Harvard Theatre Collection theatrical portrait prints (visual works)

Includes portrait prints of actors, directors, producers, theatre owners and managers, musicians, composers, conductors, and literary figures, as well as circus and side show performers, owners, and managers. A few portrait prints of royalty and members of high society and government are included. The prints tend to be be of theatrical figures from Great Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Spain, among other countries.While most of the prints are identified, some are not, or have questionable identifications marked with a question mark following the name.

Among those identified as subjects of the prints are: Marie Aimee, Marietta Alboni, Emilie Ambrogetti, Jeanne Sylvanie Arnould-Plessy, Johann Sebastian Bach, Peter F. Baker, P.T. (Phineas Taylor) Barnum, Elizabeth (Weichsel) Billington, Lionel Brough, Richard Cumberland, Edward Loomis Davenport, Fanny Davenport, William Davidge, Elizabeth (Farren) Derby, Andrew Ducrow, Edwin Forrest, David Garrick, Giulia Grisi, George Frederick Handel, Sir John Hare, Franz Joseph Haydn, Charles Kean, Edmund Kean, Fanny Kemble, Lily Langtry (Le Breton), the Majeronis, Anne Francoise-Hippolyte, Elizabeth Rachel Felix (known as Rachel), William Shakespeare, John A. Stevens, Ellen Terry, Denman Thompson, Tom Thumb, and Elizabether (Brunton) Yates, among many others.

Many of the prints are engravings, while there are also a considerable number of lithographs. A sizable portion of the collection appear to be late nineteenth century color lithograph posters, removed from a volume of theatrical figure portraits. A few portrait photographs have been included in this series as well.The prints were likely created for promotional or commemorative purposes for productions, shows, or figures, as well as for purposes of memorials following the deaths of celebrated individuals.