[Courtesy of Peter (Satteldorfer Puppenbuhne)]

We get so many request for information on the History of Puppetry that I decided it was time to give it a place of it's own. There are many sites out there with some good content on this so I will start it off by listing some that where posted to the old forum.

Courtesy of Peter (Satteldorfer Puppenbuhne)

Puppetry tradition in Germany (Kasper etc.)
http://www.satteldorfer-kasper.de/gbkasper.htm

For the tradition of Punch&Judy and their relations to the Commedia dell'arte check this:
(especially the sections "Introducing Mr Punch" and "Punch around the world")
http://www.punchandjudy.com/home.htm

For the French puppetry tradition of Guignol, go to:
http://leguignol.free.fr/angleterre/histoiregb/histoiregb.htm

Thank you Peter for the links!

I did a search with my favorite search engine and came up with a few.  I simply typed in "The history of Puppetry" for my search.  

I found a nice simple overview at:
http://www.sunniebunniezz.com/puppetry/puphisto.htm
This page is very colorfull and has lots of images incorporated into the text.  I would be a great page for kids to learn about puppet history. It is hosted by SunnieBunniezz.

I found a short history of radical puppetry by Kerry Mogg here:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/7672/puppet.html
Within the article I found this which gives you an idea of what they are talking about.

Practical History postscript: "Riot Police in Eugene, Oregon made 22 arrests after ordering people to disperse who were already dispersing after watching puppet shows and activities commemorating last year’s June 18 demos. Police fired bean bag rounds and used pepper spray" (Schnews, 30 June 2000).

Well that is my offerings at the moment.  Anyone have others? I do ask that if you reply to this that it be with other links to history pages.  If you would like to start a discussion on an aspect of puppetry history please start a new topic.

7/29/04  edited -  Broken link removed -  WJ

I have added an article to the [KB=14] on how to find history information on the net.  It is a pretty simple overview but may be worth a read for those who have a school paper due.

Myanmar Traditional Puppets

Although this looks like it may be a travel/tourism site the page I have linked above has some good information on the puppet history of the region.

Also here is another page on the subject. The Revival of a Dying Art The page has the contact info for getting more information on the Mandalay Marionette Theatre.

Hi,

Just to inform you that I have done my PhD on the` status of traditional shadow
puppetry and puppeteers of South India'. If anyone is interested to get info on
the history of south Indian shadow puppetry they may cantact me at
pavaibhanu@gmail.com

Thanks
Bhanu

I looked at one of the links I think that it is fascinating that Monks and priests used puppets in the middle ages to reenact Biblical Scenes etc. Awesome info thanks for posting it!