Cartes-de-visite photographs of Adah Issacs Menken
Overview
Theatrical cartes-de-visite photographs of American actress Adah Isaacs Menken.
Dates
- Creation: 1862-1866
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
This collection is not housed at the Houghton Library but 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
.3 linear feet (1 box)Collection of theatrical cartes-de-visite photographs of Adah Isaacs Menken in costumes and scenes from various productions in the United States and France.
Biographical / Historical
Adah Isaacs Menken (1835-1868), was a well known actress of the late 19th century. One of her most memorable roles was in an equestrian melodrama, Mazeppa. In Mazeppa she not only played the role of a man, but rode in on a horse wearing a flesh-colored body stocking to appear naked to the audience. Her lifestyle of outrageous behavior, multiple marriages, and rumored lovers was deemed very scandalous at the time. Menken desired to be a poet and was friendly with a number of literary greats including Charles Dickens, Algernon Swinburne, and George Sand. Only after her death was a collection of her poems, Infelicia, published to unfavorable reviews.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by name of photographic studio.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2010MT-11. Gift of Thomas Garrett; received: 2010 October 9.
Forms part of the Fredric Woodbridge Wilson Collection of Theater, Dance and Music (Harvard Theatre Collection).
General note
This collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. See access restrictions below for additional information.
Processing Information
Processed by: Alison Harris
- Title
- Cartes-de-visite photographs of Adah Issacs Menken, circa 1862-1866: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02248
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