Bound volumes of correspondence and diaries classified in "X" collection. See related materials note below for more information.
This collection is located on-site.
Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs, memorabilia, scrapbooks, and printed material. Among his correspondents represented in the collection by at least 75 items are: William Archer, Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor, Augustin Daly, Austin Dobson, Hamlin Garland, Bronson Howard, William Dean Howells, Henry Arthur Jones, Henry Cabot Lodge and Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury. There are bound volumes of letters from Henry C. Bunner, Andrew Lang, Rudyard Kipling, Theodore Roosevelt, miscellaneous letters to Matthews, and Matthews' editorial correspondence with the North American Review. There are three boxes of manuscripts, including poems by 21 authors; essays on drama; and plays by Henry Arthur Jones, Don Marquis, and Matthews; bound volumes of manuscripts of Matthews' plays and his book, "Development for the Drama." Also included are 17 boxes of his manuscript notes for his many lectures, articles, and books; and memorabilia, primarily from the theatre and from his life at Columbia. Material on the Dunlap Society, which was devoted to printing works relating to the theater, of which Matthews was co-founder with Laurence Hutton, includes documents and correspondence, much of which is between then secretary Evert J. Wendell and members on meetings and other Society business around 1914. In addition, there are notes and correspondence of Herbert Kleinfield relating to his research on Matthews.
Series I: Cataloged Correspondence, 1876-1926
Matthews was an influential figure in the literary and dramatic worlds of New York, Paris, and London in the late nineteenth, early twentieth century. Among his correspondents represented in the collection are William Archer, Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor, Augustin Daly, Austin Dobson, Hamlin Garland, Bronson Howard, William Dean Howells, Henry Cabot Lodge and other prominent figures from the worlds of theater, literature, politics and society. 10 linear ft.
This series contains notes, typescripts, contracts, book reviews, articles and clippings. The material is arranged chronologically within 9 subseries: Fiction, Plays, Verse, Biographies, Essays and Critiques, Pamphlets, Books edited, Introductions, Articles and Lectures. 1871-1923, 3.5 linear feet
This series is divided into three subseries: Author files, Subject files and Drama. It contains notes, clippings and articles on subjects in which Matthews had an interest. The notes are often written on small scraps of paper. Matthews would jot down any idea as soon as it occurred to him and throw it into a drawer "where I keep all such stray thoughts." Eventually he would organize these scraps and file them in envelopes. He considered each envelope "a story, or an essay in process of hatching." The files are arranged alphabetically within subseries. 6 linear feet
Series IV: Works by Others, 1879-1923
This series contains articles, manuscripts, poetry, essays, and autographs by other authors. 0.5 linear feet
Series V: Personal files, 1827-1962
This series contains photographs, menus, ticket stubs, club rosters, scrapbooks, and other Matthews memorabilia. It includes items Matthews used to refresh his memory when writing his autobiography These Many Years. There are also research notes from a 1961-1962 study by Herbert Kleinfeld. 2 linear feet.
Selected items cataloged; remainder arranged.
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
Bound volumes of correspondence and diaries classified in "X" collection. See related materials note below for more information.
This collection is located on-site.
Readers must use microfilm of materials specified above.
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Brander Matthews papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Some materials related to the Brander Matthews papers also cataloged separately. They can be requested via links below in the CLIO catalog. The items include fifty eight volumes of Matthews's diaries, 1871-1924. Volumes for the period 1871-1881 have the diary portions cut out. (X812M43 P53). When requesting the diaries, please specify which year(s) is/are needed. Other materials include: Letters of acknowledgment written to the libraries of Columbia University upon receipt of copies of "The bookshelf of Brander Matthews." (X812M43 AM2); Collection of letters, menus, etc., largely in connection with the dinner given to Brander Matthews at Sherry's, December 20, 1893 (X812M43 BC); Scrapbook containing menus, invitations, place cards, etc., for dinners, etc., attended by Brander Matthews, 1884-1907 (X812M43 BS); Four volumes of bound manuscript and typescript plays by Brander Matthews (X812M43 M); Manuscript of "A confident tomorrow" by Brander Matthews (X812M43 P); Manuscript of "The Development of Drama" by Brander Matthews (X812M43 P5); Miscellaneous letters to Brander Matthew (X812M43 S6); Editorial correspondence : Brander Matthews to David A. Munro et al, 1882-1920. (X812M43 S62). Another group, formerly considered a separate archival collection, is Roosevelet Family letters to Brander Matthews, 1888-1921. The group of letters written by Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) and members of his family to Brander Matthews are mounted on the blank leaves of two volumes.
The Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum Theatre and Costume print collection, 1787-1966 (Avery Library) contains primarily 19th-century published prints depicting British and French dramatic theatres, with a small representation of international theatres. Other materials from the Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum at Columbia but not in the RBML are in the Office of Art Properties (art objects); Barnard's Minor Latham Theatre (stage and theater models); Barnard Library (phonograph records - 33 1/3 rpm); and the Music Library (music phonograph records).
Other RBML collections related by provenance include Columbia University. Columbia Theatre Associates records, Daly's Theatre, N.Y. Records, Dirce St. Cyr papers, James Woodman Thompson papers, Roger Wheeler theatrical memorabilia, Katherine H. Parker papers, Peter Gilsey Collection of Theatrical Admission Tokens and Medalets, Charles Dickens papers, and the Joseph Urban Papers, 1893-1998.
The collections stemming from and relating to the Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum are described and grouped under various collection names. The Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum records, 1910-1971 (MS#0364) are the business records of the Dramatic Museum itself. The Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum collection of documents relating to actors and theatrical managers, 1732-1995 (MS#0365) is collection of letters, manuscripts, and documents of prominent actors, actresses, and theatrical managers. It consists largely of single, unrelated items. The Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum collection of theatrical business records, 1864-1911 (MS#0363) includes box office receipts, salaries, stage properties, and expenses, for American and English theaters and two American booking agents. The Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum Ephemera, 1750-1970 (MS#0366) contains a variety of formats dealing with the theater, chiefly American and English, in all its aspects including drama, opera, dance, movies, puppets, and spectacles. The majority of the material documents the 19th century and includes prints, photographs, pamphlets, clippings, playbills, and programs. This collection is divided into seven units: portrait file, subject file, program file, playbill file, scrapbooks, posters and lantern slides. The Dramatic Museum Realia, 1700-1966 (MS#0253) contains 391 puppets, 128 masks, and 30 stage models; Art and Theatrical Machinery are also part of this collection. The Speech Recordings records, 1925-1965 (MS#1182) contain sound recordings divided into four subunits--Speech Recordings Collection, Speech Laboratory Archives, Tape Recordings Collection, American Speech Recordings Collection . The Edward B. Wisely music tape recordings, 1875-1940 (MS#1364) Tape recordings of American, English, and Irish music hall and vaudeville stars. 1875-1940. 15 items. Individually cataloged books and codex manuscripts that form the Brander Matthews Dramatic Library
The Hamlin Garland letters (box 11) are on microfilm. A. P. Terhune, James Bryce and Royal Cortissoz cataloged correspondence are on microfillm.
Papers: Source of acquisition--Matthews, Brander. Method of acquisition--gift; Date of acquisition--1912.
Biographical materials: Source of acquisition--Henderson, Harold G. Method of acquisition--gift; Date of acquisition--1951.
Biographical material: Source of acquisition--Kleinfield, Jeanne Welcher. Method of acquisition--gift; Date of acquisition--1978.
Irving/Stoker a.l.s. to Rolt: Source of acquisition--6003B (B. Matthews). Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--04/09/1993. Accession number--M-93-04-09.
BM essay: On the length of Cleopatra's nose: Source of acquisition--6003B (Matthews)-Auerbach. Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--03/09/1994. Accession number--M-94-03-09.
16 a.l.s. from Matthews to Clifford Smyth: Method of acquisition--Purchase; Date of acquisition--01/13/2000. Accession number--M-00-01-13.
Gift of Brander Matthews, 1912-1928; Harold G. Henderson, 1951; and Jeanne Welcher Kleinfield, 1978.
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Papers entered 05/--/1986.
Biographical materials entered 05/--/1986.
Biographical material entered 05/--/1986.
Irving/Stoker a.l.s. to Rolt Cataloged HR 08/04/1993.
