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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Thr 2231

Union Aquatic Theater broadside and ship letters

Overview

Broadside program for amateur navy theatricals and letters from John A. Stammers to a friend written onboard USS Port Royal

Dates

  • Creation: 1862-1863

Condition Description

In good condition

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Extent

.01 linear feet (1 folder) : Contains letters and broadside

Includes manuscript broadside printed by Bishop's Cheap Hand Press and two autograph letters from John A. Stammers written aboard the USS Port Royal.

Biographical / Historical

John A. Stammers was living in Boston when he enlisted in the Union Navy in 1861. In 1862 he was drafted to the USS Port Royal. In his letters to a friend from aboard the ship he describes amateur theatricals of the "Union Aquatic Theater" as it was called by the crew of the shop. Stammers describes the popularity of amateur theatrical ib the Union Navy and mentiones other theater company on a different ship.

Arrangement

Arranged as received.

Physical Location

Harvard Depository

Custodial History

Ownership of the collection prior to this acquisition is unknown.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2023MT-20. Purchased from James Arsenault and Company with the Robert Gould Shaw Fund, 2022 July 14.

Processing Information

This collection was processed to a basic level with minimal rehousing, organization, and preservation. (Irina Klyagin, 2022)

Title
Union Aquatic Theater broadside and ship letters, 1862-1863 (MS Thr 2230) : Guide
Status
completed
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard University
Date
2022 August 16
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
hou03499

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440