Photographic sample cards of actresses and actors by Mora
Overview
Sheets of sample cabinet photographs of 19th century actors and actresses.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1870-1887
Creator
- Mora, 1849-1926 (Person)
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
.04 linear feet (1 volume)Three 9-inch by 14-inch cards with a total of 468 photographs on six sides, arranged on each side in a grid of nine by seven or nine by nine, probably samples of cabinet cards. Several sides show the name of the actor or actress portrayed as well as sequential numbering of the images.
Biographical / Historical
Jose Maria Mora was born in Cuba. He was studying painting in Paris when the Cuban uprising of 1868 forced the exodus of his family to New York City. He left his studies, joined his family, and sought employment with the New York photographic studio, Sarony & Company. He opened his own studio at 707 Broadway, New York (N.Y.) in 1870, becoming a master at portraying celebrities and supplying images for engraving. Mora's health declined in the late 1880s, and he had shuttered his business by 1893.
Arrangement
Collection is minimally processed.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2020MT-76. Purchased with funds from the Beatrice, Benjamin and Richard Bader Fund in the Visual Arts of the Theatre, 2019 November.
Processing Information
Accessioned by Melanie Wisner, 2020 January.
Genre / Form
Creator
- Mora, 1849-1926 (Person)
- Title
- Mora, 1849-1926. Photographic sample cards of actresses and actors by Mora, circa 1870-1887 (MS Thr 2019): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Date
- 2020 January 2
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou03296
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.
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