BM essay: On the length of Cleopatra's nose Cataloged HR 03/17/1994.
16 a.l.s. from Matthews to Clifford Smyth Cataloged HR 01/13/2000.
2010-02-16 Legacy finding aid created from Pro Cite.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
Author, critic, and member of the Columbia English Department Faculty from 1891-1924. Matthews was an influential figure in the literary and dramatic worlds of New York and London from the 1880s throughtout his life. He was a member of numerous social and literary organizations, serving as president of the Dunlap Society, the Modern Language Association, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, among others.
James Brander Matthews was born in New Orleans on February 21, 1852 to Edward and Virginia Brander Matthews. The family was in New Orleans due to the Father's business interests but Matthews raised in New York with long stays in Europe always considered New York his home. Matthews's father intended that his son become a gentleman of leisure and educated him accordingly. He received a baccalaureate in 1871 and a law degree in 1873 both from Columbia University.
In 1873, Matthews married Ada Smith an English actress who had come to America under the stage name of Ada Harland in the 1868-1869 season with the popular troupe Lydia Thompson and the English Blondes. The same year Matthews's father began to experience a reversal of fortune as a result of the financial panic. Matthews was uninterested in law but passionate about theater and literature. He earned a Master of Arts in Literature at Columbia University in 1874 and turned to writing to support his family. He began by reviewing plays and eventually became a respected author of novels plays short stories poems essays and biographies. He was a frequent contributor to such periodicals as The Nation, Puck, The Critic, Scribner's Monthly, and Harper's Monthly. Some of his more successful plays include Marjory's Lovers (1884), A Gold Mine (1887), and On Probation (1889), the last two written with G. H. Jessop. Of note also are the several books depicting old New York including Vignettes of Manhattan (1894), His Father's Son: a Novel of New York (1895), and Vistas of New York (1912).
Matthews was a social being who very much enjoyed his membership in the New York social clubs--the Kinsmen, the Century and the Round Table. He was the co-founder of the Authors' Club organized to bring together the literary men of New York. Through this club Matthews helped form the American Copyright League which successfully lobbied for legislation to provide foreign authors with copyright protection. He was one of the founders of the Players' Club a meeting place for those interested in the theatrical arts and the Dunlap Society established in 1885 to print books about theater. A devoted bibliophile he was also a member of the Grolier Club.
Matthews began lecturing in the Columbia University English Department in 1892. He was appointed Professor of Dramatic Literature in 1900, the first such professorship established in the United States. He continued to publish books on theater and literature such as The Historical Novel (1901), The Development of the Drama (1903), Moliere: His life and Work (1910), and Shakspere as a Playwright (1913).
Columbia University established the Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum in 1911, the first such museum in the United States. Matthews had been inspired by an exhibition he had first seen at the Paris Exposition of 1878. In 1881 he revisited the display at its permanent home in the Paris Opera. He was greatly impressed by the models which formed the major part of the exhibition. In his autobiography These Many Years (p. 213), he describes the experience: "The more I studied the series of models representing sets in the successive epochs of the French stage, the more illuminative I found them. An old play seemed to start to new life when I was thus enabled to visualize its original performance." Matthews envisioned a similar type of museum to illustrate the history of the English speaking theater. When Columbia University gave Matthews the opportunity to fulfill his dream, he expanded its scope to include worldwide theatrical practice. Matthews donated books, playbills, and other theatrical memorabilia from his own collection. He had models of theaters and sets made, considering them the centerpiece of the museum. He set up an endowment to be administered by the English Department which would ensure the continuation of this theatrical resource of which he was so proud.
Matthews received many honors in the latter part of his life including honorary degrees from Columbia University in 1900, from Yale University in 1901 and from the University of Miami in 1909. In 1907 the Government of France decorated him with the Legion of Honor for his work in French literature and theater. He was President of the Modern Language Association in 1910 and President of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1913. He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was the first chairman of the Simplified Spelling Board.
Brander Matthews resigned his professorship at Columbia University in 1924 shortly after the death of his wife. His only daughter had passed away in 1922. He continued an active life of writing and lecturing. He also devoted a considerable amount of time and resources to the Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum. Matthews died at age seventy-five on March 31, 1929.
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
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