Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

Correspondence, manuscripts, diaries, commonplace books, drawings, photographs, and printed materials. The collection is a comprehensive documentation of the dramatist's career and includes manuscripts, typescripts, notes, and costume and scenic design for more than seventy of his plays and related writings; 31 diaries, commonplace books, and scrapbooks containing manuscript and typescript notes, travel sketches, original drawings, and photographs; and correspondence files including letters from Harley Granville-Barker, Sir Herbert Beerbohm-Tree, John Galsworthy, Booth Tarkington, and Thornton Wilder. Austin Strong's mother, Isobel Field, was the step-daughter of Robert Louis Stevenson. Consequently, the collection contains much Stevensoniana, including photographs and Isobel Field's letters from Western Samoa, where she was known as "Teuila." Also, correspondence and photographs relating to Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand, which was designed by Austin Strong.

Letters, manuscripts, documents, and printed materials by and relating to explorers of both poles. Many of the letters are addressed to Vilhjalmur Stefansson or Bassett Jones. The letters for the most part discuss subjects of professional interest. Thre are printed materials, photographs and memorabilia of many expeditions and explorers.

A collection of letters, manuscripts, and documents of prominent actors, actresses, and theatrical managers. Many of these are single, unrelated items. The largest body of correspondence is from the American actress, Charlotte Cushman (14 letters). Another figure of major interest is William Charles Macready, partly because of Miss Cushman's relationship to him (she toured with him for several years) and also as there are several of his letters. Sir Henry Irving, Edwin Forrest and James Mowatt are each represented by a few letters. A group of 8 unsigned letters may have been written by the famous singer, actress, and manager, Eliza Vestris. One box contains manuscripts of Samuel Coit, Charlotte Cushman, Clyde Fitch, Wallace Gould, Henry von Heiseler, E.H. Sothern, and Lester Wallack. Six boxes contain Augustin Daly's check stubs and bank books for Daly's Theatre, New York, for 1872-1899. (For additional Augustin Daly business records, see description sheets for Daly's Theatre Collection, X810.128/D15& the Dramatic Library Collection shelf list).

A collection of letters and memorabilia of John William Burgess, his wife, Ruth Payne Jewett Burgess, his son Elisha Payne Jewett Burgess, his daughter-in-law, Annette Curnen Burgess, his grand-daughter, Ruth Payne Jewett Burgess, and the Burgess, Jewett, Payne, and Curnen families. The personal correspondence numbering 17 items, covers the period 1908 to 1927 mainly between John and Elisha Burgess. There are two letters of a social nature from Eleanor Roosevelt and Nicholas Murray Butler and one lengthy post card from George Bernard Shaw to Annette Curnen Burgess. Also, memorabilia including portraits, photographs, books, diplomas, and medals.

Correspondence, memoranda, reports, etc.

Personal and professional papers of Stedman, including correspondence, letter books, diaries, poetry manuscripts, scrapbooks, photographs, and genealogical materials for the Stedman and Dodge families. Correspondence and manuscripts of his mother, Elizabeth Clementine Dodge Stedman Kinney (1810-1889), poet and diarist, and of his granddaughter, Laura Stedman Gould (1881-1941), author and editor. Also, editions of Stedman's LIBRARY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE including printed materials relating to the marketing; and an album of Civil War photographs by Mathew Brady, inscribed by the photographer to Laura H.W. Stedman as well as additional loose photographs by Brady.

Correspondence, manuscripts and documents. Included among his personal and professional correspondence are letters from famous economists collected by Seligman. Among these are: I) William Shirley (Box 95). 1741-1745. Copies of letters and documents by Shirley, Royal Governor of Massachusetts, addressed chiefly to the Board of Trade, London; II) Paul Flobart (Box 96). RECHERCHES SUR LES BILLETS DE LA BANQUE DE LAW, 1716-1720. Lille, 1920. Notes, page proof and printed for of this pamphlet; III) John Francis Bray Papers (Box 97). Bray, 1809-1895, early socialist writer and labor agitator in England, 1822, returned to America in 1842. Michigan experiences, 1842-1896, papers 1860-1890; IV) Ernest Jones Papers. Correspondence, family and business papers of Ernest Jones, 1819-1869, English militant socialist and leader of the Chartist movement, and publisher of two newspapers propagating Marxist doctrines. Collection consists of ca.1,708 items, and some family correspondence and mementoes. The most valuable part appears to be his notes refuting various libel charges brought against him. In 10 boxes at the end of the collection

This collection includes nine letters of Ralph Waldo Emerson as well as letters of Louis Agassiz, Amos Bronson Alcott, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, John Lothrop Motley, Charles Sumner, and John Greenleaf Whittier. In addition, there are two incomplete manuscripts by Emerson and one document from the Liverpool Custom-house signed by Nathaniel Hawthorne as Consul for the United States. The collection also includes the corrected typescript, index, and page and galley proofs for Thomas Franklin Currier, A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES (New York, 1953) which was edited by Professor Tilton. Also, some early correspondence and photographs of the Tilton family and friends. There are letters from the actors Annie Louise Ames, Richard J. Dillon, and Hans L. Meery to Tilton's grandfather, Bernard Paul Verne, as well as photographs, tintypes, and daguerreotypes of the Verne family and friends.

A large collection of original comic and illustration art; a considerable number of articles of clothing; tapes and CDs; documents; photographs; ephemera.