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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Thr 749

Photographs of the Booth family

Overview

Portraits and theatrical photographs of the English-American Booth family.

Dates

  • Creation: 1869-1889

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 portraits and theatrical photographs of Agnes Booth, Edwin Booth, John Wilkes Booth, Junius Brutus Booth Jr., and Junius Brutus Booth, III from the 19th century in the United States and England. Primarily cartes-de-visite photographs and cabinet photographs with one copy print.

Biographical / Historical

The Booth family was a well known theatrical family in the 19th century. John Wilkes, Edwin, and Junius Brutus, Jr. were all actors and had different degrees of success. Edwin was a very popular Shakespearian actor who eventually opened up the Booth Theatre in 1869 in New York. Junius Brutus, Jr.'s acting ability was not as well regarded as the rest of his family, or even his wife, Agnes Booth who was a popular actress. John Wilkes was a successful stage actor who is mostly remembered as the man who assassinated Abraham Lincoln.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by name of family member.

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
Photographs of the Booth family, circa 1869-1889: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou02250

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.

Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440