history, and photographs of its productions and directors complement the ephemeral materials. Programs feature the works of founders W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory, as well as J.M. Synge, George Bernard Shaw, and Sean O'Casey.

Includes leaflets, postcards, posters, and programs related to the Abbey Theatre, the Abbey Theatre Players, or to Irish theatre in general. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the Abbey Theatre Players toured America; this series contains several programs for Irish plays put on by the Abbey Theatre in theaters in New York and Boston.