Overview
Collection of items related to aerialist Blondin.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1880-1899
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
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 folder)Collection includes a souvenir "Hero of Niagara" metal token; a W.S. Kimball cigarette card; a business card; a manuscript list of requirements for Blondin's act; and a receipt.
Biographical / Historical
Jean François Gravelet, known as Blondin, was a French aerialist or tightrope walker. He performed from 1829-1896, becoming best known for his multiple crossings of Niagara Gorge beginning in 1859. Blondin went to the United States in 1855, then to London (England) in 1861, eventually dying there.
Arrangement
Collection is minimally processed.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2020MT-78. Purchased with funds from the Rose and Marian Hannah Winter Fund, 2019 November.
Processing Information
Accessioned by Melanie Wisner, 2020 January.
Subject
- Blondin, 1824-1897 (Person)
- Title
- Blondin memorabilia, circa 1880-1899 (MS Thr 2020): Guide
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University
- Date
- 2020 January 2
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou03297
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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