Herbert Charles Jerome Pollitt photograph albums
Overview
Two photograph albums of Herbert Charles Jerome Pollitt (known as Jerome Pollitt) during his childhood and also while in theatrical productions as part of the Cambridge University Footlights group as Diane de Rougy in the late nineteenth century.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1865-1900
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
.2 linear feet (2 volumes)Contains two photograph albums, one with albumen prints, cabinet cards, cabinet photographs, cartes-de-visite, and tintypes depicting Pollitt's early childhood and young adulthood. The other is primarily cabinet cards, depicting Pollitt dressed in the role of Diane de Rougy during his time as a member of Footlights at Cambridge University.
Biographical / Historical
Herbert Charles Jerome Pollitt (1871-1942) was the son of Charles and Jane Pollitt. He attended the Heversham School and then Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1889-1896, receiving both bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Pollitt decided to go by Jerome Pollitt in 1897, and is now known by that name.
Pollitt was part of and then president of Footlights, the Cambridge University Dramatic Club, during his years there. He appeared in many productions as Diane de Rougy, a female character inspired by Liane de Pougy of the Folies Bergḕre, though known for scarf-dancing akin to American dancer Loie Fuller. Footlights was a club of mostly men at this time, thus female impersonation for roles was common; this was also not at all rare throughout theatre at this time. Pollitt appeared as de Rougy in two plays by Arthur Pilkington Shaw, and Frederick Hollyer exhibited a portrait of de Rougy at the London Photographic Salon in 1894. Pollitt appeared as Diane de Rougy as late as 1897.
Pollitt was an art collector as well. He was a friend of Aubrey Beardsley, collecting his art as well as erotic drawings by other artists. Pollitt was also friends with Leonard Smither’s Beardsley’s publisher, and a collector and sometimes patron of James Abbott McNeill Whistler. He held an exhibition of Whistler’s etchings in his home in 1910. An unfinished portrait of Politt by Whistler from 1896-1897 was ultimately destroyed, but a lithographic portrait from 1896 as well as a drawing are at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Pollitt met Aleister Crowley in 1897, and they started a relationship and lived together for a brief period. Crowley wrote of Pollitt in Abdullah the Satirist of Shiraz (published 1910) and in his autobiography The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. Pollitt was also a friend and correspondent with Oscar Wilde.
Pollitt lived in London around the turn of the twentieth century. He enlisted in the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1914, serving as a Lance-Corporal of the 9159th regiment.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2003MT-148. Gift of Frederick R. Koch, 825 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10021; received: 1990 November.
Processing Information
This finding aid was revised in 2021 to address outdated descriptive language and provide context. During that revision, description was changed in the biographical note and scope and contents note for the collection, as well as the title and scope and content note of one file, in order to provide context regarding Pollitt's performances as Diane de Rougy and female impersonation onstage in the late nineteenth century. If you have questions or comments about these revisions, please contact Houghton Library. For more information on reparative archival description at Harvard, see Harvard Library’s Statement on Harmful Language in Archival Description.
- Title
- Pollitt, Herbert Charles Jerome, 1871-1942. Herbert Charles Jerome Pollitt photograph albums, circa 1865-1900: Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01559
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.
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