Harvard Theatre Collection of salted paper prints
Overview
Contains portraits of nineteenth century theatrical figures in the format of salted paper prints.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1850-1870
Creator
- Harvard Theatre Collection (Organization)
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
1.25 linear feet (5 boxes)Contains photographs of theatrical performers, popular entertainment figures, and celebrities of the mid-nineteenth century in salted paper print format. Some of the portrait sitters include: Edwin Adams, Louis Agassiz, Mrs. J.H. Allen, Julia Bennett Barrow, P.T. Barnum, Edwin Booth, Paulina Colson, Annie Cruise, Julia Daly, E.L. Davenport and Mrs. E.L. Davenport, Julia Dean, Madam Fabbri, William J. Florence, Madame Gazzaniza, Charles Hale, Lotte Hough, Cordelia Howard, Jean M. Davenport Landers, Mrs. W.H. Leighton, Maggie Mitchell, Marie Piccolomini, Adelina Patti, Rachel (Elisabeth Felix), Caroline M. Richings, Agnes Robertson, "The Seven Sisters," Mrs. Vernon, Helen Western, Charles Wheatley, William Wheatley, Matilda Wood, and Ella Wren, among others.
Biographical / Historical
The Harvard Theatre Collection was founded in 1901 through the efforts of Professor George Pierce Baker, and collects documentary materials pertaining to the history of the performing arts, including theatre, dance and ballet, and opera and musical theatre, among other areas. The popular entertainment materials have been collected by gift and purchase throughout the history of the Harvard Theatre Collection. Salted paper prints have light-sensitive salts in the fibers of the paper rather than in a binder; the image is positive and is printed out rather than developed out. Salted paper printing was a popular method in the mid-nineteenth century.
Arrangement
Arranged in alphabetical order.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Various sources; various dates.
Processing Information
Processed by Betts Coup, 2019.
Creator
- Harvard Theatre Collection (Organization)
- Title
- Harvard Theatre Collection. Harvard Theatre Collection of salted paper prints, circa 1850-1870 (MS Thr 1646): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2019 February 26
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou03101
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.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu