Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

A collection of letters, manuscripts, and documents of prominent actors, actresses, and theatrical managers. Many of these are single, unrelated items. The largest body of correspondence is from the American actress, Charlotte Cushman (14 letters). Another figure of major interest is William Charles Macready, partly because of Miss Cushman's relationship to him (she toured with him for several years) and also as there are several of his letters. Sir Henry Irving, Edwin Forrest and James Mowatt are each represented by a few letters. A group of 8 unsigned letters may have been written by the famous singer, actress, and manager, Eliza Vestris. One box contains manuscripts of Samuel Coit, Charlotte Cushman, Clyde Fitch, Wallace Gould, Henry von Heiseler, E.H. Sothern, and Lester Wallack. Six boxes contain Augustin Daly's check stubs and bank books for Daly's Theatre, New York, for 1872-1899. (For additional Augustin Daly business records, see description sheets for Daly's Theatre Collection, X810.128/D15& the Dramatic Library Collection shelf list).

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs, memorabilia, scrapbooks, and printed material. Among his correspondents represented in the collection by at least 75 items are: William Archer, Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor, Augustin Daly, Austin Dobson, Hamlin Garland, Bronson Howard, William Dean Howells, Henry Arthur Jones, Henry Cabot Lodge and Thomas Raynesford Lounsbury. There are bound volumes of letters from Henry C. Bunner, Andrew Lang, Rudyard Kipling, Theodore Roosevelt, miscellaneous letters to Matthews, and Matthews' editorial correspondence with the North American Review. There are three boxes of manuscripts, including poems by 21 authors; essays on drama; and plays by Henry Arthur Jones, Don Marquis, and Matthews; bound volumes of manuscripts of Matthews' plays and his book, "Development for the Drama." Also included are 17 boxes of his manuscript notes for his many lectures, articles, and books; and memorabilia, primarily from the theatre and from his life at Columbia. Material on the Dunlap Society, which was devoted to printing works relating to the theater, of which Matthews was co-founder with Laurence Hutton, includes documents and correspondence, much of which is between then secretary Evert J. Wendell and members on meetings and other Society business around 1914. In addition, there are notes and correspondence of Herbert Kleinfield relating to his research on Matthews.

A collection of letters from authors, critics, and scholars, primarily relating to lectureships and courses given under the auspices of the English Department. Some of the correspondence, notably the ten letters from Amy Lowell, deal with essays written for the revised edition of C.D. Warner's LIBRARY OF THE WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE. The letters are written to Ashley H. Thorndike, John W. Cunliffe, George R. Carpenter, Ernest H. Wright, and Marjorie Nicolson. The correspondents include John Mason Brown, Marchette Chute, Robert P. Tristram Coffin, Padraic Colum, Bernard DeVoto, T.S. Eliot, John Erskine, Robert Frost, Otto Jespersen, Howard Mumford Jones, Joyce Kilmer, Ludwig Lewishon, Amy Lowell, Archibald MacLeish, Thomas Mann, Brander Matthews, H.L. Mencken, Christopher Morley, Ezra Pound, Theodore Roosevelt, Charles P. Snow, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, and Edmund Wilson. Two boxes of miscellaneous uncataloged correspondence cover the years, 1896-1917, and a folder for the 1935 Mark Twain Centennial sponsored by the English Department. The correspondence is chiefly with Ernest Hunter Wright.

Correspondence relating to Erskine's various educational, musical and literary interests; manuscripts of his writings; lecture notes for college courses; souvenirs of his army service in World War I and his Columbia University professorship, and student papers from his own school and college days. Also, biographical file, scrapbooks, and articles.

The group of letters written by Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) and members of his family to Brander Matthews are mounted on the blank leaves of two volumes. The majority of the material (240 letters and cards) were written by Theodore Roosevelt. These are personal letters which reflect his many interests and activities dealing with such subjects as his own writings and publications, opinions of contemporary literature, Matthews' system of reformed English spelling and Roosevelt's attempt to introduce this into the publications of the Government Printing Office, travels, friends, meetings, and social events. Also, ten letters and cards from Edith Kermit Roosevelt to the Matthews family and a few items from other members of the Roosevelt family. The letters are in typescript and script and are dated from various places in this country and abroad.

Correspondence, manuscripts, documents, photographs and printed materials. The correspondence is with American and English literary figures and Columbia faculty members. Included are 38 letters from Brander Matthews and 4 from Edmund Gosse. There are 5 letters from Trent to George Whicher, 3 to John Hart, and 180 postcards and letters to John Bell Henneman, as well as a group of miscellaneous letters to and from Trent. Also included are a holograph fair copy of Trent's poem "Germany, 1915" with his covering a.l.s. and several miscellaneous poems; and his contract with J.B. Lippincott Co. for the publication of GEORGE SAND. There are also two documents signed by George W. Maynard. Among the photographs is a photograph album, prepared by Hudson Stuck in 1899, of people and scenes from Dallas, Texas. Among the printed materials are Trent's examinations and outlines for English courses, and THE UNPOPULAR REVIEW with numerous pages of Trent's notes