Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: MS Thr 1893

Marshall the Mystic papers and photographs

Overview

Papers, photographs, and ephemera documenting Robert Marshall, an American performer known as Marshall the Mystic.

Dates

  • Creation: circa 1888-1906

Language of Materials

English, German

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Extent

2.5 linear feet (4 boxes, 1 folder)

Collection includes material both loose and sleeved in six three-ring binders: playbills, programs, a poster, advertisements, cabinet photographs, glass plate negatives, letterhead, clippings, corrrespondence, drawings, manuscript notes, a copper printing block, and three collapsible hats (possibly used by Marshall in his juggling act).

Biographical / Historical

Robert Marshall (1876-1943), born Robert Marschall in Germany, was a hat juggler, magician, pantomime performer, and medical lecturer who worked in the United States.

Arrangement

Arranged in rough series; in order as received.

Physical Location

Harvard Depository

Immediate Source of Acquisition

2019MT-86. Purchased from Potter & Potter Auctions with funds from the Frank E. Chase Bequest, 2018 December.

2020MT-73. Purchased from Potter & Potter Auctions with funds from the Robert Gould Shaw Fund, 2019 October.

Processing Information

Processed by Melanie Wisner, 2019.

Cultural context

Genre / Form

Occupation

Title
Marshall the Mystic papers and photographs, circa 1888-1906 (MS Thr 1893): Guide
Status
completed
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard University
Date
2019 January 23
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou03083

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